TELEVISION
APPEARENCES :
Top of the Pops : Primary
Star Club : Primary
Werchter Festival
RARE LYRICS TRANSCRIPTS :
Primary (John Peel Session 81)
RARE INTERVIEW :
Rock On, BBC Radio
Grinding Halt fanzine
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.
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).
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...
The live repertoire included : Killing An Arab, 10:15 Saturday Night, Accuracy,
Grinding Halt, Fire In Cairo, Three Imaginary Boys, Boys Don't Cry, Jumping
Someone Else's Train, I'm Cold, Seventeen Seconds, Play For Today, In Your
House, A Forest, M, At Night, Another Journey By Train, The Holy Hour, Primary,
Other Voices, All Cats Are Grey, The Funeral Party, The Drowning Man, Faith,
Forever.
MAY
02nd
Bristol, Colston Hall
Robert had a word at the beginning of the show about
the fact that if people wanted to dance, they could. Nothing wrong with
people "enjoying" themselves (!). Maybe
a reaction against the press reviews comparing the show with a religious
ceremony.
17th
Newcastle, City Hall
Definitely in the mood to try different things that night. A Forest lyrics
were improvised while Killing an Arab's intro turned into a joke with different
notes at first. Faith included the line "Slowly the picture fades",
a recurrent line later for the extra lyrics of the song.
22nd
Dublin, Mai Ball College
Robert Smith later talked about this show (in the 10 Imaginary Years book),
telling a whole story about stopping 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 extraordinary.
27th
The Picture tour reached Belgium, Germany and Holland (34 shows). The Dutch
dates were performed under a circus
tent, a way to avoid traditional venues, even if that meant having to
built the tent every night. 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
04th
Torhout, Festival
That was the first time the band played at this major Belgian festival.
There was no encore as they were only allowed to play for 75 minutes. Robert
probably hated having to play in such festivals (the bill also included
Robert Palmer, Dire Straits...), introducing Faith as follows : "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."
05th
Werchter, Festival
GO TO 1981 PART 2
