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We present over forty tracks for your delectation... Click a play button to listen online, or (right-)click a download link to grab any of these for free.
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Demos Rarities Album
Tracks
Collaborations
Recent Updates:
March 2012: Added Soul Coat (live), Down By The Riverbank (live) and Walking On Air
June 2011: Added Partir (glitch-free)
Demos
| The Wonder of it All |
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Demo for the album of the same name.
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| Partir |
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The closing track of Azure. You can hear that most elements of the arrangement
were already conceived on Louis's demo. Danny's orchestral washes and Dave Gregory's volume-pedal guitar were added
on the finished article.
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| Maria Celesta |
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A song written for Anthony Adverse's Red Shoes album, recorded
on a Portastudio... hence the abysmal sound quality - more than compensated
by a solid vocal and a very atmospheric backing track composed solely
of multi-tracked classical guitars.
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| Martine |
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This demo of a Louis favourite (which he has performed at every gig since
the release of Sunshine) convinced Bertrand Burgalat to take
on the producer's role on that album. Though most people will not have
realised it, the lyric - seemingly a love song - is actually about a friend
of Louis's who died of AIDS. Recorded with Ken Brake at Regal Lane Studios.
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| Jean & Me |
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Louis: "We could never recapture the drive of this demo
- the chorus in particular - when we recorded Yuri Gagarin. A pity, since
we hoped this tune could be our Trojan horse onto national radio... One
of many occasions when the first draft proved to be much better than the
final version."
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Rarities
| Bali Lied |
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From Humbuggery - various artists compilation - Humbug Records,
BAH13. Bali Lied is an unreleased track from the Sunshine sessions, 1995.
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| Xmas Sun |
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A Christmas song recorded for Trattoria Calendar O.S.T (1994) - Polystar PSCR-5340
(Trattoria menu 48).
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| L'Oiseau de Nuit |
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Cover of a Michel Polnareff song - recorded for the Un hommage à Polnareff
album - XIII BIS Records CD 520994.
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| Le Bal de Laze |
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Cover of another Michel Polnareff song - recorded for the A Tribute
to Polnareff album - XIII BIS Records CD 520995. A melodramatic tale (in French) of a man condemned to hang for a crime of passion. A lot of fun was had raiding the sound effects library for this one...
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| Natsu No Omoide (2000) |
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Traditional Japanese song recorded by Louis for the soundtrack to Manuke
No Kara, a show recorded for Japanese television by the country's
most famous troupe of comedians, the City Boys.
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| Spice Boy (2001) |
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Theme tune for the City Boys' TV series. An instrumental version appeared as the backing to a spoken
word track, Three Views Of Cicely, on 9th & 13th.
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| Little By Little |
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Louis's first collaboration with the City
Boys, an a cappella track recorded in 1998 with David
Longdon, for use in the comedians' roadshow.
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Album tracks
| Rainfall |
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The title track from Rainfall (1991)
- Polystar PSCR-1028.
(Incidentally, there's a wonderful instrumental cover of this song
by avant-chamber ensemble The Four Bags on their 2006 album Live At Barbes.)
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| Rafaella |
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From Sunshine (1994/5) - Humbug
BAH23/Polystar PSCR-5338 (Trattoria menu 49)
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| Jackie Girl |
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The title track from Jackie Girl
(1996) - Polystar PSCR-5464 (Trattoria menu 88)
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| Azure |
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The title track from Azure (1998)
- XIII BIS Records CD 189932
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| Partir |
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From Azure (1998) - XIII BIS Records CD 189932.
Unfortunately, commercially-available mp3s of this track have various audio glitches. The track should be 7:56 long - one version out there is only 7:49, with a few seconds missing at about 2:02! Here is a more-or-less glitch-free copy. (There are a few digital clicks on the CD itself which we can't do anything about, alas.)
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| Le Grenouillère |
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From Nusch (1998) - L'Appareil Photo/Nippon
Columbia COCY 80858
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| Soul Coat (live) |
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From Live (2007) - Wonder β. A live performance of the Wonder Of It All track by Louis and Danny at the Sendesaal, Bremen, Germany, May 2005.
"One of my efforts to write a jazz song..."
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| Down By The Riverbank (live) |
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From Live (2007) - Wonder β. A rare documentation of a full band performance at The Spitz, London, January 2001,
by the Azure lineup of Louis, Danny, David Longdon (guitar/vocals), Dave Gregory (guitar), and Andy Lymn
(drums).
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Collaborations
| Anthony Adverse - Red Shoes Waltz (1988) |
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From The Red Shoes album. One of the outstanding tracks on what
may be Louis's outstanding album from the él period - virtually
a solo effort, as he wrote all the material on the record. Produced by
Richard Preston, keyboard pyrotechnics courtesy of Dean Brodrick. Louis
plays guitars and sings backing vocals (with Martyn Bates of Eyeless in
Gaza).
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| Keiichi Suzuki - Flying Man (1989) |
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From the Mother album, Keiichi and Louis recorded this song (originally the
soundtrack to a video game) at Peter Gabriel's Real World studio.
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| Stuart Moxham & The Original Artists - Over There (1993) |
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From the Random Rules album. In Louis's words: "One of the
happiest recording sessions I ever took part in" - and you can hear
why on this track, with its great tune and a marvellously relaxed feel
to the backing track.
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| Martin Newell - Arcadian Boys (1995) |
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From The Off-White Album by the great poet/gardener from Wivenhoe,
Essex, which Louis produced: "A string arrangement I was extremely
pleased with, all the more so because Martin's melody was so beautiful.
We went for the Leo Ferré treatment on this one - an apt choice, since
Ferré is one of Martin's favourite singers."
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| HaLo - Butterfly Blue (2000) |
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From the Blue album. One of Louis's favourites: a song he wrote
"to order" for Japanese singer Ayako Hirakata ("HaLo"), recorded at MTV
studio in Helsinki. The (beautiful) arrangement was written by Timo Alakotila.
Louis: "The coda to that song is one of the things I'm the most pleased
with... the way Ayako holds her note over the final chords sends shivers
down my spine." Louis contributed backing vocals to the track.
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| Somniloquy (2001) |
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From 9th & 13th, the album from
Jonathan Coe, Louis Philippe and Danny Manners. Louis sings Danny's setting
of the poem from Jonathan's novel The House of Sleep.
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