Band of Georges Volume VIII Side B.
May 1987 to October 1988.

In 1986, George bought a Tascam 244, a 4-track cassette portastudio. It was state-of-the-art at that time. He also joined a programme that the government was running called the Enterprise Allowance scheme. There was even a cheque book with the name ‘Wud Productions’ printed on every page, which seemed pretty cool at that time.

Once the parcel arrived and he figured out how the machine worked, he started recording most of the songs he had written, starting with the earliest. Some particularly ghastly or unbearable creations were ignored. Those recordings, made on the 4-track cassette recorder, were mixed down to cassette.

Rough Terrain formed a year or so after George began making these recordings, and he would pass the tapes around among the other band members. He said that if they should hear anything there that they liked and that might fit the band, Rough Terrain could try to learn them. Danny, Rough Terrain’s drummer, did some hilarious impressions after he had heard a couple of the cassettes, which made everyone in the band laugh.

For many years George would not allow these songs to be published, for reasons best known to himself. Now he has had a change of heart.

Nearly every part on every song was performed by George. Thus came the name, Band of Georges.

There are several curious things we have noticed whilst putting these Band of Georges compilations together. The most striking is that they are actually not all that bad! In fact, some of the songs that nothing ever came of are rather catchy and tend to remain in the head long after listening.

The next observation is something that George said. He told us that his various girlfriends of those days always complained that the vocals weren’t loud enough. We disagree! In most cases the vocals are on the overpowering side. By today’s standards, if we were remixing these songs, we would probably bring the vocals back about five to ten dB in the mix. Seriously.

There was no compressor used anywhere in any of the recordings. None. Everything was recorded by backing off from the mic during loud moments. It was mixed by sliding the faders and twiddling the knobs. There was no automation like we all enjoy on today’s DAWs.

Remember that there were only four tracks. This meant that some songs required the audio to be ‘bounced down’ onto one track to make room for more audio to be recorded. This was, of course, destructive editing, and what was done was done. A bounce also resulted in the degradation of the signal quality from the original recording, so a maximum of one bounce was probably all that was feasible. These factors also meant that the order in which tracks were recorded required planning and forethought.

Most songs feature a Boss DR55 drum machine, a primitive device with only a few programmable sounds. The hi-hat switch could be set to eigths, sixteenths, or off. The tempo was adjusted using a very analogue knob. There was no BPM indicator, you just had to go by feel. If the knob was somehow moved before the section of drum machine track was finished, then you had troubles.

It was also fascinating to hear the thoughts and musings of a much younger version of someone we know well here at the label. Some of the songs he still finds painfully cringeworthy and unbearably wincable, but they are included in their collections all the same. He said they were his therapy at the time. There is also a fair amount of musical experimentation.

We have kept the songs in the same order as they appear on the cassettes and split each volume into two – side A and side B.

We hope you will enjoy hearing these songs as written and performed by the Band of Georges.

See also:
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/miscellaneous/band-of-georges/
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/miscellaneous/band-of-georges/volume-ix-side-a/
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/news/band-of-georges-release-permission-granted/
https://linktr.ee/wudrecords

Downloads

Band of Georges: Volume IX Side A

Run by George.
From Volume IX Side A of the Band of Georges.

Music and lyrics by G. Davies.
Composed July 1987.

Recorded December 1987 to April 1991.
Mixed May 1991.
Lifted from cassette August 2025.

Copyright © 1987 & 2025 Wud Records.
Copyright ℗ 1987 Explicit Music.

Fun Facts:
Run was composed in July 1987 at 19 Haldon Road, Exeter.
This was during the days of Rough Terrain.
It was also around the same time that Lizzy and Dave moved into the flat on the top floor.
After that, the whole house became like a real life version of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Run was the fourth and last song on this cassette when Pete helped George move house from Plymouth back to Exeter.
During the journey, the cassette was played in the van.
Run was the only one of the four songs that Pete liked.
George can no longer recollect who had cheesed him off enough to write this song about them.
The vocal is bizarrely a bit munchkinised.
George must have slowed the tape down to record the vocal part.
Perhaps he couldn't quite hit or hold one of the higher notes.

