NICK GARRIE-Nightmare of JB Stanislas-lost '69 UK psych gem

[jamestkirk]

Nick Garrie- The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas


The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9jLqsd9PQ4





Nick Garrie-Hamilton, better known as Nick Garrie, is a British singer-songwriter best known for his extremely rare 1969 debut album, The Nightmare of JB Stanislas. Original copies of the album, which was reportedly only available in France, are known to be very expensive, and it was not until 2005, when Rev-ola Records issued it, that it was available on compact disc. In 2010 Elefant Records re-issued the album as a deluxe edition with newly recorded songs written in the late 1960s, demos of the originals and a short book written by the artist.

Garrie was never commercially successful in the English-speaking world, though his second album, Suitcase Man, peaked at Number 1 in Spain.

In 2009 Elefant Records put out a collection of Garrie's new songs entitled ’49 Arlington Gardens’, recorded with Scottish musicians in Glasgow, including Duglas T. Stewart (BMX Bandits), Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub), Francis Macdonald (Teenage Fanclub), Ally Kerr (singer/songwriter). In June 2012, for the first time in over forty years, Garrie performed 'The Nightmare Of J.B. Stanislas' in its entirety - with a string section - at the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona to a rapturous reception and critical acclaim.

In recent years Garrie has played Shepherd's Bush Empire (with Camera Obscura), Celtic Connections (Glasgow), Tanned Tin (Barcelona), Tonic (New York), L'International (Paris), Primavera Sound (Barcelona and Porto), Lemonpop, Easypop and Felipop (Spain), Altafidelidad (Madrid and Barcelona).

In the 1980s he toured Spain with Leonard Cohen.

In the 1990s he toured Japan and Korea with Francis Lai - a friend and admirer of Garrie's music over the years. They have co-written a number of songs.

Evening
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQw3kXZgAFg





Nick Garrie - Evening [The Nightmare of J. B. Stanislas] 1969/1970

Nick Garrie is renowned in psychedelic collectors' circles for his 1970 debut, The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas, a Baroque pop masterpiece effectively buried by nonexistent distribution and promotion. Born June 22, 1949, in Yorkshire, England, to a Russian father and Scottish mother, Garrie spent the majority of his adolescence at a French boarding school. He began writing songs while attending Warwick University, but his interests primarily lay in surrealist literature and poetry and he did mount a performing career until 1968, playing bars and restaurants while backpacking through the south of France.


After playing several high-profile Amsterdam gigs, Garrie returned to St. Tropez, where he signed to cut an LP in Brussels. The project remains unreleased, and in late summer of 1969 he finally returned to Warwick to resume his studies. A few months later a friend of his mother arranged for Garrie to meet with the Paris-based label DiscAZ, which extended a contract offer. After recording the never-released single "Queen of Spades" with American-born producer Mickey Baker (of "Love Is Strange" fame), he teamed with producer Eddie Vartan to begin work on The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas. Against Garrie's wishes, Vartan hired a 56-piece symphony for the sessions, and the artist (if not the record's admirers) later bemoaned the detrimental effects of such lush orchestration on his delicate, uncommonly literate songs. Far more damaging, DiscAZ president Lucien Morisse committed suicide within days of releasing The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas, guaranteeing the album never even left the starting blocks.

A crestfallen Garrie returned to school, abandoning the music business for several years. Under the alias Nick Hamilton (a nod to his mother's maiden name), he resurfaced in 1976 with "Un Instant de Vie," a collaboration with Francis Lai, but again retired from performing to manage a ski resort in the Swiss Alps. Oblivious to the growing notoriety of The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas, he retained the Nick Hamilton name for his 1984 comeback effort, Suitcase Man, recorded with former Cat Stevens sidemen Alun Davies and Gerry Conway. The album topped the Spanish pop charts, and earned its creator an opening slot on Leonard Cohen's Spanish tour later that year.

When the Stanislas track "Wheel of Fortune" appeared on Phil Smee's influential psychedelic pop obscurities compilation Circus Days, the legend of Nick Garrie grew, and with so little concrete information on his career the fanzine 117 published a fabricated biography as a prank. However, the gag was lost on many and the bio was accepted as fact in many quarters, further muddying the waters. While operating a ballooning company, he released a second Nick Hamilton LP, 1994's The Playing Fields, and in 2002 -- after returning to France to teach at a comprehensive school -- released Twelve Old Songs. Finally, in late 2005 the British reissue label Rev-Ola released The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas to much critical acclaim, adding the "Queen of Spades" single as well as several unreleased Belgian demos for good measure.


