Nikki Sudden & Phil Shoenfelt: Golden Vanity 2009

NIKKI SUDDEN

                  

Nikki Sudden was born Adrian Nicholas Godfrey in London, England. Adrian Nicholas Godfrey (19 July 1956 – 26 March 2006). The main influences on Sudden's music were artists such as T. Rex, the Rolling Stones, the Faces, Bob Dylan and Johnny Thunders. Following the break-up of Swell Maps in 1980, he started a solo career and also released records with Dave Kusworth as the Jacobites. Sudden collaborated with Mike Scott and Anthony Thistlethwaite of the Waterboys, Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, The

Golden Horde as 'The Last Bandits', Mick Taylor of the Rolling Stones, Rowland S. Howard, Jeremy Gluck of the Barracudas, Ian McLagan of Small Faces and the Faces, Phil Shoenfelt, Al DeLoner of Midnight Choir, Tom Ashton of the March Violets, members of R.E.M. and Sonic Youth. The Jacobites' tune "Pin Your Heart" was covered on the Lemonheads' 1997 single "The Outdoor Type".[citation needed] Post Swell Maps, Sudden formed and recorded as Bingo Little with Andy Bean and Cally Callomon.
Sudden also wrote for a number of music magazines, such as Spex, INTRO, Mojo, the Birmingham-based fanzine Waxstreet Dive, and Bucketfull of Brains.

PHIL SHOENFELT

                       

Phil Shoenfelt was born in Bradford, England, in December 1952. He moved to New York where he lived and played in several bands, such as Khmer Rouge, and was active on the downtown Manhattan arts scene. Returning to London in 1984, he continued making music until encroaching heroin addiction

brought a temporary halt to all such activity. Finally kicking the habit after eleven years, he embarked upon a solo career and in 1995 moved to Prague, where he currently lives. In recent years he has produced several CDs of his music on various independent labels: solo; with his band Southern Cross; with the Berlin-based Australian group Fatal Shore; and a new performance project, The Bruce Wellie Band. Junkie Love is Shoenfelt's second book. His first, a collection of his poetry and song lyrics entitled The Green Hotel, came out in 1998.

NIKKI SUDDEN AND PHIL SHOENFELT

                       

NIKKI  SUDDEN  &  PHIL  SHOENFELT

It is with very great pleasure that we announce that the Troubadour label will be issuing the Golden Vanity album recorded by Nikki Sudden & Phil Shoenfelt in Berlin in 1998. Ten years later it will see

the light of day with full blessing of the Sudden estate and the brilliant Mr Shoenfelt. Easy Action boss Carlton Sandercock says "this is one f##kin amazing album! Phil Shoenfelt is the author of the highly acclaimed novel Junkie Love. Phil also recorded many albums including "God is the other face of the devil" for Humbug in 1994. Last month an album "Live at the House of Sin" with Pavel Cingl was issued in Europe.
                       

NIKKI  SUDDEN  &  PHIL  SHOENFELT

Nikki Sudden about "Golden Vanity" (Interview with Australian Rock Review, 1998):
"Golden Vanity" contains some of my more T.Rex styled songs: "Hanoi Jane" and "Bang A Gong"; an unreleased song from the ‘Kiss You Kidnapped Charabanc’ sessions, "Jack Ketch", "Teenage Sheets" -

a "Fortune of Fame"-ish rocker, "Jamboree Bag" – a twenty minute Can/Swell Maps inspired jam, "Angel Wings", "Cloak of Virtue", "Broken Glove" (as premiered on my "Egyptian Roads" collection), "Portcullis", "When I Waged A Crown" and "Empty Grave" - these six numbers co-written with Mr. Shöenfelt. The album is completed by two of Phil’s songs, "Waiting For You" and "Love Makes Her Shine". This should be released during the next months, probably by a German label. I find Phil’s guitar playing makes a refreshing/inspiring counterpoint to my own style.

