at a glance...

Hometown: Liverpool, England
Formed: 1982 (as The Pale Fountains); 1994 as The Strands

Members:
Michael Head -vocals, guitars
John Head -guitar, bass, vocals
Helen Caddick -orchestration
Iain Templeton -drums
Michelle Brown -bass

Notes:
Liverpudlian Mick Head started to make music with The Pale Fountains, a Love-obsessed early-'80s band whose tenure with Virgin records fell apart after two albums when the A&R man who signed them jumped ship. Head and brother John regrouped as Shack in the late '80s, recording two albums for Ghetto, the second of which, '91's Waterpistol, was abandoned when the master tapes were first thought lost in a studio fire and later left in a rental car in America. In late 1995 a copy turned up, and German label Marina released Waterpistol to rave reviews in the British press, who hailed it as one of the best LPs of the decade. By this time the Heads were recording as The Strands, although they briefly reformed Shack and signed to London records, only to see the label go under.

Links:
Interview with Micheal Head

"I paint the sails/It's the job for me/I paint the whales/They'll come with me/And my queen looked at me/Yeah Matilda smiled at me/And then you…went away" It's a vivid image. Mick Head, the lost soul of classic pop, watching his moment drift away while he sits transfixed by the beauty in his work. It's a lyric (from "Queen Matilda") that captures the spirit of Head's music, slightly weary with the worries of the world but at ease with its own place in it.

On The Magical World of The Strands, Mick and brother John (genius twelve-string picker who also contributes a song of his own - the spare, elegaic "Loaded Man") choose folk music as their vehicle, strumming through arrangements that are gentle and uncluttered. Sympathetic strings graze "Something Like You" as it passes, never distracting the melody or dominating the mood. "Hocken's Hay" rides on banjos and a drumbeat that sounds like campfire handclaps, evoking an almost medieval kind of folk. These songs could live in any shell, though, and when the terribly pretty "Glynnys and Jaqui" screeches into a passage of echoing electric guitar, you hardly notice, such is the captivating power of the song. Truly, these Head boys know what they're doing. For all they've been through, they make it sound easy.

If you like Michael Head & The Strands, check out:
Shack Waterpistol
Love Forever Changes
The Byrds The Notorious Byrd Brothers
Nick Drake Five Leaves Left

-- jf