I stumbled across this album in a charity shop in the mid-80s. The cover intrigued me so I bought it. I utterly fell in love with it. I am embarrassed to admit that even though our paths almost crossed at the Billy Mackenzie tribute at Shepherd's Bush Empire I actually didn't realise that "L. Howard Hughes" was also the man responsible for this work of genre-defying genius or else I would have pestered you something rotten. I tried to get Lene Lovich to cover "Spillane" but it didn't happen, alas. But I would like to know if it's available to license for a film, perhaps someone could let me know if so.

Always loved this song. Would love to get the lyrics, am contemplating a cover. Great stuff,

Mayhem (original version)

Hanging On

Going Down (Peter Panther)

Mexico (Peter Panther)

Lonely Man

Naughty Chooks

Cinévi is a narrative track performed by Ghost Of Maya, blending theatrical spoken-word and poetic refrains. It carries the listener through a dream, or maybe not a dream, where every detail unfolds like a vision of the future.

The story imagines a time when art and cinema no longer require physical talent. In this world, thoughts alone are enough: imagine a film, a book, a piece of music, and it immediately becomes real. Yet the song also carries a warning, because if every thought can take shape, the only true art left is the art of thinking itself.

Step by step, the narrator wanders through an endless city of cubes, enters one of them, and meets a figure that slowly takes human form. This mysterious presence explains how the future works, where VRX (a simulator that only exists in this story… or maybe not) can materialize any thought into a tangible reality. From there, the reflection grows larger, touching on the future of creativity, the meaning of imagination, and the fragile balance between freedom and control.

Finally, the narrator decides to think of his own time, hoping to return. Suddenly the vision collapses: laughter fades into silence, the world splits into glitch and prism, and he finds himself back, telling us: I had a dream. No, it wasn’t a dream. Or maybe it was.

Cinévi is ambient and dark, immersive and poetic, layered with meaning and critique. It is both a story and a soundscape, a meditation on technology, imagination, and the future of art itself.

Cinévi

Doom (Melancholic Shores)

Source: http://www.criterion.com/films/27620-kiss-me-deadly

Lyrics:

Spillane
Something’s in the road 
Someone’s running in the road 
in my headlights

Someone running wild
Someone crying like a child
Say it’s alright

Suddenly a car
Pulls across me much too far
And I’m out....

Sapped I’m waking sleeping
Lying face down feel the shaking
And the screams

She looks back 
Talks hard
Too long 
Too loud

He wouldn’t stop
He couldn’t stop
Until she gives out loud

Push your way inside 
There was something there to hide
Like an old man’s notebook

Something unexplained
Something getting in the way
Like a small time street crook

No more empty room
No more Nicko va va voom
No more old way death ray

Something in your eyes
Something...you’re so civilised
I can’t tell what you say

(Remember me)

She looks back (as above)

Carver on the street
She on the run
She pulled a gun and she said

Kiss me
Kiss me
Kiss me Mike
Kiss me

She was rolling on the street 
She on the run
She pulled a gun and she said

Give it to me 
Gimme gimme 
Gimme

I WANT HALF

Everybody love romancer
Lover make the greatest dancer

What’s in the box?
Whatsit. Great Whatsit
What’s in the box?

Meet me on the beach 
I‘ll be there somewhere you can reach
In the firelight

There’s danger in the ring
It’s unexploded in the wings 
And your friend was too bright

Suddenly it’s late
It’s getting too late to explain
And the clouds are storming

Meet me in the sea
We should be safe or maybe free
From the Soberin(g) scorching

RMASMHKMD 
(Ralph Meeker as Mike Hammer Kiss Me Deadly)

Cheap words with no sense
And no rhyme. 
Who knows?
Me.

Spillane.

Spillane

https://www.youtube.com/@thefranklyns https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61556681353253

DESIGN IS NOT A MATTER OF OPINION.
 
The music presented here spans a forty year period and is best accessed via the 'playlists' and 'Albums' options on this page.

This is the SoundCloud page for Steve Betts. 
Music from Vachement Bath, Howard Hughes and the Western Approaches, L. Howard Hughes and The Books.
All tracks written/composed by Steve Betts. 
Video footage of performances with The Franklyns, The Western Approaches, The Associates, Eurythmics and Pete Murphy on the Youtube channel playlist.

All tracks downloadable for free on request.

In 1978 I formed a band called The Books and signed to Logo/RCA records and Virgin Music. 
The band recorded singles and an album, Expertise, all produced by Colin Thurston, and toured the UK supporting The Skids.

In 1982 I adopted the name L. Howard Hughes 
and began working with Billy Mackenzie and The Associates touring the UK, Europe and USA and recording the single 'Breakfast' and the album 'Perhaps'.
Around the same time I met Peter Murphy, from the band Bauhaus, who was beginning a solo career and worked with him co-writing and producing his first solo album, 'Should the World Fail to Fall Apart.'

In 1984 I formed another band, Howard Hughes and the Western Approaches and released singles on Abstract/Polydor and EG records. 

Throughout the 80s and 90s I worked with various artists touring and recording in Europe, the States and Japan as a session player, arranger, producer as well as writing, performing and releasing my own music.

In 2006 I formed a band called Vachement Bath and we played shows in London. I have also contributed to the 60x60 project as well as creating an online catalogue of work.  I led the BA(Hons)Music Performance and Production Programme at the University Of East London from 2014 to 2021 after which I co-formed my current band, The Franklyns. I live and write in the countryside.

Spillane

Steve Betts

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