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Strictly
speaking this is not really a GF album, but following Emma's death
we, and PCP (the label that had signed Quimberry's Ganja Boys) felt
honour-bound in releasing something to mark her passing.
It's
been said in the press that I have distanced myself from this album
- in fact, the only thing I would distance myself from is the stuff
written by that bastard band, and PCP's decision on album content
(specifically the offensive Quimberry track in which my sexual preference
is questioned). Much of the album is made up of old GF numbers that
PCP had somehow wangled the rights to."Candle In The Wind Tunnel",
"Where's The Remote?" and "Captain Moonproof Is…"
were all recorded by Quimberry's ill-fated offshoot and will not
benefit therefore from my indulgence on this recollection, save
to say that not one of them would have passed muster as a bona fide
GF track. "Phonophobia" though, despite being recorded
under the Ganja Boys name, is an old track by the girls and tells
of Imogen's time as a telephone hygienist. Emma's thunderously orgasmic
vocal lifting it above standard fare.When Emma died, as mentioned
previously, I wrote and recorded a demo for the hauntingly emotive
(and frighteningly evocative) "Emma (Lost Without Ya)".
Said demo was the catalyst for the resumption, albeit briefly, of
GF as a force to be reckoned with. It's my own very personal account
of the decade I'd spent on the road, on stage and in bed with her.
I'd be lying if I made out that every second of that time was sheer
joy, it wasn't - her sexual appetite dwarfing even my own prodigious
drug intake. Imogen and Quimberry's loss (and the road crew's, THC's,
PCP's, and Swindon's to name just the one's I knew of) was perhaps
as keenly felt as my own, but I was the one writing the lyrics.
The recording was done in one take (almost a first for the band)
and we chose not even to remix it afterwards (again a rarity) fearing
a loss of that je ne sais quoi should we tinker too long with what
had been a sublimely, beautifully, electrically raw tribute to the
girl who gave so much elegance to our piss. We did, briefly, consider
re-packaging "Piss Elegance" featuring a rejected photo
of Emma (elegantly pissing) but I couldn't find the negative and
the original photo had been soiled beyond recognition during the
intervening years, specifically as Quimberry later revealed he had
spent inordinate amounts of time with only that photo for company
during his Isolation Tank days."Hey Hey Ganja Force" and
"Rock & Roll Sinner" were both recorded in the afterglow
of the "Emma" session (a frequent occurrence over the
years) - both aiming for a more upbeat tribute to her. "Hey
Hey…" being a defiant we-are-still-one finger to the establishment
who had so cruelly written us off and would surely bury us completely
as a valid recording outfit after Emma's demise. "Rock &
Roll Sinner" recounted the golden days of life on the road
with a woman who lived for the primary part of the sex, drugs and
rock n roll litany."Hell Of A Smell (live)" is an old
recording from a show we did somewhere in Scotland that PCP had
discovered - I'd forgotten that the track, let alone a performance
of it, even existed. "No Ganja From Santa" was our Christmas
single, although it was released in January 1992 due to some record
company bollocks-up, which PCP decided to use as filler, and because
they could.
It
was during the recording of "Song 6" that the band split
forever. Imogen had become more and more withdrawn (even moreso
than following her imprisonment) and seemed unable to give anything
of herself without Emma. Quimberry's desire to be leader of the
band, despite being only the percussionist, raised its fetid head
once more when he requested we record his follow-up to the abysmal
"Hamlet" with his version of The Tempest - a Windy Tale.
Whereas I had once shat on his bongos from a great height, he had
now decided to shit on Emma's memory from an even greater one and
I could take no more. I ordered him to leave there and then, although
I have heard him claim that he jumped before I pushed him. It's
true he had received an offer to go on the road with some 70's-disco-dinosaurs,
but the truth is I sacked him. Royally. With my prized Rickenbacker
4001.
Imogen
and I left next day for Swindon to ponder our future. I have seen
nothing of either of them since that day in 1998. Ten years. Gone.
PCP,
as I said, took the Ganja Boys stuff, some old GF standards, the
beautiful "Emma.." and a couple more newies and released
what they called "More Fun Than A Barrel Of Monkeys".
Quite who decided on that title I do not know, but I fear PCP were
not the right label for GF's art and that the title may well have
been in jest. Letters I've sent remain unanswered though.
If
you own this album, good luck to you, there are perhaps just 2 tracks
worth the entrance fee. It stands not as testament to band that
once held the world at its throat, but as testament to a Yorkshireman's
desire to see GF down the pan and a drummer with an ego the size
of the aforesaid county, but with the creativity and leadership
skills of a depressed mayfly
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FUN THAN A BARREL OF MONKEYS (PCPGBF02)