Monday 12 November 2018

Monday's Long Song


I never knew much about His Name Is Alive other than they were signed to 4AD. Their albums covers kind of gave that away. I came across Wish I Had A Wishing Ring on some compilation CD that came with a magazine. It was the standout track on the thing.

His Name Is Alive was essentially Warren Defever (great name) from Michigan plus an ever revolving line-up of singers and musicians. He pestered 4AD owner Ivo Watts-Russell for four years, bombarding him with tapes of music, before eventually being signed in 1989. They became one of the label's most popular acts. I Wish I Had A Wishing Ring, a brilliant blast of blues-fuelled squall, is sung by Louvetta Pippen (another great name) and appeared on their fifth album 'Ft. Lake' in 1998. Despite weighing in at more than 6 minutes, it was radically edited for the album, the original recording stretching to a whopping 17 minutes. And it is that version I present today.


2 comments:

  1. Wow ! That's all I can say. How did I miss this when they were first released.

    I'm just wondering now how you can keep up that guitar playing for 17 minutes straight. Editing probably but I'd like to believe that he did the full run through.

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  2. Judging from the first sentence of your post, we were both similarly under-informed about the music of His Name is Alive. Blimey, what a raw sound. I had no idea that they made this kind of racket. I'm intrigued.

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