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Cander

by Laughing Sun

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1.
It's a Blue Sky Don't Hold No Rain 09:48
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IT’S A BLUE SKY DON’T HOLD NO RAIN I’ve tried and tried and tried and tried to get to you I’ve tried and tried and tried and tried again Try and try and try and try to get through to you I’ll try and try and try and try forever Ever We came across some bones of men Scattered in the dust So many good souls turned to rust Within their shattered husks And these people had worn jewels And their heads had been held high Speckled foreheads touched the sky Behold the sparkling in their eyes Don’t you know it’s a blue sky Don’t hold no rain Don’t hold your love in vain Cos we’ve still got some loving left to do Some time ago the white man came Bringing Bible books and swords Bound them up in twining cords In the name of their great Lord They slew down the Aztecs Inca Ebu Maasai Now they hide in concrete lies To my Mammon side I cry What have we done To the Mother Goddess Gaia? Why can’t we nestle in her Warm aching bosom? Aah aah aah aah aah aah aah aah Now the world’s a spinning ball Two thirds with none to eat While we chew our scrawny meat Can you hear those big bells bleat? What have we done To the Mother Goddess Gaia? Why can’t we nestle in her Warm aching bosom? Aah aah aah aah aah aah aah aah
2.
She's Beautiful 05:46
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SHE’S BEAUTIFUL Well she’s walking with a sultry air Golden feather stuck in her hair Oh me oh my with her wake going by It occurred to me that I might fly Oh me oh my that’s something I spy with my eye She’s alright And these things going on inside my brain Won’t stop they only refrain They only refrain Only refrain See the world open before you It may even appal you Step back before you fall you Cos you got a road to travel A road to travel A road, yeah I said she’s beautiful Wanna make her mine I said she’s beautiful And she’s blowing my mind See the world open before you It may even appal you Step back before you fall you Cos you got a road to travel A road to travel A road I said she’s beautiful Wanna make her mine I said she’s beautiful And she’s blowing my mind
3.
Wanted to Be a Singer 03:40
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WANTED TO BE A SINGER Wanted to be a singer In a rock and roll band Back home where my zodiac lay Wanted everyone to follow in my footsteps See like me and be a part of my creation Wanted the whole universe to follow Especially my guitar and room to practice in Wanted everything so shiny With respects to you Oooh I’ve wondered Oooh I’ve wondered Oooh I have wondered Just what’s going on And she breaks just like a little child
4.
Master of the Universe 06:08
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MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE I am the centre of this universe The wind of time is blowing through me And it’s all moving relative to me It’s all a figment of my mind In a world that I’ve designed I’m charged with cosmic energy Has the world gone mad or is it me? I am the creator of this universe And all that it was meant to be So that we might learn to see Foolishness that lives in us And stupidity that we must suss How to banish from our minds If you call this living I must be blind.
5.
We Know You Well 08:15
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WE KNOW YOU WELL I saw you dosing in your room last night You thought you were racing but your face it was white I’d like to make you but the wall’s in the way I’d like to take you but you’re drifting away And we know you well We know you well Wise master sat at your desk in school Who are you kidding? Who’s the fool? You like to push pens in the wisdom of your years Don’t you know yet that your mind is full of fears? And we know you well We know you well Wisdom of ages is there in your head? Would you use it or abuse it instead? That you knew the word you knew was all that was real Universe there in your hands, how does that make you feel? And we know you well We know you well
6.
Indian Summer 04:25
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INDIAN SUMMER Burning incense on the breeze Floats out of your room Falling down the corridors of yesterday Feel it in the air Maybe it’ll be coming your way Carry me away Indian summer Carry me away It’s been so long Carry me away Standing on the doorstep Dancing round the room Rainbow dancing showers on the lawn Never thought at all That it would ever fade away Carry me away Indian summer Carry me away It’s been so long Carry me away Passing places full of you No longer seems to be Too far behind, too far away to see If I close my eyes I can sometimes drift away Carry me away Indian summer Carry me away It’s been so long Carry me away

about

Cander by Laughing Sun.

