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CD album West of Eden 1993
 
Cover of the CD album West of Eden by Hugh Featherstone and Red Shift  
Click on a track title to see lyrics and notes further down the page.

Solid state

Fine print

Don't walk away

Chinese takeout

In the nineties

Fish on the phone
  7  Everybody needs someone

  8  Transatlantic nights

  9  Industrial lace

10  The circle of your arms

11  Silas in Tigertown

12  George thinks again
13  King of the ocean

14  One of these days

15  Cabriolet

16  The line

17  West of Eden

All songs by Hugh Featherstone
 
 
All text in this rather fetching blue-green by Hugh Featherstone.

The band RED SHIFT (1986-2000), with Hugh as writer and frontman, transmuted into Trans/At and more lately into Hugh Featherstone and a Panel of Experts. But while the original crew were still rocking around Europe they managed to produce this fine CD which showcases their collective as well as individual talents.

Fish on the phone, for example, is a very fine pop tune which one can't help thinking would have been a hot single - if only anybody out there had been listening. Is anybody out there?

Two of the line-up on this album, percussionist Christian Sichert and guest drummer Philby, were to become founder-members of Hugh's latest band Hugh Featherstone and A Panel of Experts, whose first CD was Live at the Chapel (2005).


To our friends and families and all those who have helped us on the way,
particularly Martin, Roland and Manni, go our heartfelt thanks.

Thanks to my Saints and Angels and other good citizens, especially Fellner,
Manfred and Heidi, Ralf W, Eric and Francoise, Paul D and Christof S
for their support through the years. May your luggage be light.



You can order this CD

at blutopia.networks

www.blutopia.net

RED SHIFT personnel:

Drums: Yannick Le Roux

Percussion: Christian Sichert

Bass: Winfried Winkler

Keyboards: Ali Döhler

Electric guitar: Heinz Sondermann

Electric & acoustic guitars: Featherstone


Guests:

Philby plays African bush drum on track 2

Marcus Reyhani plays saxophone on tracks 6, 13, 14


Recorded in 16 track and mastered A.D.D. on private equipment
between January and October 1993.

Engineering & premix: Matthias Dechsene & Norbert Quast

Sound management & liaison: Christian Sichert

Remix: Featherstone

A Struts & Frets production

Inside liner photography: Marcel at Ralf Bremen, Aachen

Graphics and layout: Uschi Ronnenberg, Aachen

Cover painting: "Eden" by Ed Povey

 

Edward Povey is a rising English artist whose work has been exhibited in major galleries in London (British Arts Council at The Royal Exchange in 1978), Brussles (Jan de Maere Galleries in 1988), The Hague (Art Gallery Gerard in 1991) and New York (Midtown Payson Galleries in 1991 and 1992). His giant multiple canvass, "The Trial of St. Deiniol", dominated the foyer of the Jacob Javlts Center during the New York Art Expo and was featured in The New York Times.

Recently, museums and galleries have begun to acquire Poveys for their permanent collections and his last major commission, a $50,000 fresco contract for the University of Wales, attracted the attention of The Times, which featured the painting on the back page of its Arts Section. The artist has also been the subject of a BBC television documentary.

The allegorical painting "Eden" concerns the possession and admistration of data and the power it represents within the context of "an almost holy civil service". The world of 20th century Adam, a middle-aged bureaucrat, and his shadowy but indispensible secretary Eve is shown as a cosy yet "warped and claustrophobic" realm where facts are gathered and processed hermetically for their own sake. She embraces the tree of knowledge in the form of a filing cabinet while he "farms" the ordered little paradise of his desk. The snake-like ambiguity of Adam's left hand suggests a certain discreet cupidity. The pillars of conformity hold up the heaven of retirement and a good pension.

The painting was commissioned especially for the CD and reflects some of the ideas expressed in the songs Solid State, In the Nineties, Industrial Lace, Fine Print and The Line.

CD cover of West of Eden by Hugh Featherstone with painting by Edward Povey

CD cover painting:
"Eden" by Edward Povey
 
photos from the CD booklet

Winfried Winkler, bass player

Winfried Winkler
bass
 

Hugh Featherstone, guitar and vocals

Hugh Featherstone
guitar and vocals
 

Heinz Sondermann, electric guitar

Heinz Sondermann
electric guitar
 

Christian Sichert, percussion

Christian Sichert
percussion
 

Ali Döhler, keyboards

Ali Döhler
keyboards
 

Yannick Le Roux, drums

Yannick Le Roux
drums
 
West of Eden lyrics and notes  

All Hugh's CD album sleeves contain lyrics and notes, so the best way to enjoy
them is to read as you listen. But for those of you who can't wait, here they are.

