Musicians: David Thomas (vocals, tapes), Richard Thompson (guitar, backing vocals), Jim Jones (guitar, synthesizer, backing vocals, loops), Lindsay Cooper (bassoon, sopranino), Paul Hamann (bass), Jack Monck (bass), Anton Fier (drums, marimba, piano, percussion), and Chris Cutler (drums, percussion).
Songs: Pedestrian Walk, Bird Town, A Day At The Botanical Gardens, The Egg and I, Who Is It?, Song of The Hoe, Hurry Back, The Rain, and Semaphore.
Musicians: Chris Cutler and Lindsay Cooper.
Songs: A Day Such As This, Winter Comes Home, West Side Story, Sunset, Stormy Weather, Poetic License, Rhapsody In Pink, Dinosaurs Like Me, Petrified, Bones In Action, and Contrasted Views of The Archaeopteryx.
Notes: Recorded live at The Hirschwirt, Erding, West Germany, 12/11/82. Mastering by Jon Jacobs at Nimbus. Art by Mary Thomas.
Musicians: David Thomas (vocals), Lindsay Cooper (bassoon, sopranino, tuba, oboe, alto sax, piano, organ), Tony Maimone (bass, piano), Chris Cutler (drums, percussion).
Songs: Through The Magnifying Glass, Enthusiastic, Whale Head King, Song of The Bailing Man, Big Breezy Day, The Farmer's Wife, New Broom, and About True Friends.
Musicians: Daved Hild, Tony Maimone, Allen Ravenstine and Garo Yellin.
Songs: My Theory of Spontaneous Simultude / Red Tin Bus (3:06), What Happened To Me (2:45), Monster Walks The Winter Lake (11:13), Bicycle (4:17), Coffee Train (2:24), My Town (3:19), Monster Magee, King of The Seas (2:14), Monster Thinks About The Good Days (3:37), and What Happened To Me (2:41).
Notes: Produced by David Thomas. Recorded live in the studio by Paul Hamann at Suma on November 18, 20 and 21, 1985, using the Sumex custom digital processor and a Sony F1 betamax video recorder. There were no overdubs. Fostex X-15 and Tascam 144 multitrack cassette recordings were used as real time accompaniments for Coffee Train, My Town, Monster Magee and Monster Thinks About The Good Days. Digitally edited by Paul Hamann at Telarc. Digitally transferred ands eq'ed by David Thomas and Paul Hamann at Suma, October 1996. Front cover photo by Mik Mellen. Back cover photo by Ellen Zoslov. Design by John Thompson.
Musicians: Chris Cutler, Jim Jones, Tony Maimone & Allen Ravenstine.
Songs: My Town (3:07), A Fact About Trains (4:24), King Knüt (5:27), When Love Is Uneven (3:27), The Storm Breaks (3:34), The Long Rain (4:11), Havin Time (4:53), Friends of Stone (3:18), and The Velikovsky 2-Step (6:50).
Notes: Produced by Chris Cutler. Recorded by Paul Hamann at Suma on September 23 and 24, 1986. Original release edited by Paul Hamann and Roz Ilett at Telarc, Cleveland OH, mastered at Suma by Mike Bishop and cut by Denis Blackham at Tape One, London. Digitally transferred and eq'ed by David Thomas and Paul Hamann at Suma, October 1996. Photos by Mik Mellen. Design by John Thompson.
Musicians: Keith Moliné & Andy Diagram.
Songs: Obsession, Planet of Fools, Nowheresville, Fire, Lantern, Morbid Sky, Weird Cornfields, Highway 61 Revisited and Kathleen.
Five cd box set of these albums:
The Sound of The Sand,
Variations On A Theme,
More Places Forever,
Monster Walks The Winter Lake,
Blame The Messenger
Meadville (bonus live disk by David Thomas and two pale boys)
The 1997 release was a 5-cd box set with a 16 page full-color booklet. The package design was by John Thompson. Digitally transferred and eq'ed by David Thomas and Paul Hamann at Suma, January 1997.
Produced by David Thomas.
Musicians: Bob Holman, Linda Thompson, Robert Kidney, Jackie Leven, Daved Hild, Jane Bom-Bane, Keith Moliné, Andy Diagram, Peter Hammill, Jack Kidney and Chris Cutler.
Songs: Lost Nation Road, Ballad of Florida, Montana, Morbid Sky, Nowheresville, Memphis, Over The Moon, Bus Called Happiness and Weird Cornfields.
Produced by David Thomas and P.O. Jørgens.
Musicians: P. O. Jørgens, Jørgen Teller & Per Buhl Acs.
Songs: Clouds of You, White Room, Black Coffee Dawn, Salt, Nobody Lives On The Moon, Charlotte, The Doorbell, 15 Seconds, The Radio Talks To Me, Shaky Hands, Black Rain, Turpentine and White Room #4.
Produced by David Thomas.
Musicians: Keith Moliné and Andy Diagram.
Songs: Runaway, Man in the Dark, Night Driving, Surf's Up, River, Ghosts, Spider in my Stew and Come Home * Green River.
Produced by David Thomas.
Musicians: Keith Moliné and Andy Diagram.
Songs: New Orleans Fuzz, Numbers Man, Little Sister, Habeas Corpus, Brunswick Parking Lot, Nebraska Alcohol Abuse, Sad Eyed Lowlands, Golden Surf, and Prepare for The End.
One of the big acts on Fontana was Was (Not Was). They had some hits ("Walk The Dinosaur"). They were a cult band out of Detroit. It was led by David Was and Don Was. They were signed to Fontana by the same man who signed Pere Ubu, Dave Bates. They were fans of Ubu. In 1988-ish, David Thomas worked with them on a project that was never completed. Two demos were recorded, Zydeco Sont Pas Sale and another. In 1989 a show was organized at the Borderline, London, with a band that was Don Was (bass) and Dave Was (misc instruments), Karl Wallinger (keyboards, guitar), Chris Cutler (drums) with Loudon Wainwright and Guy Chambers (keyboards). Guy Chambers later wrote many of Robbie Williams hits. Karl was in The Waterboys and later led World Party. Loudon Wainwright is a legendary folk singer going back to the 60s, known for his witty self-mocking style. He had a hit in the 70s with "Dead Skunk (In the Middle Of The Road)". David's father loved the song. He is probably better known these days as father to Martha and Rufus Wainwright.
In 1996 I was asked to participate in a improvisational performance staged on a fountain in Copenhagen to be called Gefion Calls. This led to a series of performances throughout Denmark under the name Greenland, which, in turn, led to the recording project by The Foreigners that yielded the Bay City album.