JANUARY

More rehearsals and work on the new songs.

07th
John Peel Session (Langham studio 1)
Songs recorded for the radio program : The Holy Hour, Primary, All Cats Are Grey, Forever. Still no definitive lyrics for the first two songs. Primary was still different musically (bass line and tune) compared with how it would turn out on the following month. Forever was an improvised attempt based on the chords from Three. That classic "song" would often close the shows for years and years.


FEBRUARY

2nd / 11th
Morgan studios, London
Recording sessions for the Faith album started but it became a difficult process : the band was "thrown out in favour of more important people" to the Red Bus studios and then to the Roundhouse, the Trident and finally Abbey Road studios. The lack of continuous work in the same place resulted in the recording taking longer than expected : about a month.

Around the same time, Ric Gallup (Simon's brother) was asked to make a film, Carnage Visors, to replace support bands on the upcoming tour. Originally, the band wanted students to work on it but the idea was scrapped due to the lack of enthousiasm of those.

26th
Kid Jensen Session, Langham studios
Recorded for the BBC radio. Strangely, a drum machine was used instead of having real drums. Songs : The Funeral Party, The Drowning Man, Faith (different lyrics).


MARCH

16th
Point studios
Robert and Simon recorded the soundtrack to Carnage Visors while Lol took care of a drum machine.

27th
Primary / Descent single released (FICS 12). The cover was drawn by Porl and Andy Vella founding their association under the name "Parched Art". A video was also made for Primary (along with one for Other Voices on the same day, the band wearing heavy make up on both).

APRIL

Contacts were made to find unusual venues to play at while on tour. The only place that agreed to let the band play was an old church, St Andrews, in Norwich (booked for May 12th). A few months later, the group confessed that things got a bit wrong that night, the setting, their performance...

11th
The Faith album release (FIX 6). The misty cover depicts Bolton Abbey (North Yorkshire) where Robert Smith used to play as a child.

18th
UK Picture Tour (31 shows). The Funeral Party & The Drowning Man sounded pretty unrehearsed on the beginning of this tour, certainly difficult songs to perform without being in the mood - especially with Robert getting a cold after a week on the road. The guitar solos were extended on songs like A Forest or M, giving more atmosphere to the songs. A few songs had improvised lyrics when the tour started : In Your House, Play For Today, The Holy Hour, Seventeen Seconds...


MAY

22nd
Dublin, Mai Ball College
Robert Smith later talked about this show (in the 10 Imaginary Years book), telling a whole story about interrupting the concert because of a wild audience... When that was probably just a couple of drunken people shouting in the back at times. Reviews from the show reported nothing out of the ordinary.

27th
The Picture tour reached Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands (34 shows). The Dutch dates were performed under a circus tent, a way to avoid traditional venues, even if that meant having to build the tent every night and hope it wouldn't rain too much. Other Voices was also introduced as being "about a girl who got a new head for Christmas".

The song Seventeen Seconds was quickly put aside on the continent and Faith became "bigger", Robert adding improvised lines once the tour arrived in Wiesbaden (Germany), always refering to a woman who died, picture fading, growing old, getting lost...


JULY

The tour ended with two big festivals in Belgium, sharing the bill with Dire Straits, Robert Palmer... Robert introduced Faith as follows in Torhout : "It's our rock and roll number, so you're supposed to clap your hands in the back, I think. It's off our new album called Slipping Sally Through The Alley. It's called Faith." The following day, in Werchter, saw them going further the anti-rock'n'roll stanza with Simon Gallup screaming "Fuck Robert Palmer, Fuck Rock'n'roll" in the microphone at the end of A Forest as the band had to shorten their concert there.



GO TO 1981 PART 2