GARAGE CONCERTS VOL. I

Wow! Wow! Wow!

This is classic Cardiacs - and not only because all of these tracks are more than 20 years old. The boys rock harder than a punk band half their age while performing jaw dropping complex music with incredible ease. I'm a long time Cardiacs fan, I'm quite familiar with their antics and sound, but still my jaw hit the floor still hit the floor numerous times. The other times I was simply listening with a silly grin on my face, happy that such a unique band exists in this particular universe.

Highly recommended.

In their 28 year history Cardiacs have redefined the rules when it comes to music composition. This is a throw back to where it all started, as they only played tunes written before 1983 at the Garage, London 2003. 3 concerts crammmed on to 2 CD's. A must have for any collectors of antique curiosities.

I must first own up to a slight bias as I promoted the Garage shows from which these recordings are taken. I have promoted many Cardiacs shows but this was a special 3 day event featuring early Cardiacs / Cardiac Arrest material .

This CD reveals the genesis of Cardiacs and to borrow from John Peel they somehow change but always stay the same. These offerings could come from any stage of their career and highlight everything that makes them such a special band. The wayward, kooky shifts in time signatures and key changes direct from heaven. You are left wondering how on earth they managed to remember all the chord changes and notes.

Anyways, a great showcase for them and a pleasure to hear particularly because of the unfamiliarity of a lot of the music. It flaunts the genius of Tim Smith & his Cardiacs band and I'd recommend it as a taster for anyone new to the band. (As Cold As Can Be In An English Sea deserves special mention for demonstrating proto-Cardiacs so brilliantly).

I'll give this 4.5 stars but will click 5 because I can find no fault with it.

Get well soon Tim.

Truly essential. This live album (along with the second volume) includes some of Cardiacs' first works as a band, some of them made back in 1983, some in 1976! Crazy.

Featuring their trademark avant-garde sound and their crazy time signatures. Multiple times you will get to hear the sounds of Frank Zappa and Gentle Giant all around the album. Truly recommended for any Avant-Garde fan and definitely essential to any Cardiacs fan. This could be quite inaccesible if you are not used to Cardiacs sound, especially since it is very raw, but you should still give it a try.

Five Stars! Truly Essential!

CARDIACS did a three night run of live music October 17-19, 2003 playing previously unreleased songs along with some re-worked tracks from the time period of 1976-1983. From these three gigs they came up with two albums worth of songs, and both albums were released in 2005 called "Garage Concerts" and this is "Volume I". Both have 16 tracks on them and both clock in at just over an hour. There are two tracks I like with the first being "As Cold As Can Be In An English Sea". One of the longer ones too at 7 minutes. I'm not completely sold but it has a nice heavy sound to it with vocals. My favourite by far is where they actually slow the music down some like on "Let Alone My Plastic Doll". Even the vocals sound better and this is powerful. Screaming guitar 3 minutes in. What a song! Hey if your a big CARDIACS fan you probably already own this and you should. 3 stars in my world.