The Music | grantlouden

HOME

Side Roads

Discography

Radio & TV

Discography

Bootlegs

Side One
1: Someone to Talk To (3:35)
2: I Want Up (3:35)
3: Good And Gone (1:42)

Side Two
1: You're Gonna Change (2:39)
2: Happy Home (2:53)
3: Tracking The Dog (2:58)

Big Beat (Ned 7), and later

WEA (240 650-1, WX 16)

Big Beat 1984 / WEA 1985

The 'Good & Gone' EP was recorded in Spring of 1984, and released by Big Beat in Autumn of that year. In January 1985 the band were signed by WEA Records and the EP re-released under WEA. On its release the EP went straight into the top twenty in the UK independent record chart and remained there for a full six months.

The original studio session saw 11 tracks recorded in all and the whole affair was financed by Ted Carrol of Big Beat. Carrol chose the 6 songs that featured on the EP, and of the five remainders only President Kennedy's Mile was later released intact on the 'Gun-Shy' album.

The tracks not to make the cut were;

Let's Go Down To The Woods, President Kennedy's Mile, Growing For Gold, Holiday Head and Wild Blue Yonder

Folks who have heard early live shows will recognise the versions of Let's Go Down To The Woods, Holiday Head and Wild Blue Yonder, which all feature quite different intros to their 'Gun-Shy' counterparts. And if you've got the Twin Cadillac Valentine 12" you'll have heard a live version of Growing For Gold with it's Bo Diddly-esque rhythms and great choppy guitar sounds.

The original Big Beat record is 45rpm and sounds superior to the later 33rpm WEA version.

Recorded at Elephant Studios, London.

Produced by Vic Maile

All songs written by Bill Carter except You're Gonna Change by Hank Williams, and Someone To Talk To written by Bill Carter and Chris Thompson.

Side One
1: Wild Blue Yonder (4:44)
2: Holiday Head (3:58)
3: Smash The Market Place (3:10)
4: You're Gonna Change (2:41)
5: Just For Fun (2:49)
6: Let's Go Down To The Woods (4:34)

Side Two
1: Talking Doll (2:38)
2: Twin Cadillac Valentine (3:57)
3: President Kennedy's Mile (2:56
4: Someone to Talk To (3:36)
5: Clear View (4:00)
6: Killer Born Man (3:32)

WEA (WX41 240 791-1)
Elektra (60488-4

WEA 1986

Having signed to WEA in January 1985, work on a new album started immediately. Sessions with WEA's choice of producers went badly. The band had wanted to use Vic Maile again, bearing in mind the considerable success of 'Good and Gone'. The band's morale was getting low until eventually Howard Gray was brought in to produce. All previous sessions were dumped. However, owing to other commitments Gray had to quit after making only half the album. Eventually WEA gave in and hired Vic Maile who produced the second half of the album. This was the band's first US release.

Holiday Head, Smash The Market Place, You're Gonna Change, Just For Fun, President Kennedy's Mile, Someone To Talk To and Clear View produced by Vic Maile.

Wild Blue Yonder produced by Howard Gray & Pat Collier.

Let's Go Down To The Woods, Talking Doll, Twin Cadillac Valentine and Killer Born Man produced by Howard Gray.

Mixed at Unique Studios, New York, USA by Chris Lord Alge, except You're Gonna Change and Someone To Talk To mixed by Vic Maile.

All songs written by Bill Carter except You're Gonna Change by Hank Williams, and Someone To Talk To written by Bill Carter & Chris Thompson.

US sleeve, signed, and acetates for Gun-Shy album.

Gun-Shy Singles

Twin Cadillac Valentine 12" & 7"

12"

A-Side
1: Twin Cadillac Valentine (3:55)
2: Good And Gone (1:40)
3: Growing For Gold (3:41)

B-Side
4: You're Gonna Change (2:21)
5: Someone To Talk To (3:41)
6 Happy Home (3:21)

Tracks 2-6 recorded live at the University of London Union, mixed by Pat Collier.

A-Side
1: Twin Cadillac Valentine (3:55)

B-Side
2: Good And Gone (1:40)
3: Growing For Gold (3:41)

Tracks 2 & 3 recorded live at the University of London Union.

All songs written by Bill Carter except 3: by Carter / Moon / Thompson. 4: by Hank Williams and 5: by Carter / Thompson. Produced by Howard Gray.

Smash The Market Place 12" & 7"

12"

A-Side
1: Smash The Market Place (3:06))

B-Side
2: Just For Fun (2:47)
3: The Power Glide (3:40)

7"

1: Smash The Market Place (3:06))

B-Side
2: Just For Fun (2:47)

All songs written by Bill Carter.

Tracks 1 and 2 produced by Vic Maile.
Track 3 produced by Bob Andrews and Colin Fairley.

