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MICHAEL HEAD & THE RED ELASTIC BAND

Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band

Loophole

    62 years of music, loves, losses, long summer days and longer, darker nights are vividly recalled by ‘our greatest living songwriter’, Michael Head and The Red Elastic Band as he plays out flickering scenes from his life on new album, Loophole, set for release on Fri 3 May 2024 on Modern Sky.

    12 evocative and autobiographical songs to be accompanied by the written word as Michael Head prepares his memoirs for release with an autobiography with Nine Eight Books. 

    TRACK LISTING

    1 Shirl's Ghost
    2 Ambrosia
    3 Ciao Ciao Bambino
    4 Tout Suite!
    5 The Human Race
    6 You Smiled At Me
    7 A Ricochet Moment
    8 Connemara
    9 Merry-Go-Round
    10 You're A Long Time Dead
    11 Naturally It's You
    12 Coda

    7" - Exclusive To Dinked Edition
    Side A
    1. Connemara - Acoustic (Live From Hebden Bridge)
    Side B
    2. Tour Suite! (Live Acoustic From Hebden Bridge)

    Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band

    Loophole - Instore Ticket Bundle

      THIS EVENT HAS NOW SOLD OUT!!!!!!!!

      We are very excited to welcome Michael Head to Piccadilly Records on Sunday 14th April at 1pm to perform a solo acoustic set followed by a signing session.

      PRE-ORDER A TICKET BUNDLE EDITION TO GAIN ENTRY. 


      Due to the event being a few weeks prior to the album release date you'll be given an art print upon entry for Mick to personally sign later.

      * Please note, physical tickets will not be issued for this event. Please bring your order confirmation, either printed or on your phone, to gain entry.*

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      62 years of music, loves, losses, long summer days and longer, darker nights are vividly recalled by ‘our greatest living songwriter’, Michael Head and The Red Elastic Band as he plays out flickering scenes from his life on new album, Loophole, set for release on Fri 3 May 2024 on Modern Sky.

      12 evocative and autobiographical songs to be accompanied by the written word as Michael Head prepares his memoirs for release with an autobiography with Nine Eight Books.

      Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band

      Velvets In The Dark / Koala Bears - 2023 Repress

        Liverpool legend Michael Head (Shack, The Strands, Pale Fountains) returns with a stunningly beautiful double A-side single. "Velvets In The Dark" is a gorgeous conversational swooner in the style of Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talking", whilst the flip, "Koala Bears" has an almost jazzy flavour and slips into (Bacharach and David's) "Close To You" as made famous by The Carpenters! Strange, inspired magic from a bygone time, these two tracks perfectly complement one another: two evocative little stories done justice by the prettiest finger-picking, warmest horns and the classiest of arrangements. All in all, a little gem.

        STAFF COMMENTS

        Andy says: This is a beautiful, stand alone single, unavailable anywhere else and a good old fashioned double A side too. Both songs are absolutely beautiful but then that's a given where Mick is concerned.

        Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band

        Dear Scott - Piccadilly Exclusive Bonus Disc Edition

          THE PICCADILLY RECORDS ALBUM OF THE YEAR 2022.

          PICCADILLY RECORDS EXCLUSIVE: 
          For a limited period only, buy either the CD or vinyl you’ll get an exclusive 14 track CD bonus disc, 'Live At Strathaven'.

          Finding that luck, love and letting things roll works out for him just fine, Michael Head leads his Red Elastic Band into a fresh chapter with optimism and some of the best music of his career, releases his, Bill Ryder-Jones-produced album, Dear Scott.  

          Revered by heavyweight songwriting peers and discovered by new generations of discerning listeners, all enraptured by the fruits of Head’s winding, 40-year career, the Liverpool singer-songwriter enters a new age of creativity and collaboration with Dear Scott. Promising to be a shimmering jewel cast by the minds and hearts of Merseyside’s finest musicians, the 12-track album is dusted with both Ryder-Jones’ artistry and the heavyweight musicianship of The Red Elastic Band, which Head found had ‘stepped up’ following almost a year apart, forcing him to dig deeper himself.

