The Early Solo Recordings Vol. 1: Bluebeard's Anterooms

by David Cronenberg's Wife

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Cassette + Digital Album
Professionally produced cassette tape with full colour two-sided inlay card and printed label, includes the two bonus tracks. Each copy numbered and initialled by DCW lead singer/songwriter Tom Mayne. Only 40 copies available.

Includes unlimited streaming of The Early Solo Recordings Vol. 1: Bluebeard's Anterooms via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Home printed full colour front/back cover in plastic sleeve with white CDR. Contains the two bonus tracks 'Runaway Pram #1' and 'Yes, I am a Model'.

Includes unlimited streaming of The Early Solo Recordings Vol. 1: Bluebeard's Anterooms via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.	Runaway Pram [Early Solo Version #2] 03:29	buy track
2.	Coming to Your Hometown [Early Solo Version] 02:55	buy track
3.	I Do Know [Early Solo Version] 03:47	buy track
4.	Jonny Bentham's Dilemma [Early Solo Version] 05:05	buy track
5.	I Couldn't Get Off [Early Solo Version] 03:21	buy track
6.	Pale Skinned Girl [Early Solo Version] 03:27	buy track
7.	My Best Friend's Going Out with a Girl I Like [Early Solo Version] 02:29	buy track
8.	The Neighbourhood Knows [Early Solo Version] 03:53	buy track
9.	Where is Lucy Leveugle? [Early Solo Version] 03:29	buy track
10.	Harry the Morgue [Early Solo Version] 05:02	buy track
11.	I'm on the Booze, Mama [Early Solo Version] 02:22	buy track
12.	Suicide Pit Stretch Out [Early Solo Version] 03:19	buy track
13.	My Ukrainian Girlfriend [Early Solo Version] 02:49	buy track
14.	My Date with Jenna Bush [Early Solo Version] 04:49	buy track

about

Jeffrey Lewis’ first album taught me to just get on and do it. By the 2000s, home recording was becoming easier, and I had everything I needed – a couple of dozen songs, a guitar, a four track programme from the internet (Cool Edit Pro) and the mic of some voice recognition software that a friend had sold me.

The songs were written in various places but everything happened recording-wise in the attic in Norwood, spending all the time I had up there (stop only when mum calls for tea), keep going until I’m happy (anywhere from 1 to 40 takes), then mixing (technique like the optician: what’s better, 1 or 2?), bounce the tracks down, burn it quick onto a CDR (a magic trick better than the Great Soprendo), take it to a stereo, how does it sound? More guitar here, less keyboard there, pan that vocal, back to the computer to tweak, another CDR, another listening session until I was satisfied it was ready. That’s why I don’t think of these recordings as ‘demos’ – at the time there was no guarantee I would even get a band together, so these had to be the finished article, lo fi or not.

So here you have the results of those early experiments: original versions of every song on the first DCW album ‘Bluebeard’s Rooms’ in solo form, plus early versions of three songs that became B-sides, all recorded at some point between 2003 and 2005. If you buy it you get an extra two tracks – an earlier version of ‘Runaway Pram’ on acoustic guitar (and a splash of trombone at the start) and the never before heard song ‘Yes, I am a Model’.

Some of the songs sound quite similar to the band versions, others not so much. If you know the first album, you’ll spot different lyrics here and there. It’s me on everything – acoustic/electric guitar, keyboard, and in places a bit of percussion (trash can, box, snare). In late 2021, I found the best quality versions of the tracks that I could, took them to Jon Clayton at One Cat in early 2022 who cleaned them up and mastered them.

The full 16 track version is also available on limited edition audio cassette (40 only, each numbered and initialled) and CDR.

In late 2003, I put three of these songs on a CDR (I think it was ‘Runaway Pram #2’, ‘I Do Know’ and ‘Yes, I am a Model’) and gave it to Joe Murphy at the Blang Night he promoted at the 12 Bar. He liked it and sent me an email asking to play in January. I think I actually missed his first email, so I’m glad he wrote again. I had to get a band quickly so asked my friends Jon Baines and Pandora Colin to join on drums and bass, and finally David Cronenberg's Wife was born as an actual band.

All recordings previously unreleased, apart from Track 3 (released on 'Somewhere Between Heaven & Woolworths' compilation) and Track 5.

credits

released April 1, 2022

Mastered by Jon Clayton at One Cat.
Quality Control by Dan Tremor
Cassette tape manufacture by Fairview Duplication.

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about

David Cronenberg's Wife London, UK

Who are DCW? Three sessions on BBC 6 Music (Marc Riley and Cerys Matthews), they supported The Fall, and are one of the key bands in the Antifolk UK DIY scene which served as a catalyst for other like-minded bands in London to follow suit, like the Fat White Family and Goat Girl. This Bandcamp features songs from the band's archive - want the official releases? Go to the Blang Records Bandcamp. ... more

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