Marc Bolan (Tyrannosaurus Rex period 1967-1970), Michael Nyman, Henry Purcell, Rammstein, Muse, Siouxsie and the Banshees, King Crimson, Black Sabbath etc
Sounds Like
early Marc Bolan, Donovan, Pixies, Placebo, Left Banke, Syd Barrett, Robyn Hitchcock
Re-Animator! New Album out now!
“Gothic-psych-baroque-rocker waxing demented in a way only an Englishman can...impeccable.” (Goldmine, USA).
‘Absolute genius! A great piece of melancholic music. A bittersweet mixture of soft old school Batcave and real Gothic’. (‘Black’, German Rock Magazine)
“Genius at play! Roland must be ranked with the most creative and unique songwriters of his generation...the work of an exceptional talent. If Shakespeare, Poe and Conan Doyle were alive today, they would surely have some Roland in their record collections. Unfortunately they’re dead...what’s your excuse?” (Bucketful of Brains, UK)
England’s psych-pop guru Paul Roland, described by one-time label mate Robyn Hitchcock as ‘the male Kate Bush’, releases his first new rock album for ten years on his own label, Gaslight Records, on June 16th.. ‘Re-Animator’ (GASCD 555) features contributions from musicians who have recorded with Caravan, Jimi Hendrix and Steve Hillage.
Those who relish Paul’s atmospheric tales of Victorian serial killers, mad women in the attic, Dickensian underworld characters and eccentric Edwardian inventors will know what forbidden pleasures await them on this album which features several songs with an HP Lovecraft theme and one inspired by a tale by Edgar Allen Poe. In the past Paul has conceived his fanciful tales from his own imagination as if his lyrics were 19th century short stories, but for this album he drew on HP Lovecraft and Poe for several of the tracks.
Roland, who appeared at the Wave Gotik Treffen festival last year and at the Herbsnachte festival in Berlin in 2003 has long been associated with the goth movement, but as this album shows there are many more facets to this most enigmatic Englishman who was once managed by David Enthoven (manager of Roxy Music, ELP and T.Rex) and June Bolan (wife of Marc Bolan) and asked to collaborate with film composer Michael Nyman and members of the Velvet Underground. Roland, who wrote all the tracks and produced the album has painstakingly crafted a late 60s/early 70s retro soundscape conjured up by the imaginative use of mellotron, violin, flute, harpsichord and a Barrett era Pink Floyd-style organ.
The five tracks inspired by Lovecraft (‘Re-Animator’, ‘Charles Dexter Ward’, ‘Arkham’, ‘Abdul Alhazred’ [an instrumental sketch of the ‘mad Arab’ who discovered the ‘Necronomicon’] and the epic ‘Cthullu’ are rendered in a wryly pulp horror comic vein which evokes the psychedelic Sixties rather than straight-faced Goth. This is a theme echoed by the radio friendly ‘Swamp Girl’ which would have certainly wowed them down at the Whisky A Go Go had Roland been around at the time while the exotic, eastern flavoured mantra ‘Assassins’ blends acid-pop with Led Zeppelin. Elsewhere there are further unexpected delights in the darkly sardonic ‘Chain Gang’ which could be a sequel to Robert Johnson’s story of his deal with the devil at the Crossroads, ‘Pan’, a paen to the male libido which conjures up the spirit of Jethro Tull, Traffic and Family and ‘Taliesin’, a folk rock fable Fairport Convention would have been proud of. But the real highlights of this collection must surely be ‘Valdemar’, based on Poe’s tale of a dying man suspended between this world and the world beyond, and ‘Cthullu’ which closes the album in epic style.
“If pop music had existed in the 19th century, Roland would have been a star.”
(Music Week, UK)
Cult English recording artist Paul Roland, described as "the male Kate Bush" by one-time label mate Robyn Hitchcock, has released 10 albums for collectable labels such as Bam Caruso, New Rose and Imaginary in a low-key career that has seen him acclaimed on the continent but criminally ignored in his native England.
In England he is better known as a writer of mass market books on mysticism and the occult for major publishers. However, his reputation as a uniquely imaginative and consistently fascinating figure on the psych-pop circuit has substantially increased with each album. Other cult figures such as Robyn Hitchcock, Nick Saloman (Bevis Frond), Nick Nicely, and Andy Ellison (John’s Children) have made guest appearances on his albums, several of which are now listed as highly collectable.
Since 1979 Paul has been spinning his bizarre tales against an evocative backdrop of rock, psychpop, folk and, occasionally, baroque strings. His most memorable character creations include a crotchety Regency magistrate, various 19th century murderers, a retired executioner, an opium addict, and an entire court of medieval grotesques. But not all his dreams are dark. Among his more whimsical creations are the eccentric characters on the largely acoustic album ’Happy Families’ and its prequel ’A Cabinet of Curiosities’.
Am I right, is this your birthday? If so, best wishes for the forthcoming year & decade. May your creativity never stop & your success always grow. PS: I know I'm a few hours too late....
"Demos"-CD arrived today. Thanks for it, very great stuff and very unknown facets of yours. Some of the alternative Versions are extraordinary fantastic. I hope one day we will listen to the Haxan-Soundtrack together with the movie on a DVD, would be very interesting. PS: Thanks for mentioning the wiki-article.
PS: Sorry if you've already received this... with over 20,000 friends, its kinda hard to keep track!!! Nevertheless we'll do our best to keep our friends informed :D
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"Nevermore" is another masterpiece and some tracks are absolutely brilliant (the Capt. Nemo suite above all)! Looking back at your discography it seems that you've never done anything wrong !!
What a fantastic new album, maybe the best after the resurrection of 2003. Captain Nemo is one of your greatest compositions ever and E.A.Poe & Great Deceiver are real catchy tunes. Nice to hear again that your creativity seems to be immortal...
Just Reveived 'NEVERMORE' Simply A MASTERPIECE! You've done it again Paul. 'Edgar Allan Poe' My favourite track (at the moment) HAVE A WONDERFUL & CREATIVE WINTER.
What a great day this is, I just received the Reissue CD of Danse Macabre/Burnt Orchids and want to tell you how happy I am! Great, great, great release indeed. Very good cover artwork, great biographical stuff, no need to describe the music (DM is besides House of Dark Shadows which is almost identic with BO & Cabinet Of Curiosities probably the best of your albums), and the "retouchings" are good, even if I prefer originals. But I like the Hapsichord in Mme. Guillotine and the really great Version of Berlin.
And since I'm not happy enough, I just discovered the Samples of Nevermore on the CD-Baby Website. What pleasant way to move from summer to autumn this year. All best wishes for forthcoming reissues and all the new stuff I hope to hear!
But please don't forget: There's still need of vinyl-versions. CD is dying...
And if you read this without being Paul: Go on, write to Syborg and BUY THIS CD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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