          Of slipping back into writing and recording in 2021, Head continues: “After being apart for a while, I went for a walk on the beach with the band and it was beautiful, literally and personally. Rehearsals followed and it clicked into place, with one thing leading to the next. It’s very much the ethos we’re working by, keeping things simple, but keeping the momentum. I’d met Bill a few times and he’s a lovely guy. Once we knew he was interested in producing the album we didn’t need to think about it again, it just progressed and became a completely natural thing.”

          Dear Scott refers to novelist, F. Scott Fitzgerald, whose debt-ridden, down-and-out years captured the imagination of Head, specifically a postcard Fitzgerald addressed to himself upon checking in at Hollywood’s infamous Golden Age retreat, The Garden Of Allah Hotel. Head explains: “A decade after being the king of the jazz age, Fitzgerald arrived unfashionable and sober, ready to conquer Hollywood. His agent with a sense of humour booked him into The Garden Of Allah, where writers, movie stars and even Stravinsky sometimes lived. He famously picked up a postcard on checking in and addressed it to himself.”

          The postcard read: Dear Scott, How are you? Have been meaning to come and see you. I have living at the Garden Of Allah. Yours Scott Fitzgerald

          Head states that the formation of The Red Elastic Band in 2008 began with ‘whoever was available at the time’, primarily as a vehicle for live performance, producing one, previous album in 2017’s Adiós Señor Pussycat. The band has since developed into a cohesive, mutually-supportive and permanent line-up, with Phil Murphy on drums, Tom Powell on bass, Danny Murphy on guitars and Nathaniel Cummins on guitars and backing vocals being the musicians taking on the world in 2022 alongside Head. 

          STAFF COMMENTS

          Andy says: Dear Scott is a masterpiece. Twelve perfect songs with melodies to die for and words that feel like scenes from a film condensed into poetry. Michael Head is the Liverpudlian genius renowned for his classic pop songs from “Thank You” and “Jean’s Not Happening” through to “Comedy” and “Meant To Be”. Forty years making music and he’s just made his joint best LP, one that if you’re into guitar based pop music you’d be daft to ignore.

          It’s not always been like this. In a career buffeted by personal problems and dodgy deals it has taken the arrival of erstwhile Coral guitarist Bill Ryder Jones, a fellow Merseysider and huge fan, to draw the very best out of Mick. Bill has helped create what feels like a greatest hits LP but made up of brand new songs. There’s jangling indie pop, jazz, mystical folk, roving psych pop and even a splash of bossa, taking us right back to Mick's days as a teen star in the Pale Fountains! As I mentioned, each track is a short story or mini movie touching on the kindness of strangers, old Hollywood dreams, the futility of war, Liverpool trips, Love from afar and even a murder in gangland made wild and funky on album highlight “Gino And Rico”.

          The tunes themselves are proper ear worms and the album is designed as an old fashioned two sided listen. Side 1 has six perfect pop songs, hit after hit, but flip it over and you’re whisked off into what almost feels like a song suite, interspersed as they are with towering strings, mad interludes (each track has contrasting parts that surprise and amaze) and psych rock guitar; it’s bewildering but oh so beautiful and it grows and grows with every listen. The record starts off neat but slowly expands into the stratosphere only to end on a heavenly lullaby, melancholic and magical.

          Mick’s other great album, Waterpistol, was loved by all at Piccadilly nearly 30 years ago. That we’re here again all these years later is bizarre and brilliant.

          TRACK LISTING

          A1 Kismet
          A2 Broken Beauty
          A3 The Next Day
          A4 Freedom
          A5 American Kid
          A6 Grace And Eddie
          B7 Fluke
          B8 Gino And Rico
          B9 The Grass
          B10 The Ten
          B11 Pretty Child
          B12 Shirls Ghost 


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