Acetates for Smash The Market Place 12"

Wild Blue Yonder 12" & 7"

12"

A-Side
1: Wild Blue Yonder (4:36)

B-Side
2: Killer Born Man (3:31)
3: I'm Mad Again (3:00)

A-Side
1: Wild Blue Yonder (4:36)

B-Side
2: Killer Born Man (3:31)

All songs written by Bill Carter except 3: by John Lee Hooker.

Track 1 produced by Howard Gray & Pat Collier.
Tracks 2 and 3 produced by Vic Maile.

Side One

1: Sweet Water Pools (3:32)
2: Bikini Red (3:47)
3: Too Much Love (3:07)
4: I Can Speak American (2:57)
5: Big Brother Muscle (2:59)

WEA 1987

January 1987 saw the band return to the studio to record their second full length album, which features one of the greatest opening tracks of all time - Sweet Water Pools. Sharing song-writing duties again with Bill on half the album was Tony Moon of Motor Boys Motor. The MBM album had featured a song called Here Come The Flintstones, and they returned to the theme to concoct a throw-away tune about the cartoon caveman that was to prove to be both their only UK top ten hit and the beginning of the end of the love affair with the UK music press. I Wanna Be A Flintstone got them onto Top Of The Pops and onto the soundtrack of the Flintsones feature film years later - though curiously it appears in the US cut of the film but not the UK version.

Produced by Vic Maile

Mixed by Chris Lord Alge at The Hit Factory, New York.
Engineers: Ian Caple and Harold Burgen.

All songs written by Bill Carter except Bikini Red, Big Brother Muscle, I Wanna Be A Flintstone, Lie Detector, 55 - The Law and All Shook Down by Bill Carter / Tony Moon.

Side Two

1: I Wanna Be A Flintstone (2:31)
2: Jesus Chrysler Drives A Dodge (4:01)
3: Lie Detector (3:59)
4: 55-The Law (2:10)
5: All Shook Down (2:16)
6: Waltz (3:31)

Bikini Red Singles

Bikini Red 12" & 7"

12"

A-Side
1: Bikini Red (3:47)

B-Side
2: All Shook Down (2:16)
3: 55-The Law (2:10)

All tracks taken from the album.

A-Side
1: Bikini Red (3:47)

B-Side
2: All Shook Down (2:16)

Produced by Vic Maile

All songs written by Bill Carter / Tony Moon.

I Wanna Be A Flintstone 12", 7", Picture disc

12"

A-Side
1: I Wanna Be A Flintstone (Extended Mix) (5:20)

B-Side
2: I Wanna Be A Flintstone (2:29)
3: Jerry's Electric Church (3:33)

A-Side
1: Wanna Be A Flintstone (2:29)

B-Side
2: Jerry's Electric Church (3:33)

Produced by Vic Maile

All songs written by Bill Carter / Tony Moon

I Can Speak American 12", 7"

12"

A-Side
1: I Can Speak American (Extended Remix) (4:48)

B-Side
2: Good And Gone (1:40)
3: Twin Cadillac Valentine (3:54)

A-Side
1: I Can Speak American (3:08)

B-Side
2: Good And Gone (1:40)

I Can Speak American produced by Vic Maile, mixed by Chris Lord-Alge.
Remix produced by Bruce Lampcov.

Good & Gone produced by Vic Maile.

Twin Cadillac Valentineproduced by Howard Gray.

All songs written by Bill Carter.

Elektra 1989

'Totally Religious' turned out to be the Screaming Blue Messiahs' final studio album. The overall tone of the songs is generally more serious than on 'Bikini Red', taking in such diverse themes as war, religion, westerns, Judge Dredd, martians and getting hitched with African tribesmen! Sadly Vic Maile had passed away, and rightly the album is dedicated to his memory. Howard Gray and Rob Stevens' production resulted in an immense wall of sound and there is an epic feel to Bill's ever impressive guitar work. No singles were released and by December 1989, without a record deal, the band finally broke up.

Produced by Howard Gray and Robert Stevens

Recorded and mixed at Sheffield Recording, Phoenix, Maryland. Pre-Production at Miami Sound, Miami, Florida and Alaska Studios, Waterloo, London.

Dedicated to Vic Maile

All songs written by Bill Carter

Side One

1: Four Engines Burning (Over The USA) (3:55)
2: Mega City 1 (4:07)
3: Wall Of Shame (4:11)
4: Nitro (3:18)
5: Big Big Sky (5:13)

Side Two

1: Watusi Wedding (2:41)
2: Here Comes Lucky (4:31)
3: Gunfight (3:01)
4: Martian (3:19)
5: All Gassed Up (3:00)

The Peel Sessions 1986 BBC

1: Good And Gone (1:39)
2: Someone To Talk To (3:51)
3: Tracking The Dog (3:04)
4: Let's Go Down To The Woods And Pray (3:13)

Not the greatest production job in the world, but notable for the original version of Let's Go Down To The Woods And Pray, which ended up substantially different by the time Howard Gray got through with it when recording 'Gun-Shy'.

Strange Fruit (SFPS 003) - UK 12" vinyl

Dutch East India Trading (DEI8315-2) - US CD

Produced by Mark Radcliffe.
Recorded 24th July 1984.
First transmitted on John Peel show 2nd August 1984.