All text in this rather fetching blue-green by Hugh Featherstone.
 
West of Eden Solid state track 1

For my friends in the East who agitated for change and were mugged by the new political reality.

The jobs don't grow on trees here
the cops don't keep the peace here
it's hard to tread that fine line
you've got your ocode, I've got mine

This won't bring heaven nearer
the post-atomic era
newspeak and clever cure-alls
Atlantic to the Urals
it's a solid state

Street corner cowboys calling
grab while the glass is falling
food getting scarce these winters
the brick, the crash, the splinters

When you can't get what you're owed
you take what's lying on the road
leaders go, bureaucrats stay
sooner or later they play
solid state

Street gorner curfew breaker
just left to meet his maker
two cops in mufti caught him
not prettywhat they taught him

I left the motor running
I'd seen the trouble coming
there's one thing l'd like to know
in one world where can we go?
 
West of Eden Fine print track 2

Have you seen the signs
the big print and the fine
have you?

Time we all grew up
ain't we seen enough
I have, have you?

Take a look at the world
we're not trying that hard
we throw money at problems
but they don't go away
just take a look at the world
it's crying out for a change
not just petrified systems from
yesterday

I'll take my guitar
sing right where we are
for you
for you
 
West of Eden Don't walk away track 3

Love is habit-forming, it's a way of life
the ties that bind, the Gordian knot
I know the colour red, I know the reason why
l saw you turn your head, l saw you catch his eye
but don't walk away

He may treat you better, he may treat you worse
but you'll keep this letter, you'll cry at this verse
so don't walk away

There's a time for taking and a time for giving
it seems you took my heart, so why am I still living here

I watch your picture fading on a rusty pin
I never had much pity for the state I'm in
but everything I am, everything I own
isn't worth a dann if I'm all alone
so don't walk away
don't walk away
 
West of Eden Chinese takeout track 4

He was your angel
he was your first love
he kept you guessing day of your life
Good enough to
fix his breakfast
not good enough to be his wife

Look out your window
look out your door
hey, sugar, he ain't coming no more
can't imagine why the sun shines on
your man's gone

Call your friends up
call your neighbours
hey, sister, did he come that way?

Just an inkling
just an idea
leave a message in case he calls today

Make a scene
what're you waiting for?
break his picture on the mezzanine floor
every dream that you had went wrong
your man's gone

He wasn't woth it
he didn't löve you
tell yourself that you're better off

They're all the same, girl
they push and shove you
and now it's time to take the fetters off

Place a call
to the Chinese takeaway
a little something just to take the ache away
a battle lost, but the war is won
your man's gone
 
West of Eden In the nineties track 5

To all the majordudes and majordupes.

You say you're gonna work the farm
kid you've got a lot to learn
you say Maggie didn't do you no harm
well, guess that's right, but now it's your turn

You ain't gonna hang around anybody's favourite
bistro no more
with the tickertape spilling
on the stock exchange floor

You live your life alone
be careful on the phone

You've someone to keep you warm
well, what a lucky guy you are!
Will she help you ride the storm
when the razor boys take your house and car?

You ain't gonna be washing your dirty linen
in public no more
you'd better beep a watchdog
posted on your backdoor

You live your life alone
be careful on the phone

Keep on walking to the right
down the tunnel with Mother Night
 
West of Eden Fish on the phone track 6

It's hard to make my presence felt
living outside your astral belt
among a number of unknowns
wish I could get you all alone

These are the best years of our lives
I wonder anyone survives
hang like a fish upon the phone
wish I could get you all alone

The party goes on every night
you seem to be their central light,
there's just one switch you haven't thrown
wish I could get you all alone

When you've got some time to call your own
come back and reap what you have sown
nothing the law would not condone
wish I could get you all alone
 
West of Eden Everybody needs someone track 7

She walks down Princes Street trying not to care
the shops like jewel boxes mocking her despair
she never knew what game he was playing
too much gets taken without saying

He leaves the toothbrush and the terry-towel robe
he leaves a letter though he doesn't have much hope
is this the price you pay for dropping your guard
who should he say he's leaving

Everybody needs someone

Ten minutes later and he's back home with the kids
his mind is screaming but he keeps it pretty hid
so much for sideline occupations
afraid she'll cause a confrontation

She walks back home and wonders how to twist the knife
will she just break alone, or will she call his wife?
she reads the letter through her gathering tears
if this is love, its frightenlng

How everybody needs someone

The tiger riders and the fools who play with sharks
the easy dealers and the three-a-penny marks
we're all just human on the inside
we wear our leather on the thin side

The tough, the humble and the terminally smart
have no protection against a bullet in the heart
she was his little backstreet business
so what's he shivering for now?