Cander is the name of the earliest surviving recording of Laughing Sun. Cander is a Wud Dictionary term, meaning ‘a meeting of friends after a long time apart’.

This EP is from a bootleg cassette recorded nearly 40 years ago. The cassette machine was placed to hopefully capture as much of the sound as possible, whilst being in a convenient spot to turn on and off.

Although we have managed a massive improvement to the quality of the audio, there remains a certain amount of hiss and rumble and ambient noise. Traffic can just about be heard passing by on the main road outside from time to time. There are various shufflings of feet and papers, clickings of effects pedals and machines, and so on. It’s a very genuine recording, and we love it for what it is.

The audio quality was never going to match today’s squeaky-clean digital standards due to the nature of the source material. As such, we have come to embrace the remaining hiss and rumble. They are a crucial part of the organic atmospherics that contribute to making this EP such a special listening experience.

Five of the six songs on Cander were recorded on 4th September 1985, with the final track, Indian Summer, being played a week later on the 11th. It was such a wonderful version with beautiful interplay between Ken’s delightful improvised scat singing and Pok’s guitar solo that we felt it needed to be included, especially as it is the piece that concludes the cassette.

The first five songs were recorded after a Wud rehearsal had finished. The songs I Know I Know You (by Mark Drower), Frog and Change had been recorded during the Wud session. Wud was clearly falling to pieces as the personality clash between Ken and George was growing ever more acrimonious. The Laughing Sun songs form the majority of the B-side of the cassette.

Cander represents the morphing of the band Wud into the band Laughing Sun. The six songs presented here feature a lot of inspired improvisation that led to these versions defining the arrangements, and many of the parts, of these songs.

This EP is an essential classic in the mythology of Wud Records.

Here are the considered musings of the Pokstar on the subject of Cander:

“These recordings document a September 1985 cander between Pok, then Simon or Fooog Dinboffin and George a.k.a. Fedax Si-Hulmin. These are sessions where songs written down a couple of years by then were given an arrangement, however primitive our attempts to capture them.

These are teenage ravings at the centre of Pok’s world view, about girls (She’s Beautiful), decadance, paranoia and teachers (We Know You Well), vision and fragility mission statement (Wanted to be a Singer), the loss by genocide of the native Americans and general early eco lament directive for that generation written 1983 (It’s a Blue Sky Don’t Hold No Rain):

“What have we done to the Mother Goddess Gaia?
Why can’t we nestle in her warm aching bosom?”

Indian Summer is a delicate evocation of its subject by George and our friend Ken. Ken sings and George plays acoustic guitar while Simon Pok plays idiosyncratic bongo then lead on Ken’s black Shaftesbury electric.

This was the start of collaborations becoming Laughing Sun, which shone briefly through 1985 and 1986, doing a few gigs around Devon and the Glastonbury ’86 Travellers’ Stage followed by early Ozric Tentacles (Jumping Jon remembers this!).

This period is where we are finding our sounds, following a scent or something, heading for what would become. The simple, pretty uni-chordal We Know you Well is a Mark Drower rhythm style rendition that pursues its theme relentlessly but continuously changing and it is a gas to hear it again.

More early formulations to come.”

credits

released September 12, 1985

Recorded live on 4th and 1th September 1985 at 31 Cowick Lane, Exeter.

Cassette salvage performed 2008.
Remastered at Wud Records Studios March 2023.

Performers:
Simon Miller - electric guitar, voice, percussion
George Davies - electric and acoustic guitars, voice
Marc Greatorex - bass
Ken Staple - acoustic guitar, voice, percussion

Cover art by Pok.
Graphic design by Sam James.

Copyright © 1985 Wud Records.

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EU/UK independent label founded 1984.

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