All songs written by Bill Carter.

Windsong (WINCD 022)

Recorded 27th February 1988, Town & Country Club, London.
Produced by Pete Ritzema.

All songs written by Bill Carter

except 3, 5 and 7 by Bill Carter / Tony Moon.

BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert 1992 Windsong

1: Sweet Water Pools (5:12)
2: Jesus Chrysler Drives A Dodge (6:30)
3: Bikini Red (5:08)
4: Happy Home (4:31)
5: Jerry's Electric Church (4:40)
6: Clear View (6:22)
7: I Wanna Be A Flintstone (4:30)
8: Talking Doll (3:28)
9: Holiday Head (4:34)
10: Twin Cadillac Valentine (6:15)

"And, as they disappear into the ether, you can once more relive the live excitement, smell the sweat, stale beer and cigarrette smoke, and nod your head in approval of the killer British rock band from the late Eighties. There were no competitors! About the only thing that's missing is sometime lyricist Tony Moon's projected backdrop. But you can't have everything..."

From the booklet

Taken from a German FM radio broadcast from 1989 and released with collaboration of all band members in 2007.

I was instrumental in bringing this project to life, having gathered a number of bootleg gigs and sharing them with the band. They reached a consensus on this Zurich gig being the best of the recordings and interesting in it's set list and sound. It was briefly made available for sale direct from Kenny in 2007/8. I did the sleeve and label design for it as well.

Live in Zurich 2007

1: Wall Of Shame 5.54

2: Jesus Chrysler Drives A Dodge 4.30

3: Sweet Water Pools 5.39

4: Mega City 1 5.43

5: Four Engines Burning 8.05

6: Gunfight 4.08

7: All Gassed Up 4.09

8: Twin Cadillac Valentine 5.32

9: Happy Home 3.31

10: You’re Gonna Change / Accident Prone 7.40

11: Here Comes Lucky 4.58

12: Martian 3.58

13: Big Big Sky / Good And Gone 8.36

Live at the Rote Fabrik Zürich, Switzerland

7th December 1989

Swiss Radio DRS3 FM broadcast

Live at the BBC 2009 HUX Records

Paris Theatre, Radio 1, 30 March 1985

1: Good and Gone (1:37)

2: Vision and Blues (3:26)

3: Growing For Gold (3:34)

4: Tracking The Dog (3:25)

5: Let's Go Down To The woods (2:45)

6: Happy Home (3:25)

7: Holiday Head (4:10)

8: President Kennedy's Mile (2:48)

9: Destroyer (2:59)

10: Wild Blue Yonder (3:19)

11: Twin Cadillac Valentine (5:24)

Recorded 30th March 1985 at the Paris Theatre, London

Produced by Jeff Griffin

Andy Kershaw Session 14 June 198

12: Good and Gone (1:39)

13: Tracking The Dog (2:43)

14: Talking Doll (2:04)

Janice Long Session 4 November 1987:

15: Sweet Water Pools (3:47)

16: I Wanna Be A Flintstone (3:29)

17: Big Brother Muscle (3:32)

Sweet Water Pools 7"

2016 EasyAction Records

Record Store Day release

A: Sweet Water Pools

B: Four Engines Burning

Remastered limited edition of 300.

Vision In Blues 2016 Easy Action Records 5-CD Box set

Remastered Albums

Good and Gone (+ extra tracks)

Gun-Shy (+ extra tracks)

Bikini Red (extra track)

Totally Religious

Live in Zurich

(Early orders received a bonus 5-track live CD 'Live by Five')

7" Single

Side One:

Vision in Blues

Side Two:

Let's Go Down To The Woods

Good And Gone

(All recorded live 1984)

I was asked by Easy Action Records first for help with info on the band, then to design the box set and booklet. I also remastered the sleeve artworks for all five CD albums and designed the 7" single. Bill did the booklet cover.

Below:

Booklet cover back and front, 7" sleeve and CD cover flats.

SBMFM

On SBMFM radio above is Good And Gone live in London 1985, and Gunfight from Tampa, Florida 1988.

Discography

Side Roads

Radio & TV

Bootlegs

Big Beat 1984 / WEA 1985

WEA 1986

Gun-Shy Singles

Twin Cadillac Valentine 12" & 7"

Smash The Market Place 12" & 7"

7"

Wild Blue Yonder 12" & 7"

WEA 1987

Bikini Red Singles

Bikini Red 12" & 7"

I Wanna Be A Flintstone 12", 7", Picture disc

I Can Speak American 12", 7"

Elektra 1989

The Peel Sessions 1986 BBC

​

BBC Radio 1 Live In Concert 1992 Windsong

​

Live in Zurich 2007

​

Live at the BBC 2009 HUX Records

​

Sweet Water Pools 7"

2016 EasyAction Records

Record Store Day release

​

Vision In Blues 2016 Easy Action Records 5-CD Box set

​

SBMFM