Friday, December 31, 2010

Phil Shoenfelt And Southern Cross : Dead Flowers For Alice 1999




Phil Shoenfelt was born in Bradford, England, in 1952.
After colliding with the London Punk scene in the mid-1970’s, he moved to New York where he formed the post-punk noise band " Khmer rouge ". In the early 1980’s they supported acts such as "Suicide" , "Tom Verlaine", and "The Clash" and are featured on the “White Columns Noise Festival Tape” which also includes early versions of "Sonic Youth" and "Swans".

Khmer Rouge returned to London in 1984 and after supporting "The Fall" on two British tours split in 1986.


In 1989 Shoenfelt began a solo career, releasing records as Phil Shoenfelt.
One year later Paperhouse Records put out his album "Backwoods Crucifixion", in 1993 Shoenfelt's second album "God Is The Other Face Of The Devil" was released by Humbug Records. Since 1995 Shoenfelt lives in Prague, where he put together his current band, Phil Shoenfelt & Southern Cross (also: SHOENFELT). With Southern Cross he recorded by now three albums (Blue Highway, Dead Flowers For Alice, Ecstatic).

In 1992 he worked with "Crime And The City Solutions’s" singer Simon Bonney on his first solo album.
The next Phil Shoenfelt CD was “God Is The Other Face Of The Devil”, released on Humbug Records/Trident Music International in 1993, and in the summer of 1994 a tour of the Czech Republic was organised in conjunction with the popular Czech band "Ticha dohoda", who learned Shoenfelt’s songs and backed him on the tour.

Since 1995 Shoenfelt lives in Prague, where he put together his current band, Phil Shoenfelt & Southern Cross . With Southern Cross he recorded by now three albums (Blue Highway, Dead Flowers For Alice, Ecstatic).

In 1997 Shoenfelt founded a new band Fatal Shore, together with Bruno Adams and Chris Hughes (both ex-members of Once Upon A Time). They made 3 album CDs - Fatal Shore, Free Fall, Real World.

Phil Shoenfelt also collaborated with Nikki Sudden. On Sudden's 1997/1998 tour Shoenfelt was the lead guitarist.


Phil Shoenfelt & Southern Cross released their fourth studio album "Paranoia.com" on November 1st, 2010. This album contains 9 new songs and a cover version of Iggy Pop & The Stooges' "Open Up And Bleed".



Tracks


01 A Dialogue Between The Soul And Body 4:45
Lyrics By - Andrew Marvell
Music By - Phil Shoenfelt
02 Ballad Of Elijah Cain 10:19
03 Darkest Hour 4:34
04 Dead Flowers For Alice 5:13
05 Demon Seed 5:04
06 Letter From Berlin (Part 2) 5:47
07 Shining World 6:04
08 Traitor's Eyes 5:04
09 Veronika's Veil 4:28





A Dialogue Between The Soul And Body : An incredible song which based on a poem of Andrew Marvell (1621-1678)

Andrew Marvell (31 March 1621 – 16 August 1678) was an English Metaphysical Poet.

The metaphysical poets were a loose group of British lyric poets of the 17th century, who shared an interest in metaphysical concerns and a common way of investigating them, and whose work was characterised by inventiveness of metaphor (these involved comparisons being known as metaphysical conceits). These poets were not formally affiliated; most of them did not even know or read each other.


A DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE SOUL
AND BODY

Soul.

O, WHO shall from this dungeon raise
A soul enslaved so many ways ?
With bolts of bones, that fettered stands
In feet, and manacled in hands ;
Here blinded with an eye, and there
Deaf with the drumming of an ear ;
A soul hung up, as 'twere, in chains
Of nerves, and arteries, and veins ;
Tortured, besides each other part,
In a vain head, and double heart ?

Body.

O, who shall me deliver whole,
From bonds of this tyrannic soul ?
Which, stretched upright, impales me so
That mine own precipice I go ;
And warms and moves this needless frame,
(A fever could but do the same),
And, wanting where its spite to try,
Has made me live to let me die
A body that could never rest,
Since this ill spirit it possessed.

Soul.

What magic could me thus confine
Within another's grief to pine ?
Where, whatsoever it complain,
I feel, that cannot feel, the pain ;
And all my care itself employs,
That to preserve which me destroys ;
Constrained not only to endure
Diseases, but, what's worse, the cure ;
And, ready oft the port to gain,
Am shipwrecked into health again.

Body.

But Physic yet could never reach
The maladies thou me dost teach ;
Whom first the cramp of hope does tear,
And then the palsy shakes of fear ;
The pestilence of love does heat,
Or hatred's hidden ulcer eat ;
Joy's cheerful madness does perplex,
Or sorrow's other madness vex ;
Which knowledge forces me to know,
And memory will not forego ;
What but a soul could have the wit
To build me up for sin so fit ?
So architects do square and hew
Green trees that in the forest grew.



BALLAD OF ELIJAH CAIN

I dreamed that I was a sailor
John Pilgrim was my name
I sailed a ship out of Bristol town
Headed for the coast of Maine
My love she was a young girl
To me she was a queen
Her daddy was rich I was poor
She was just seventeen

I held her close beside me
And I told her my goodbye
How could I know that within a year
She was doomed to die
Now my fortune is a legend
Won by force of arms
But I'd give it all up just to get her back
With all her woman's charms

And the rain falls down
And the rain falls down
And the rain falls down
On me...

The Lord came down to Moses
And he said "Now listen well,
Write these words in stone
And take them down to Israel"
As the thunder came crashing
I went reaching for my gun
When in truth I was only aching
To put an end to what I've become

When I woke up the sun was shining
And I knew that you're gone
I know I said that I didn't care
Ah, but honey I was wrong
And I felt just like a soldier
When I walked into your room
You said you'd never betray me
But you spoke too soon

And the rain falls down
And the rain falls down
And the rain falls down
On me...

Now the road goes on forever
And the sky it never ends
East to west and north to south
And right back again
And as I lose my vision
Like some leper refugee
Out of space and out of time
And out of destiny

The last time that I saw her
She was standing in the street
The crowd flowed all around her
Like a river at her feet
I remember how she looked at me
With her dark and haunted eyes
Like a saint throen to the fire
Stripped of all disguise

And the rain falls down
And the rain falls down
And the rain falls down
On me



Label : ZYX Music
Catalog : TZ 40014-2
Recorded and mixed at Vintage studio
Pruhenice, Prague, December 1998
Format : CD, Album
Made in : Germany
Original Release Date : August 8, 1999



Phil Shoenfelt vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar
Pavel Cingl violins, electric guitars
Pavel Krtous bass guitar
Jarda Kvasnicka drums, percussion
guest musicians:
Dave Boulter organ
Tomas Brozek piano


CD Rip
Size : 119 MB
Bitrate : 320

Take it HERE


Phil Shoenfelt on this Blog HERE

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