See also:
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/miscellaneous/band-of-georges/
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/miscellaneous/band-of-georges/volume-ix-side-a/
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/news/band-of-georges-release-permission-granted/
https://linktr.ee/wudrecords

Volume IX Side A

Band of Georges: Run

I Pass You By by George.
From Volume IX Side A of the Band of Georges.

Music and lyrics by G. Davies.
Composed 24th July 1987, 8:00 - 8:50pm.

Recorded May 1991 to August 1991.
Mixed August 1991.
Lifted from cassette August 2025.

Copyright © 1987 & 2025 Wud Records.
Copyright ℗ 1987 Explicit Music.

Fun Facts:
I Pass You By was composed in July 1987 at 19 Haldon Road, Exeter.
It was inspired by the beautiful train journey from Exeter to Torquay.
This journey was George's occasional commute during that summer.
The sound of the train at the start was recorded one evening using two mics and an open window at 63 King Street, Exeter.
That particular property was very close to the main London to Penzance railway line.
It was probably the sound of a British Snail, er, Rail, Intercity 125.
Programming the Boss DR 220A drum machine probably took a long time.
I Pass You By was never included in the set of any band.

See also:
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/miscellaneous/band-of-georges/
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/miscellaneous/band-of-georges/volume-ix-side-a/
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/news/band-of-georges-release-permission-granted/
https://linktr.ee/wudrecords

I Pass You By

Band of Georges: I Pass You By

Leaving Home by George.
From Volume IX Side A of the Band of Georges.

Music and lyrics by G. Davies.
Composed 1st June 1987 circa 01:00am.

Recorded December 1987 to April 1991.
Mixed May 1991.
Lifted from cassette August 2025.

Copyright © 1987 & 2025 Wud Records.
Copyright ℗ 1987 Explicit Music.

Fun Facts:
When the lyrics for Leaving Home begin, they are describing the scene in George's room in real time.
Some of the lyrics are by turn fascinating, wistful, poignant and telling.
There is rather a lot of reverb on here, from the same source as for Secret Subsociety.
The drum machine is again the Boss DR 220A.
The EDP Wasp also makes a few appearances.
Leaving Home was never performed by any band.
The bass was tuned to a drop-D for this song.

See also:
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/miscellaneous/band-of-georges/
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/miscellaneous/band-of-georges/volume-ix-side-a/
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/news/band-of-georges-release-permission-granted/
https://linktr.ee/wudrecords

Leaving Home

Band of Georges: Leaving Home

Ocean And by George.
From Volume IX Side A of the Band of Georges.

Music and lyrics by G. Davies.
Composed July 1987.

Recorded December 1987 to April 1991.
Mixed May 1991.
Lifted from cassette August 2025.

Copyright © 1987 & 2025 Wud Records.
Copyright ℗ 1987 Explicit Music.

Fun Facts:
We cannot find any paperwork or lyrics for Ocean And.
George believes it was composed in late June or early July 1987.
It was composed on the bass with a delay pedal, rather than on guitar like nearly all of George's other songs.
Ocean And was written at 19 Haldon Road, Exeter.
This was during the days of Rough Terrain.
It was also around the same time that Lizzy and Dave moved into the flat on the top floor.
After that, the whole house became like a real life version of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Ocean And was briefly considered for addition to the Rough Terrain repertoire, but never was.

See also:
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/miscellaneous/band-of-georges/
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/miscellaneous/band-of-georges/volume-ix-side-a/
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/news/band-of-georges-release-permission-granted/
https://linktr.ee/wudrecords

Ocean And

Band of Georges: Ocean And

Secret Subsociety by George.
From Volume IX Side A of the Band of Georges.

Music and lyrics by G. Davies.
Composed 15th May 1987, 11:00ish to 12:55ish.
Additional composition circa September 1987 and January 1988.

Recorded December 1987 to April 1991.
Mixed May 1991.
Lifted from cassette August 2025.

Copyright © 1987 & 2025 Wud Records.
Copyright ℗ 1987 Explicit Music.

