Drop Out – 30th Anniversary Deluxe Edition East Village SKU: HVNLP3X Barcode: 5400863119904 28.00 £28.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Heavenly Released Date: 12th January 2024 Buying Format: 1LP Out of stock Back Order Add to your Wishlist Description Product Info An autumnal treasure, East Village’s Drop Out has spent the past thirty years finding new ears to bewitch and new hearts to melt. The only album from this British four-piece, recorded and released in the early nineties, it’s long been considered one of the hidden jewels of its time, and is talked of with hushed reverence by people who know. Bob Stanley of Saint Etienne once called it “an elegy for a particular brand of eighties guitar music, sweet minor chords and Dylanesque lyrics”, which captures what makes it so special; in summarising its era, though, it also effortlessly transcends it. Like all great guitar gangs, East Village fell together as a four-piece; having relocated from High Wycombe to London in mid ‘80s, brothers Martin and Paul Kelly on bass and guitar, set on forming a group together, were joined by John Wood (guitar) and Spencer Smith (drums). Wood and the Kellys shared writing and vocal duties; it was an ideal combination, and one of the many charms of East Village is their various song writing voices, a tip of the hat, seemingly, to the 60s folk-rock groups who influenced them. Originally influenced by garage-rock and freakbeat, the band eventually came through via the same scene as groups like Felt, The Go-Betweens, The Weather Prophets, and Primal Scream. They’d formed as Episode Four, releasing an EP, Strike Up Matches, in 1986, which has gone on to become one of most sought after releases of the C86 era. Their first two singles as East Village, ‘Cubans In The Bluefields’ (1987) and ‘Back Between Places’ (1988), were released on Jeff Barrett’s Sub Aqua label. When it came time to record Drop Out, East Village found a supporter in Bob Stanley, who bankrolled the album sessions until Barrett re-signed the band to his new imprint Heavenly Recordings in 1990. The album that took shape is dusky, heartfelt, lamplit, full of chiming minor chords, close harmonies, rattling organs, all buoyed by a rhythm section that moves as one, steady and elegant. There’s melancholy here, certainly, on songs like ‘What Kind Of Friend Is This’, but also pleasure and freedom, on ‘When I Wake Tomorrow’ and ‘Silver Train’. The group were obsessed with Dylan’s Eat The Document at the time, and the album’s rich with references to the film; Drop Out’s character is also somehow close to the thin wild mercury sound of Blonde On Blonde, and the lambent light of the Byrds’ Notorious Byrd Brothers. In one of life’s gentler surprises, ‘Silver Train’ became an unexpected radio hit in Australia when released there as a single in 1993. The story of East Village seems marked by such unexpected turns and surprising events. None was more surprising for their fans at the time, though, than their onstage split in 1991, leaving an unreleased album in the can. Encouraged by Jeff Barrett the band revisited the tapes two years on and while mixing the album for its posthumous release in 1993 invited Debsey Wykes (Dolly Mixture, Coming Up Roses, Saint Etienne, Birdie) to sing the quietly devastating album closer, “Everybody Knows”, a perfect, sad-eyed sign-off. Listening now to Drop Out, its timelessness is clear. It could have been recorded by young folk-pop hopefuls in the late sixties, taking their shot at the big time; but it could just as easily have been recorded yesterday, by a group that’s both reverent to music’s past, but forward looking in spirit and temperament. It’s that kind of album. Drop Out’s pop poetry is fully formed, with a singular charm that takes in wistfulness, romance, and good times, and a clutch of deeply moving songs that are overflowing with melody and gracefulness. It’s pretty much everything you’d want from a guitar pop record. It’s also an album that’s slowly accrued its own legend. From its stunning cover art, photographed by Juergen Teller originally for a Katherine Hammett campaign, to the ten perfectly formed songs within, Drop Out’s significance in the scheme of things is such that, a decade ago, it was given a rare 10/10 rating in Uncut magazine, who called the album “the lost classic of its era”. Drop Out comes round every decade or so, each edition introducing new fans to its understated beauty, and this latest reissue is its most elegant and deluxe yet. The 30th anniversary edition of Drop Out lands in two formats: an LP with tip-on style jacket and four-page insert, designed to partner with the 2019 vinyl reissue of their singles and rarities compilation, Hot Rod Hotel; and a double CD, featuring an extra disc compiling the group’s early singles and alternative versions. This CD edition previously has only been available in Japan, though it now features a new, superior mix of their second single, ‘Back Between Places’. Both feature new, typically eloquent liner notes from writer Jon Savage. The members of East Village have all gone on to do inspired things: Martin Kelly joined Jeff