Cloud Nine were (and still are, spiritually)
Richard Ashley, Chris Depledge, Kit Good, Tom Hemmings and Andrew Ibbotson. There were other incarnations, but after the parting of (musical) ways with lead guitarist Mark Sansom, the five piece Cloud NIne settled.

These songs were recorded at Birds Edge Church Hall circa 1991, either by Kit's brother, or Fash's brother, or Fash's brother's mate on a ghetto blaster. The results were so inspiring, Cloud Nine were offered a six album recording contract worth £1.75m. Alas Cloud Nine had to turn it down to complete their GCSE's.

Timeless Smiles had many line ups, but the final incarnation of Samuel T Barber on guitar, Kit Good on bass, Bruce H Renshaw on drums and Andrew Wood on vocals proved to be the difinitive, thanks to this selction of four track demos. The best four track demos this writer has ever heard.

Recorded circa 1993/94. The playing isn't always perfect (though is pretty good) but the songs are wonderful. Recorded with mastery by Samuel on equipment that needed nursing (he'd had lots of practice by then!) The levels are excellent and everything can be heard.

I've recorded the songs into Audacity, via an old cassete copy I had (I only have half the songs unfortunately). I've touched a couple of things up, primarily removing the tape hiss (easy to do on Audacity), bringing out the bass a touch and brightening the cymbals a little with some subtle EQ. I think the result is good!

Smiles trivia:

I'm proud to say I contributed by playing piano on "Nicotine Girlfriend". However, my piano part (played on Bruce's parent's piano) was a little sharper than Sam's temporary guitar backing track and Andrew's vocals. When the backing track was taken away the net result was Andrew's singing sounded flat. Hardly his fault! But nevermind.

Enjoy!

Andrew Ibbotson (No.1 fan)

It was 20 years ago today...

The anniversary of a messy, untidy, dark, and joyous rock band...

 Marble Gardens are Richard Ashley, Daniel Grosvenor, Andrew Ibbotson, Pete Kitson, Geraint Rees, Bruce H Renshaw and Paul Stephenson. 

These songs have been salvaged from disintegrating cassettes. Mixes of a mixed quality, which even at the time of recording,  were considered a little below par. They've been given the Audacity treatment. A little noise removal here, a bit of EQ there (though there's only so much you can do when the dynamic range simply isn't there on the source) and we have something approximating the original Marble Gardens (not to be confused with the Scandinavian jazz band of the same name). 

The songs featuring Pete Kitsen on vocals have a more balanced and less cluttered mix. These also feature Bruce H Renshaw on drums, before Paul Stephenson replaced him.

A dynamic live band. Famed initially for their extremes of volume and speed, then latterly for their psychedelic tendencies, combining multiple layered guitar effects with pop sensibilities. They ceased in 1995.

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