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Nicely Out Of Tune

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Yet when the follow-up ‘ Fog on the Tyne‘ appeared the following year, it not only topped the UK album listings for a month but also brought attention to its predecessor, ‘ Nicely Out of Tune‘ belatedly reaching the Top Ten early in 1972. Shaped primarily by the song writing prowess of guitarist Alan Hull, the band during its first incarnation left behind an impressive body of work, a couple of hit singles and reputation as a first class live act. Purveying an infectious brand of folk/pop, they had climbed to some lofty heights before time was called – this brief, but glowing trail set ablaze by debut LP ‘ NICELY OUT OF TUNE‘ (1970), the most assured of their first three releases and a defining album of the year. It was overdue recognition for a record that had revealed Lindisfarne as a coming, if short term, early 70s force – and Hull as songwriter of exceptional vitality. If the end of side one showed Hull at his most passionate in the cause of human kindness, the second side begins with him in the role of witty storyteller – ‘ We Can Swing Together‘ an amusing account of a social gathering, party held by a group of hippies perhaps a better description, that is broken up by the local constabulary.

Long before Lindisfarne made their first album we had a collective interest in things visual and often fantasised about what our sleeve would be like when we eventually made our first album. It was always when and never if. Confident little gits we were. Now is the time to be loving and kind to your fellow men/Seeing the sympathy starting out all over again/Now is the time to give love just one more go/’cause you never know what you might know.’ You took me on a pleasure trip/But the waves got high and sunk the ship/And the captain was mad and so was his crew/And they all looked just the same as you.’ Ray: OK Reinhard, here goes. All above is correct except that Dave Wood, in addition to being the engineer on all of Alan's and Lindisfarne's early demos, was also the owner of Impulse Studios in Wallsend, the third partner in Hazy Music and Alan's / Lindisfarne's manager. Uncle Tony was Tony Stratton Smith, Lindisfarne's manager and owner of the Charisma label which was based at Number 7, Dean Street (I think). Confusion because the office moved about six times in three years. Fog On The Tyne was phenomenally successful. it made number one in the UK albums chart and, although released in late 1971, it became the UK’s biggest selling album of 1972. For a short while, Lindisfarne were the biggest thing going and Fog On The Tyne was popular across a wide demographic, not just with those of us who aspired to be hippies. It couldn’t last, and it didn’t. The follow up album, 1972’s Dingly Dell failed to capitalise on the success of Fog on the Tyne, although, personally, it’s an album I’ve always enjoyed. The critical reception was muted in comparison to the euphoria heaped upon Fog on the Tyne and the two singles extracted from the album, All Fall Down and Court In The Act both performed poorly. In early 1973, the original line-up of Lindisfarne sundered and, whilst the band have continued to exist, albeit sometimes sporadically, and for many years were almost sacred property in their home city of Newcastle, they never managed to recreate the magic of Fog On The Tyne – so let’s leave the story there and celebrate a fantastic, memorable, influential and culture-defining album.Side two has a completely different version of ‘We Can Swing Together’, although approx. two minutes shorter and ‘Alan In The River with Flowers’ is renamed ‘Float Me Down the River’. However, ‘We Can Swing Together’ deserves to get some extra space for a more detailed description: She gazed with loving beauty like a mother to a son/Like living, dying, seeing, being all rolled into one/Then all at once I heard some music playing in my bones/The same old song I’d heard for years/Reminding me of home.’

We’ve all experienced the overfamiliarity that repeated plays of a well-loved album can cause, and I have to admit that I expected Fog On The Tyne to be a victim of such “Dark Side Of The Moon” syndrome and, as I settled down to revisit it, I did wonder whether it was necessary for me ever to hear the album again. Well, happily, the songs on Fog on the Tyne still sound good today and, now that much of the political and societal progress of the past 50 years has been successfully reversed by those who know best, the subject matter of many of the songs – class differences, the futility of war, loneliness, desperation and pleasure in adversity still resonate strongly. But, before we go on, let’s deal with that elephant that came into the room in 1990… Simon Cowe’s Uncle Sam is the album’s obligatory anti-war song, expressing the insecurities felt by a young generation faced with the likelihood of military conscription before we get to the album’s happiest song – and possibly one of the most carefree songs ever written – Rab Noakes’s Together Forever. Together Forever is a song that I continue to love, and I’ve often placed myself in the place of the carefree couple, sitting at the front of the bus, sitting on a park bench, or trying to hitch a ride, and just watching the world go by in front of their eyes, without feeling compelled to rush along with it. It’s just timeless and so joyful.By the last verse, however, the writer has moved his focus from the personal to the universal, mankind best served by compassion and communal respect:

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