Fun Facts:
The first ten seconds or so of this are a bit garbled due to cassette deterioration over several decades.
Secret Subsociety may have the longest set of lyrics of all of George's songs.
It expresses a lot of experiences around the themes of claustrophobia, fear and paranoia.
George is no longer sure about how it was produced exactly.
The reverb that rather dominates the mix may have belonged to Watershed, or Zaphod, or Paul, who produced the Rough Terrain demos.
George remembers playing this, and the next three songs on this tape, to Pete inn his van in 1991.
This was the occasion when Pete collected George from Plymouth to move him and his belongings back to Exeter.
Pete didn't like the first three songs, including this one.
The opening lyrics describe George's writer's block, which then became unblocked as the song unfolded.
There was a pre-bounce mix of this which featured the bass and two guitars.
Sadly this mix has not survived the passage of time and is beyond repair.
As such, the way the song ended up being mixed was quite odd due to the number of tracks needed for all of the parts.
This is quite an ambitious recording, especially for just four tracks on a cassette.
It uses the newer Boss DR 220A drum machine, which actually ran out of memory.
The drums at the end had to be overdubbed once the first 256 bars had been recorded.

See also:
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/miscellaneous/band-of-georges/
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/miscellaneous/band-of-georges/volume-ix-side-a/
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/news/band-of-georges-release-permission-granted/
https://linktr.ee/wudrecords

Secret Subsociety

Band of Georges: Secret Subsociety

Leaving Home (Coda) by George.
From Volume IX Side A of the Band of Georges.

Music and lyrics by G. Davies.
Composed 1st June 1987 circa 01:00am.

Recorded December 1987 to April 1991.
Mixed May 1991.
Lifted from cassette August 2025.

Copyright © 1987 & 2025 Wud Records.
Copyright ℗ 1987 Explicit Music.

Fun Facts:
Leaving Home (Coda) is actually a bonus track.
This coda was something we discovered at the end of the mix of Leaving Home.
It appears to be just some guitar noodling that happened once the take was finished and the tape was still running.
There's a certain poignancy to it, like a final farewell, so we included it here.
When the lyrics for Leaving Home begin, they are describing the scene in George's room in real time.
Some of the lyrics are by turn fascinating, wistful, poignant and telling.
There is rather a lot of reverb on here, from the same source as for Secret Subsociety.
The drum machine is again the Boss DR 220A.
The EDP Wasp also makes a few appearances.
Leaving Home was never performed by any band.
The bass was tuned to a drop-D for this song.

See also:
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/miscellaneous/band-of-georges/
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/miscellaneous/band-of-georges/volume-ix-side-a/
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/news/band-of-georges-release-permission-granted/
https://linktr.ee/wudrecords

Leaving Home (Coda)

Band of Georges: Leaving Home (Coda)

Frustration Song by George.
From Volume IX Side A of the Band of Georges.

Music by G. Davies/J. Peirce.
Lyrics by G. Davies.
Composed 26th August 1987, 03:00 - 03:56pm.

Recorded May 1991 to August 1991.
Mixed August 1991.
Lifted from cassette August 2025.

Copyright © 1987 & 2025 Wud Records.
Copyright ℗ 1987 Explicit Music.

Fun Facts:
Frustration Song was composed at 19 Haldon Road, Exeter.
George wrote it after a period of frustration.
He had been in a relationship with a girlfriend who liked him to do absolutely nothing for long periods of time.
As a person who was always active, he found this very difficult.
It is written on the lyric sheet "A song for" and then the name of the girlfriend.
This was the most reggae song he had ever written up to this point.
The bassline was the creation of Jerry from Rough Terrain.
One of the voices was recorded with the tape slowed down to give the voice a different sound.
The distorted lead guitar is plugged directly into the portastudio. rather than using a mic and a guitar amplifier, to give it that distinct tone.

See also:
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/miscellaneous/band-of-georges/
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/miscellaneous/band-of-georges/volume-ix-side-a/
https://www.wudrecords.co.uk/news/band-of-georges-release-permission-granted/
https://linktr.ee/wudrecords

Frustration Song

Band of Georges: Frustration Song

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