MOJO
by Max Décharné    
Excellent lost studio collaboration released at last...Spring 1998, shortly after the death of his brother Epic Soundtracks, Nikki Sudden and his friend and fellow English songwriter Phil Schoenfelt

NIKKI  SUDDEN

played a string of European shows, then with their touring band recorded this album of specially-written tracks, mostly with the volume cranked up to eleven and few overdubs. The live-in-the-studio approach works well, and the songs themselves really deliver: Cloak of Virtue is a genuine highlight, swapping lead vocals between the two singers, while Bang A Gong is Nikki’s joyous tribute to the lifelong Bolan influence in his work. Teenage Sheets jumps like the New York Dolls, Waiting For You and Golden Door are classic lovesongs, and the acoustics and slide of Jack Ketch recall Nikki’s 1980s Jacobites recordings. The album never appeared, for convoluted reasons outlined in Phil’s excellent sleevenotes. That it’s finally surfaced is a treat indeed.
     

PHIL  SHOENFELT

 
BUCKETFULL OF BRAINS
#72 spring 2009, by Nick West    

NIKKI  SUDDEN

Very much a case of 'that which was lost ...' this little piece of legend was recorded in Berlin in early 1998. Both Nikki and Phil had mentioned it me on more than one occasion, adamant as to its quality, but no one seemed to be able to turn up the complete recordings, and with Nikki's death, it seemed they were likely gone for good. Over its absence settled a patina of romance, and as with so much of Nikki it

PHIL  SHOENFELT

seemed fleeting, evanescent, now forever beyond grasp. Sometime last year Phil told me all the tapes had turned up and I guess I hoped to get a burn of it at some point, and then would arise the question of how the reality would match the myth. Well better than that it's got itself a proper release, through Troubadour, and, bless them both, they were right about it because it's a magnificent meeting of talents.
                     

Nikki Sudden & Phil Shoenfelt – Golden Vanity
Label: Troubadour – TRBCD009
Format: CD, Album
Country: UK
Released: 2009
Genre: Rock
Style: Alternative Rock, Indie Rock

TRAXS

                       

01. Hanoi Jane   6:02
Backing Vocals – Joe Armstrong, Mark Mulholland
Written-By – Sudden
02. Cloak Of Virtue   4:53
Written-By – Sudden, Shöenfelt
03. Jack Ketch   6:21
Acoustic Guitar – Nikki Sudden
Mandola – Mark Mulholland
Percussion [Ghost Percussion] – Dugald Jayes
Slide Guitar – Phil Shöenfelt
Written-By – Sudden, Howard
04. Portcullis   1:34
Written-By – Sudden, Shöenfelt
05. Love Makes Her Shine   4:04
Backing Vocals – Joe Armstrong, Mark Mulholland
Keyboards – Phil Shöenfelt
Written-By – Shöenfelt
06. Bang A Gong   5:18
Written-By – Sudden
07. Waiting For You   5:41
Mandola – Mark Mulholland
Written-By – Shöenfelt
08. Jamboree Bag   10:39
Guitar [Space Echo Guitar] – Phil Shöenfelt
Written-By – Picot, Sudden, Shöenfelt, Schmidt
09. Golden Door (Early Version Of Broken Door)   7:20
Written-By – Sudden
10. Teenage Sheets   3:55
Written-By – Sudden, Shöenfelt
11. Wage A Crown   1:31
Written-By – Sudden, Shöenfelt
12. Hangman's Daughter   5:15
Written-By – Sudden, Shöenfelt
13. Angel Wings   5:10
Written-By – Sudden, Shöenfelt
14. Cullisport   1:33
Written-By – Sudden, Shöenfelt
15. Master Sampson   0:35
Written-By – Sudden

NOTES

Recorded At – Interzone Studio
Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals – Carl Eugene Picot
Drums, Percussion – Robbie Schmidt
Engineer – Dugald Jayes
Mixed By – Dugald Jayes, Nikki Sudden, Phil Shöenfelt
Producer [Produced by] – Nikki Sudden, Phil Shöenfelt
Vocals, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Phil Shoenfelt
Vocals, Electric Guitar, Keyboards, Percussion – Nikki Sudden

MP3 @ 320 Size: 162 MB
Flac  Size: 491 MB

Nikki Sudden on Urban Aspirines HERE
Phil Shoenfelt on Urban Aspirines HERE