There's a Locust song called "Just Like You" that I really love. It's a stand-out track on Morning Light and was sung by Craig Bethell. A few years back, I became intrigued by this vocalist. His voice was great, but who was he? Why hadn't I heard of him before or since? I wanted to know more, so I did some searches. None of the music sites had much to say so I turned to Yahoo where I learned that he'd recorded an entire album with Locust mastermind Mark Van Hoen called A Day Full Of You, A Night Tired Of Me. It hadn't been officially released, but there was a short window of time when you could pay £8 and have it sent to you. A short window that I'd missed. Such is my luck.I sent an e-mail to the address provided hoping that I might convince them to send me a copy anyway. As it happens, I got an e-mail from the man himself offering to burn me a copy. Sweet! A CD appeared a couple weeks later, along with a hand-written note about the recordings and how he'd been unsuccessful in shopping the album to labels. He was kind enough to include a few bonus tracks too. I listened to it and liked it but the disc got buried beneath a pile of crap on my desk and ended up in a box not to be seen again for about three years until I came across it a few nights ago. I popped it in the player and really liked it this time. This caused me to put his name in a Yahoo search and there were a bunch of hits: a MySpace page, a listing for the album on Target's website of all places. When did this happen?
December, apparently. Craig and Mark went into the studio in 2006 and "revised, rerecorded, remixed and revamped" some of the songs from the original album and recorded some new ones for a proper release of A Day Full Of You, A Night Tired Of Me which Infraction Records released last December. I haven't received my copy yet, but based on samples of the album it sounds very much in keeping with the disc he sent me and the tracks he did with Locust: melancholic, romantic, late-night music. Sort of a cross between "I Only Have Eyes For You" by The Flamingos, Counterfeit by Martin Gore, and Secrets of the Beehive by David Sylvian. If that makes any sense. Anyway, it's gorgeous and worth your time to check out. I'm glad he finally got it released!
Check it out:
Locust - Just Like You
Craig Bethell - Post Modern Times
Craig Bethell - I'm Coming Through (Demo)
2 comments:
Insane. I love that there is someone out there that even knows of Locust! They did a cover for us on the Depeche Mode tribute album I worked on years ago! Did you ever hear their take on Master And Servant?
Oh, I love Locust. Well, I love his more "pop" albums anyway. I absolutely know the "Master and Servant" cover. I have that tribute album AND the split Locust/Failure/God Lives Underwater single with the alternate "Dominant version" of "Master and Servant." I'm hard core!
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