Artist: The Pearlfishers
Title: The Young Picnickers
Format: 2-LP
Label: Marina Records
Reissue release date: February 18, 2022 (MA 91)
The Pearlfishers – The Young Picnickers 2-LP
€33,00
Description
A
we’re gonna save the summer
an ordinary day out in the suburbs
we’ll get by
blue december
B
you justify my life
battersea bardot
the young picnickers
once there was a man
C
over & over
every day i read your stars
strawberries in the snow
stella painted joy
D bonus tracks
already there
david vs. godzilla
the loneliest bonfire
since you’ve asked
david scott · piano, guitars, bass, percussion, autoharp and vocals
brian mcalpine · piano, organ, guitars and percussion
jim gash · drums and percussion
gabriel telerman · guitars
deepak bahl · bass
amy geddes · fiddles
robert mairs · banjo on C4 & D2
norman blake · backing vocals on A1
derek star · drums on A2, B2, B3, B4, D4
recorded february – october 1998 at watercolour music, east kilbride arts centre & on the fruitmobile
engineered by nik turner, david & brian · mastered by paul mcgeechan at paw paw productions & norman nitzsche at calyx
words and music by david scott
“once there was a man” by david scott & brian mcalpine
“you justify my life” by david scott & duglas t stewart
“david vs. godzilla” by david scott, brian mcalpine & margaret daly
“since you’ve asked” by judy collins
all songs published by marina songs
“you justify my life“ (marina songs/complete music)
“since you’ve asked“ (copyright control)
“once there was a man” is for frank and elke
cover painting by moritz R · art direction & design by stefan kassel
executive producers · stefan kassel & frank lähnemann
release date: February 18, 2022 (MA 91)
Additional information
Weight | 0,302 kg |
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Reviews
MOJO, August 1999 (Featured artist on exclusive subscriber disc)
“Rickenbacker jangle, rococo ambition, melodic sophistication, vocal virtuosity – might the spirit of Brian Wilson visited the home of these young Glaswegians and their debut album The Young Picnickers (Mojo Indie Album of the Month)? Truly they can save the summer on this form. Teenage Fanclub’s Norman Blake, on backing vocals, assists the cause – may the sun never set on 60s-inspired classic pop.”
MOJO, June 1999 (Indie Album of the Month)
“Second outing from ’60s-obsessed Glaswegian romantics, in which perfect pop’s balls finally drop.
A glance at the inner-sleeve pic of chief ‘Fishermen David Scott and Brian McAlpine confirms that they’re just the right age for daytime Radio Two circa 1975 to have impacted on their nascent melodic faculties like a meteorite smashing into a remote Siberian forest. Indeed, with The Young Picnickers you’re never far from a swooping Beach Boys harmony, a coolly placed Bacharach major seventh or an arresting Cole Porter-style chord change.
They’ve regurgitated their ’60s influences into something quite beautiful and original, leaving their bedsits behind for the real world, while still fantasising about romance, adventure and Battersea Bardots. An Ordinary Day Out In The Suburbs, one of several tracks to resonate with lovingly crafted McCartneyesque melodies (think She’s Leaving Home), is quite extraordinarily affecting, while the careful addition of flugelhorn, vibes and wheezing brass bathes virtually every song in glorious sunshine.” Pat Gilbert
The Times, 27 March 1999 (7/10):
“Scottish duo David Scott and Brian McAlpine are clearly not too bothered about music made post-1968. This, their second (!) album, is so steeped in the sixties it is startling. But it doesn’t mean their music lacks value. Their unashamed use of vibraphones and harpsichords should send most discerning listeners running in the opposite direction, but it seems to work. Why? Because of that elusive quality, superb songwriting. Once There Was A Man sounds beautiful; a kind of trad Haircut 100 with chiming glorious harmonies. Then there is the stupidly great pop of We’re Gonna Save The Summer; Steely Dan covering The Undertones with backing vocals from bearded angels. It is even easy to forgive An Ordinary Day Out In The Suburbs homage to Gilbert O’Sullivan.”
The Scotsman, 27 March 1999 (3 Stars):
Is it summer already? The warm blasts of The Young Picnickers would lead you to think so. East Kilbride’s Davey Scott has produced his most satisfying album yet, steeped in the classic pop of Brian Wilson, Burt Bacharach and Steely Dan, and calling to mind latterday groups like Prefab Sprout, The High Llamas and even XTC. Sometimes he’s a little too reverential. The title track is a Pet Sounds-type instrumental in which The Pearlfishers come over as a Scottish answer to Wilson scholars the High Llamas. Yet, though Scott is quite shameless about his influences, he’s learned more from them than just how to imitate their sounds. With shining melodies and fine arrangements, he’s inventive within the bounds he’s set for himself, making a record that’s never boring and always likeable.
The Daily Record:
The Pearlfishers release their brilliant new album, The Young Picnickers, the follow up to The Strange Underworld of the Tall Poppies, on the Hamburg based Marina Records, which has championed several Scots bands in recent years. As well as the Pearlfishers of David Scott and Brian McAlpine Picnickers features Norman Blake, of Teenage fanclub on We’re Gonna Save The Summer, while BMX Bandits singer Duglas Stewart co-wrote one of the songs. Tall Poppies gave The Pearlfishers the dubious distinction of being “big in Japan”. So let’s hope this one gives them the recognition they deserve at home.
Scotland On Sunday, 18 April 1999 (3 Stars) :
Having survived stabs at the big time with Chewy Raccoon and Hearts and Minds, Davie Scott has reinvented himself as head archivist in the Scottish branch of the Sixties music museum. Surf’s Up in a major fashion with this record, which recreates every studio trick Brian Wilson used to know, with Scott’s autoharp adding a few European influences. The fact it was made in East Kilbride makes the achievement all the more laudable.