Windfalls and Tinned Sardines

Mark Automaton

01 Time Is Tight
02 Emma
03 Little Shop Blues
04 Blunt Instrument
05 Radio Silence
06 Thirteen Nights
07 August '78
08 Abstract Albert's Second Journey
09 I Thought We Were Friends
10 Lorraine In Spain
11 Song
12 One Sun Left

Download

In the bleak midwinter...

Recently discovered among a box of old cassettes is this forgotten artefact from the very dawn of time (well, 1978 actually).
 
Recorded by Mark Automaton solo with no overdubs, no retakes and apparently very little rehersal, this tape was probably meant to serve as a demo of songs that were very much "work in progress" at that time (Emma is introduced with the comment "This is the first time I've done it, so I might get it wrong"). Versions of the majority of these tracks eventually found their way onto Radio Silence, although there are also interesting glimpses of works that never saw the light of an official release, and are included here for the first time.
 
In keeping with the spontaneous spirit of the original, the remastered recording is presented "warts and all" with tape hiss, false starts and muffed lines all intact.
 
All tracks written and performed by Mark Automaton
Originally recorded December 1978 at Deleted Records, Keelby
Remastered May 2014 at Waterden Studios, Stenhousemuir