The C&B is short for Cat & Bells Club, a brief precursor that would soon be transformed into the estimable poetics of The Shadow Ring. Studious fans of the band's releases may recognize this name from the whimsical word search found on the back cover of their 1995 Some Of Us 7-inch. Ah, finally; mystery solved & now all the ducks are on the pond. While early Shadow Ring managed to fuse equal parts Tyrannosaurus Rex mystical recitations with Throbbing Gristle aural idolatry, The C&B seem divinely born out of the sputtering taps of brown ale that flowed freely down the gullets of various first-generation DIY shufflers, most notably, 49 Americans or Door And The Window. And while this is just dumb luck, there's no denying a genus, unintentional as it may be. The templates for the ruminative, droll & original wordsmithing not to mention the threadbare musical accompaniment that would soon become the hallmark for The Shadow Ring sound are now available for the first time ever in a 300-press 7-inch, four-track EP. Original artwork by founding member Graham Lambkin.
7" $9.25
03/16/2010