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Road Movie (1989)

by THE HEPBURNS

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1.
ON YOUR KNEES COWBOY Take the express to the coast to the hotel by the sea The hotel by the sea The sky is grey Curtain falls from high ceiling to floor The person you were is beating on the door This performance can’t go on much more Chorus: On your knees, cowboy You’re going to rue the day you ever laid eyes on me You’re going to want me more and more I’m looking back down a street lined with poplars Through the stations of abandoned days The early evening runs The early evening sun The early evening runs The early evening sun
2.
22 DIFFERENT KINDS OF FISH 22 different kinds of fish Boiling on the fire, about to overflow Who knows, who knows Which way this thing will go? Chorus: Familiar things seen from close to Familiar things… The night is young, it’s underage Though I’m well-thumbed I’m trembling as I turn the page Familiar things seen from close to Familiar things…a whole new world
3.
SALMAN RUSHDI's PERSONAL HI-FI (instrumental)
4.
PROFESSIONAL HELP Out on the road again From service station to service station Getting wild with some friends Chorus: There’s a winged beast circling the car Maybe I should seek professional help If we get stopped, Michael It’s 15-20 years minimum But that’s the least of our fears Your expertise – what’s that when it’s at home?
5.
Hey Postie! 02:53
HEY POSTIE! Waiting for the postman’s heavy footfall Wondering when he is going to call Bring me love, bring me hate But bring it through that gate Chorus: Hey postie, have you got something for me? Hey postie, hey there postie Perhaps my model-maker’s magazines Hey postie, hey there postie If I had a life, a dog, a beach Instead of this infernal itch Bring me love, bring me hate Tsk, you’re 20 minutes late Chorus: Hey postie, have you got something for me? Hey postie, hey there postie Perhaps my model-maker’s magazines Hey postie, hey there postie Perhaps some junk mail, perhaps my telephone bill Which I hope will not be too substantial Hey postie, hey postie Hey postie, hey postie
6.
Tariq 05:27
TARIQ (instrumental)
7.
NOBODY's HAPPY Nobody’s happy with the way things are I’m gonna change my life, I’m gonna change my car Nobody’s happy with the way things are Nobody’s happy with the way things are I’m gonna change my change, I’m gonna change my colour Nobody’s happy with the way things are She’s coming home on Tuesday with a sack brimful of useless things Nobody’s happy with the way things are I’m gonna change my life, I’m gonna change my lover Nobody’s happy with the way things are
8.
THE MAN WHO WAVES AT PASSING TRAINS Honey it’s me Sugar it’s me Honey it’s me they want to see So get out of my way I must be moving on What made you think you were important anyway? Chorus: Waiting for the train to come Never been so far from home Will I turn tail? Your taste appals Teenage kitsch just oozing from the walls And when the tide Of booze subsides I’m high and dry and naked to the wind Chorus: Waiting for the train to come Never been so far from home I’m the one who waves at passing trains Well? Wave back then….
9.
JIMMY NEIGHBOUR Jimmy Neighbour what’s become of you? Seventies pop idol and a style guru Are you married to an aerobics instructress, Or a photographic model, Or selling life insurance like Wyndham Evans?
10.
SHIMMERING DESERT Can you survive the cold water shock of the new day? Splash- splash- splashing on your window pane The surf of the city traffic A thousand miles away at the heart of the shimmering desert Your baby murmurs in her sleep Your name or another’s She stokes the fires of the sun That bakes the concrete cake of mud Stretching out between us
11.
SANDRA's MYSTERY PLANT Just look what I have found I’m going to take it home and brush it down This refugee that I pulled from the ruins It’s irresistible Compulsion not conviction could do me untold harm This refugee that I pulled from the ruins I’m so close that I can… Just look what I have found I’m going to take it home and brush it down This refugee that I pulled from the ruins
12.
MR. POPULARITY People come and go There’s a couple in the room below But I don’t interfere, I just live here The walls are thin. I’m living in Strange houses in other people’s trousers I’m his and hers and yours What’s for breakfast? Not more sentiment I hope, I couldn’t take much more of that. Remember who you’re talking to… More slamming doors than a Whitehall farce. I think I’ll pass On the bedroom scene For me and you read Terry and June People come and go There’s a couple in the room below But I don’t interfere, I just live here I’m Mr Popularity.

about

“Road Movie” (1989)

A note on the album

Road Movie was recorded in Swan Studios, Birmingham, in late-1989, and slated for release on our own label Magic Records in 1990. Drummer Les Mun had left the band, replaced by Aled Richards. The line-up was original members Matt and Mike, with Nigel Boulton on lead guitar, Aled on drums, and Chris Jones, an old friend from Llanelli then living in Bearwood, Birmingham, on harmonica and zurna. Road Movie was due to be our second release on Magic, which we founded with ex-Cherry Red man Scott Longley. Due to the tragic death of our backer Brian Longley, Scott’s father, it was never released.

The Hepburns, who had signed to Cherry Red in December 1986, had been released from a 5-album deal after just one album, The Magic of The Hepburns (1988). We never found out why we were ‘let go’. Our debut LP was well received, although the rash of guitar bands that had appeared in the wake of critically and commercially successful ‘indie’ bands such Orange Juice, Aztec Camera and The Smiths had fallen from favour with NME and Melody Maker journalists between 1986 and 1989.

In any case, we did not see ourselves as a standard ‘indie’ band. While our sound was definitely influenced by Edwyn Collins et al, we also paid musical homage to John Barry, Ennio Morricone, and Burt Bacharach. Being young, bloody-minded, and Welsh, we set about writing and recording Road Movie with a vengeance. We had a point to prove and we did it by mixing ‘indie’, not just with easy listening, but with numerous other musical influences, from XTC to The Carpenters to Led Zeppelin, peppering the songs with references to whichever genre came to hand. There are overdriven double-necked guitars alongside brass, harmonicas, vibraslaps, referees whistles, and the much-neglected middle-eastern zurna.

The trouble with ‘indie’, the press seemed to think, was it was too earnest, too twee, and the anorak-clad vocalists and guitarists sang and played out of tune on purpose. While The Hepburns to this day cannot guarantee an in-tune vocal, we are Welsh and were therefore discouraged from a young age by a certain native sarcasm from being earnest and twee. As for the playing, we were joined on this album by Aled Richards, who went on to warm the Catatonia drum stool, and by Nigel Boulton, the self-styled ‘King of Wales’, both of whom impart a cutting edge to the sound, which consequently is about as twee as the Pontypool front row.

credits

released January 8, 2017

Matt Jones - Guitar & Vocals
Mike Thomas - Bass
Nigel Boulton (The King Of Wales) - Lead Guitar
Aled Richards - Drums
Cronsey - Harmonica, Zurna & Artwork.
Paul Robertson - Shaker (Mr. Popularity)

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THE HEPBURNS Wales, UK

The Hepburns are a Welsh indie band from Llanelli, South-West Wales. They have recorded thirteen albums, two EPs, one single and three BBC sessions. 'Electric Lliedi Land' was released in September 2020, followed by a cover version of Vic Godard's 'I'll Find Out Over Time'. They also contributed to three Corona Underground Projects. A new album feat. Estella Rosa is due for release in Oct. 2021. ... more

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