You know, everybody needs someone
 
West of Eden Transatlantic nights track 8

Burned out at 17 with a guitar in your hand
Lady Luck had another point of view
jumped school in the back of a Chevy to the promised land
bet your mother would hardly know it's you

But you kept all the photos anyhow
of the girl that you left in another town
She'd have to pay twenty dollars to see you now today

Are you doin' alright?
transatlantic nights, transatlantic nights
in the centre of the stage
in the circle of light

Are you doin' alright?
transatlantic nights, transatlantic nights
you wouldn't give it up now
not without a good fight

Are you doin' alright?

Back home you're the prodigal son, everybody shakes your hand
littlle sister just can't believe it's true
every kid with a Les Paul copy wants to sit in with the band
but no one knows what you're really going through

You kept all the photos anyhow
yes, you did it for her, she's married now
and your silver lining's just another cloudy day

Are you doin' alright?
transatlantic nights, transatlantic nights
in the centre of the stage
in the circle of light

Are you doin' alright?
transatlantic nights, transatlantic nights
you wouldn't give it up now
not without a good fight

Are you doin' alright?
 
West of Eden Industrial lace track 9

You've had a hard time from the start
no one could accuse you of a tender heart
beneath the shadows of the Darklin Towers
you learned the lessons of money and power
from the wrong side where the buck rarely stops
among the parking lots and boarded up shops
but who told you that you'd fallen from grace
industrial lace

A hundred years of crawling up
another hundred with a begging cup
a hundred years of angry blood
the ropes tightening, the flames coming up
a voice calling from the heart of the world
for the common man and the working girl
they promised you a beautiful place
industrial lace

But It seems that nothing ever works out here
there never was much to raise a cheer
you dream about a day of reckoning
a flash of thigh and there's destiny beckoning...
fast marriage to the life of the rich
the fancy clothes, the seven year itch,
look down now and you won't leave a trace
industrial lace

lt was in the lunch hour just the other day
a conversatlon in the works café
crazy dream of a world at one
some kind of magic for everyone
and the strange pressures and the barriers gone
the tide turning, the lights coming on
just then I caught a glimpse of your face
industrial lace
 
West of Eden The circle of your arms track 10

A live version of this song appears on the CD Live at the Chapel. Hugh made a video
of this song for his YouTube channel in 2011, when he wrote:

I generally play this thoughtful little song as a solo intro to my band concerts, so it seems natural to put it here, at the start of this new series of video recordings. The lyric sums up the way that love can rebuild the world in an instant, even in the most difficult times.

Life is hard
and the leaving is harder still
no one escapes
you can die with your hand in the till

Saints and angels
doing their best I guess
they've all got their niche
I found mine in the folds of your dress

And all the protection life can offer
the only known shelter from harm
is here within the circle of your arms
is here within the circle
of your arms
 
West of Eden Silas in Tigertown track 11

Face through a window, just a vision in a crowd
a look, half sun, half rain, get's you wondering aloud
what's the good of living if you don't share with anyone
what's the good of living if you're missing all the fun

You never get lucky forever
you turn back, you could get together
you walk on, you may just forget her
you never get lucky forever

Walk a mile and build your crooked house
buy a cat, catch a crooked mouse
if you never go straight to the heart of the matter anymore
don't expect no dream to walk in through your door

You never get lucky forever
you turn back, you could get together
you walk on, you may just forget her
you never get lucky forever

There you go stuck in your room again
stuck in your loom again
lost your faith, you lost your money too, what are you gonna do?

There you go with your nose in the air
you've got your eyes on the ground, you've got your knees nowhere
and you're walking on down to Tigertown, where they say...

You never get lucky forever
you turn back, you could get together
you walk on, you may just forget her
you never get lucky forever
 
West of Eden George thinks again track 12

George held his wife, kids and a social worker hostage for 3 days.
The Montana state police were not amused when he began to
have second thoughts; messy business.


Meanwhile at the lodge
they're calling George:

"Oh George, please come out
we won't hurt you, we're your friends"

The officer sends two more
snipers round the back

We have George on the phone:

"There are too many people here
I'm counting up to ten
when I look round
I hope you'll all have gone home"
 
West of Eden King of the ocean track 13

An earlier version of this song appeared on Hugh's 1983
limited edition cassette album "The Black Tape".