Can I Stay With You
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQETdqOt7As

David's Prayer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyXiQ-YA53Y

Documentary-a nice 10 minute doc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cikXuv5Rme8

Nick performing his classic today
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmik03xaSGI

[jamestkirk]

Friday, 17 August 2012

Nick Garrie - The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas (1970)


Around ten years ago I became obsessed with CD reissue label Rev-Ola. I'd buy anything that they put out and at one point, in 2004-2005, releases were coming thick and fast. It felt like having a friend who new exactly what music you'd like, recommending you loads of killer albums. A lot of the releases from this time I still regard as some of my all time favourite albums. One that really stands out is Nick Garrie's "The Nightmare of J.B. Stanislas", a true Baroque/Folk/Pop lost classic if every I heard one. I already knew "Wheel Of Fortune" from the popsike compilation Circus Day's Volume 1, but never thought of looking up Garrie (aka Nick Hamilton). It wouldn't have mattered anyway because if had found a copy of Stanislas, I wouldn't have been able to afford one. Popsike.com shows that copies sell for between £200 and £500. I did manage to get a copy on vinyl eventually, thanks to spanish label Wah Wah Records who released it on LP back in 2006.




Half Russian, half Scottish Garrie was brought up in France and England where he went boarding school and university, he never fitted in with the hippy or drug crowds instead preferring to spend time on his own reading poetry and studying surrealism. Garrie along with a musician friend spent time in the late sixties travelling round Europe, performing in various bars. By the Autumn of 1968 the French record label DiscAZ had offered Garrie a record deal thanks to a meeting set up via a friend of his mothers.


Studios Davou in Paris along with Eddie Vartan (Sylive's brother) and a 56 piece orchestra were chosen by DiscAZ for the album recording sessions. Garrie was left disapointed with the output from the sessions as the heavy orchestrations was not how he imagined the songs, instead preferring a much starker, moody sound.

The album opener and title track starts with big strings and echoey vocals, a little electric sitar and tack piano. More dreamlike than nightmarish, this track could fit on any of the Fading Yellow albums. I've seen Garrie's vocals compared to Peter Sarstedt's before which is very close. Check out Sarstedt's song "Sayonara" from his 1969 album "Peter Sarstedt" and you'll see where such a comparison stems from. "Can I Stay With You?" is reminiscent of Nick Drake circa Bryter Layter. Again, embellished with the full production works by Vartan much to Garrie's dismay but to the listeners delight. "Bungle's Tour" tells the story of the type of holiday "pack pack pack pack pack pack package" tours which were becoming more common during this time. This should've been included on Carry On Abroad with lyrics like "Bungle's will be waiting at the bus, the French are crooks so put your trust in us. We'll get you fish and chips, an english beer to wet your lips", bringing a smile to my face every time I hear it. "David's Prayer" and "The Wanderer" remind me of John Pantry's early solo records and like most of the album, have that slight melancholy vibe with loner songwriter lyrics sung to upbeat melodies. Not the sort of thing you'd play at a party but more like what you'd listen to on your earphones while going for a walk. "Ink Pot Eyes" sounds like the similarly, under appreciated at the time, Bill Fay. A singer songwriter whose music career almost parallels Garries. "Little Bird" my favorite song on the album. Think the Byrds (Younger Than Yesterday/Notorious Byrd Brothers era) crossed with the Honeybus and you're about as close as you can get pop perfection. Clocking in at two minutes n the dot, it would've made a great single. "Deeper Tones Of Blue" and "Wheel Of Fortune" are much like the title track where the orchestration is big but not in a cheesy way like Tom Jones or Shirley Bassey. Now I don't know what he was thinking when he recorded "Queen of Queens" and I remember Sweet Floral Albion comparing this track to Shaking Stevens! Obviously its not that bad but it sure does stand out. Final song "Evening" is probably closer to the sound that Garrie had in his head for the record and ends the album on a darker note.

Following the completion of the album, DiscAZ boss Lucien Morrisse committed suicide. As a result, the album couldn't be found in any shops and without any promotion it was forgotten about and remained largely unheard, apart from a few lucky record collectors, for over 30 years. But, like all good music it got discovered eventually and its reputation continues to grow, slowly but surely, thanks to reissue record labels and the internet.

Nick Garrie continued playing music on and off, eventually scoring a number one album in Spain thanks to some good exposure through a tour with Leonard Cohen. Garrie's most recent album "49 Arlington Gardens" released by Elefant Records, sees him backed by Duglas T. Stewart of the BMX Bandits and Norman Blake of Teenage Fanclub. My band The Junipers were fortunate enough to share the bill with Nick Garrie at the Doune The Rabbit Hole festival in Scotland in 2011 and can confirm that he's still got a full head of hair and has kept that fine singing voice that made "The Nightmare of J.B Stanislas" so great. With any luck he will continue to record and perform, bringing Stanislas to the masses, gaining the recognition it deserves.

The Nightmare of J.B Stanislas was given the deluxe reissue treatment as part of a 3CD box set and can be purchased from Garrie's fine website here.

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