Barrett at Heavenly and has managed label mainstays Saint Etienne since 1993; Paul Kelly formed Birdie with Debsey Wykes, and is now a renowned film director and graphic designer; both Paul and Spencer Smith played in Saint Etienne’s live band; John Wood moved to China to teach, and released a lovely, understated folk album, Quiet Storm, in Japan in 2006. But with the hazy perfection of Drop Out, they’ve all already etched their names in the firmament. Artist East Village Genre Rock And Pop Label Heavenly Buying Options 1LP Format 1LP Condition New Country UK Track Listings Silver Train Shipwrecked Here It Comes Freeze Out Circles When I Wake Tomorrow Way Back Home What Kind of Friend Is This Black Autumn Everybody Knows Share this On Facebook On Twitter Via Email More from East Village and more from Rock And Pop Paul's picks View Product Quick View East Village Hotrod Hotel Rock And Pop | Slumberland Records | 1LP Released 24th January 2020 £22.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders East Village Hotrod Hotel £22.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Slumberland Records SKU: LPSLR241 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 24th January 2020 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Duke Spirit, The KIN Rock And Pop | Ex Voto Records | 180g, 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve, Includes Download Code Released 6th May 2016 £19.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Duke Spirit, The KIN £19.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Ex Voto Records SKU: EXVOTOLP1 Formats: 180g, 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve, Includes Download Code Released Date: 6th May 2016 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Patti Smith Group Radio Ethiopia Rock And Pop | Music On Vinyl | 180g, 1LP Released 14th November 2011 £20.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Patti Smith Group Radio Ethiopia £20.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Music On Vinyl SKU: MOVLP380 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 14th November 2011 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Set It Off Elsewhere Rock And Pop | Fearless | 2LP, Coloured Vinyl, Gatefold Sleeve Released 15th July 2022 £30.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Set It Off Elsewhere £30.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Fearless SKU: 7241843 Formats: 2LP, Coloured Vinyl, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 15th July 2022 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View U2 War Rock And Pop | UMC | 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released 29th March 2017 £18.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders U2 War £18.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: UMC SKU: 1761674 Formats: 1LP, Gatefold Sleeve Released Date: 29th March 2017 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Nao Saturn Rock And Pop | RCA | 1LP Released 26th October 2018 £20.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Nao Saturn £20.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: RCA SKU: 19075868111 Formats: 1LP Released Date: 26th October 2018 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Nick Lowe Quality Street Rock And Pop | Proper Records | 180g, 1LP Released 28th October 2013 £18.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Nick Lowe Quality Street £18.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Proper Records SKU: PRPLP114 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 28th October 2013 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Jungle Volcano Rock And Pop | Caiola Records | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 11th August 2023 £22.00 - £25.00 Select options Jungle Volcano £22.00 - £25.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Caiola Records Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 11th August 2023 Read More Select options View Product Quick View Queen Sheer Heart Attack Rock And Pop | Virgin Records | 180g, 1LP Released 23rd September 2015 £26.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Queen Sheer Heart Attack £26.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Virgin Records SKU: 4720268 Formats: 180g, 1LP Released Date: 23rd September 2015 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders View Product Quick View Gracie Abrams The Secret Of Us Rock And Pop | Interscope | 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released 21st June 2024 £30.00 Select options Gracie Abrams The Secret Of Us £30.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: Interscope Formats: 1LP, Coloured Vinyl Released Date: 21st June 2024 Read More Select options View Product Quick View Duran Duran Red Carpet Massacre Rock And Pop | BMG | 2LP Released 25th November 2022 £28.00 Back Order View Pre/Back Orders Duran Duran Red Carpet Massacre £28.00 Genre: Rock And Pop Label: BMG SKU: 4050538777314 Formats: 2LP Released Date: 25th November 2022 Read More Back Order View Pre/Back Orders See more in Rock And Pop Start again
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