There's a boat in the harbour
there's a girl on the shore
she's only sixteen
he's about thirty four
just an innocent sailor
no more thirsty than most
and in love with wth the prettiest
thlng on the coast

Now McKirk said to Sandy:
"why don't you be mine?"
she said: "I only step out
for a ship-o'-the-line
get your papers together
and straighten your tie
'cause you'll never make captain
with that look in your eye"

So McKirk he pulled hard
for a couple of years
on a Panama merchantman
out of Tangiers
till the day finally came
when they gave him a break
he's a captain of line
and they're cutting the cake

But it's had to keep floating
so easy to sink
when you have to keep drowning
your problems in drink
'cause the girl of his dreams
wasn't one for his heart
he was only her sideshow
she was playing a part

In some tropical hotel
he's out on the floor
Sandy laces her sneakers
and walks out that door
well it isn't that happiness
evaded McKirk
but if life don't come easy, well
you just have to work

There's a boat in the harbour
a man on the quay
he's been drowning his sorrows
since a quarter-to-three
with a jug on the table
and a glass in the hand
he's a king of the ocean
but a fool on the land
 
West of Eden One of these days track 14

Slow motion in a lock-step family
they break your voice, then they break your will
two weeks on the Costa-del-annually
you bloom a little, then it's back to the chill

Breaking out of the nine-o-clock curfew
you weren't looking for anything much
just a sign that you might be somebody
some conformation, no magical touch

I'll get you one of these days
I'll get you one of these days
I'll get you one of these days
climb in the car and I'll drive you away

Head down on the bustling sidewalk
afraid to slip into a strangers eyes
so many people their pain like a mediicine
never say hello, you'll save yourself some goodbyes

Just a heartbeat away from your lover
just a heartbeat away from the truth
he'lll break the prison of father and mother
he'll free the ice from the fountain of youth, he sings

I'll get you one of these days
I'll get you one of these days
I'll get you one of these days
climb in the car and I'll drive you away

Nothing going on here, nothing you can call your own
nothing calls to you, nohirg you can say is home
you're locked like a frozen bird
the minutes pass into days
the scream inside is never ending

Started smoking when you were just a kid to calm your nerves
you'd like shock, dress outrageously
play your muric for impact, but
no one even notices that you're there most days
although you're young, you're pretty and you're
calling for contact

I'll get you one of these days
I'll get you one of these days
I'll get you one of these days
climb in the car and I'll drive you away
 
West of Eden Cabriolet track 15

Show me the place where the cabrios go
when the weather is chilly and grim
show me the place where the cabrios go
when we're all duffled up to the chin
l love the shimmering jazz of the heat
straw hats and Ray Bans too
if you know the place where the cabrios go
won't you take me along with you

Cabriolet, cabrio lie
every autunm they perch on the freeways
ready to fly

Show me the place where the cabrios go
when the avenues glisten with frost
show me the place where the cabrios go
when the last golden leaf is lost
my sneakers are leaking, my jacket's too thin
and everyone here has the flu
if you know the place where the cabrios go
won't you take me along with you

Cabriolet, cabrio lie
every autunm they perch on the freeways
ready to fly
 
West of Eden The line track 16

Written while shrimp were learning to whistle.

In the nervous hours before the red shift
when the key men wait to take the floor
you're excused confusng fom with motion
there'll be no revolutions anymore

Some are walking on air
some are sleeping on knives
you don't teach a planet how to jive

When your cities drown in their pollution
when the waters swallow Singapore
when Alaska slides down the Aleutians
there's no time for questions anymore

Some'll drown in despair
some are saving their lives
you don't teach a planet how to jive

Out on the threshing floor
it's winnowing time
light breaks through the open doors
on the stooks and twine
the good grain and the chaff all came
to the gleaning line
the line

When the flames come up and take your condos
when your kids go rotten to the core
and you're singing some suburban rondo
as the jungle jumps in through your door

Some are screaming "unfair!"
some are phoning their wives
you don't teach a planet how to jive

Here on the threshing floor
it's winnowing time
light breaks through the open doors
on the stooks and twine
the good grain and the chaff all came
to the gleaning line
the line

Move along
we'll sing another song
and let's all learn to fall with grace
pretend there's nothing wrong
and no one lost the human race

The stage and the centre page
the years of prime
the rage of a distant age
the water and the wine
the good grain and the chaff all came
to the gleaning line
the line
 
West of Eden West of Eden track 17

This short spoken piece is an excerpt from Hugh's poem West of Eden.


... emerging from under the tutoring brow of God
past the ambiguous tree and the flamlng sword
into a parallel realm
they made their humbled yet still upright way
along the margins of the wide new world
around the sluggish oxbow bay
across the mountains, desolate and grand
beyond the beckoning savannah land
dusted with bitter primitive grain
towards a more demanding peace
a far more controversial freedom
out among the cities of the plain

somewhere, not East
but West of Eden
 
Hugh Featherstone plays Kraushaar Guitars
 
www.featherstone.de website design Ursa Major