Fuchsia (band)

Last updated

Fuchsia
Origin Exeter, England
Genres
Years active1970–present
LabelsPegasus, Night Wing Record, Fruits de Mer Records
Past membersMichael Day, Michael Gregory, Janet Rogers, Madeleine Bland, Vanessa Hall-Smith
Website www.fuchsiamusic.com

Fuchsia is a British progressive folk rock band formed in 1970. [1] Named after Fuchsia Groan [2] they released one album before disbanding. Their album, Fuchsia, was listed as one of Mojo magazine's "Forgotten Classics". [3] Their style was similar to their contemporaries Jade and Comus.

Contents

Formation

The band was formed by Tony Durant (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, lead vocals) while a student at Exeter University with Michael Day (bass guitar), Michael Gregory (drums, percussion). The trio was soon augmented by Janet Rogers (violin, backing vocals), Madeleine Bland (cello, piano, harmonium, backing vocals) and Vanessa Hall-Smith (violin, backing vocals) so that Durant could explore his musical ideas.

Produced by David Hitchcock, their album was recorded at Sound Techniques Studios by Vic Gamm. It was released by Pegasus (PEG 8) in the UK and by Kingdom (KV 6002) in France. A single advertisement in the Melody Maker and their manager's failure to arrange an often promised tour resulted in minimal sales and the demise of the band. Durant went to work in Australia with Dave Warner and later learned of the popularity of the album amongst collectors and the unlicensed re-pressings. Using his original master tapes he digitally remastered the album at Sound Practices Studios in Sydney which was released on CD (Night Wing NWRCD 02).

Recent activity

In 2005, the CD Fuchsia, Mahagonny & other gems (Night Wing NWRCD 04) was released. This contained three further Fuchsia tracks, two recorded while looking for a new record company after the first album, and the third an original demonstration acetate recording. [4] Another eight tracks from other projects including Mahagonny, a theatre show based on the works of Bertoldt Brecht and Kurt Weill, completed the album.

In 2013, the CD album From Psychedelia... To a Distant Place (Sound Practices 001) was released under the name Fuchsia II with a new band assembled by Durant in Australia and comprising Durant himself (guitars and vocals), Lloyd Gyi (drums, percussion), Emily Duffill (cello), Tracy Wan (violin), Lidia Bara (violin) and Jo Bara (cello), with Suzy Toomey (accordion) and Isabel Durant (backing vocals). The album gained favourable reviews in the British music press [5] The album contained mostly new material, although the track "The Rainbow Song" included a re-working of "Shoes and Ships" from the first album recorded forty-two years previously.

Also in 2013, the single "The Band" was released. This song was written for a second album that was never recorded before Fuchsia disbanded in the 1970s. In the 2013 release, "The Band" is performed by the Swedish band Me and My Kites (named after a song on Fuchsia's first album) with Durant on vocals. [6]

In February 2017 Fuchsia finally got to play/perform Mahagonny-Behind Innocent Eyes, the music from the Fuchsia Mahagonny and Other Gems CD release from 2005. With a group of young actors the show, 40 years in the making, finally got to be played to a very enthusiastic audience at the Perth Fringe festival, Perth Western Australia

In August 2017, a Fuchsia line-up including Durant and Day began a short British tour in Cardigan, Wales, to coincide with the release of the Song double EP, and it was announced that a Fuchsia III album was in preparation.[ citation needed ] In 2020 as a tribute to Syd Barrett, the Fuchsia-Barretts Allsorts vinyl was released through Fruits de Mer Records. The band continue to play live, Covid permitting.

Discography

Related Research Articles

<i>Lets Go Bang</i> 1995 studio album by Jennifer Love Hewitt

Let's Go Bang is the second studio album by American actress and singer Jennifer Love Hewitt.

<i>L.A. (Light Album)</i> 1979 album by the Beach Boys

L.A. is the 23rd studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released on March 16, 1979, and their first issued through CBS Records. Recorded during a period of acrimony between the band members, it was a critical and commercial failure, peaking at number 100 in the U.S. and number 32 in the UK.

<i>Fuzzy Logic</i> (Super Furry Animals album) 1996 studio album by Super Furry Animals

Fuzzy Logic is the debut album by the Welsh rock band Super Furry Animals. Recorded at Rockfield Studios in Wales, and released on the Creation label in May 1996, it was positively received by critics, who felt it was an eclectic if inconsistent mix of psychedelic music and glam rock, and was included in Q Magazine's list of recordings of the year. It has retained a modest respect among some critics; it was listed in Q's "Best British Albums Ever" in July 2004, and is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. It contains two top 20 hits in "If You Don't Want Me to Destroy You" and "Something 4 the Weekend"; it also contains the singles "God! Show Me Magic" and "Hometown Unicorn". It reached number 23 in the UK Albums Chart on release. In 2013, NME ranked it at number 245 in its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

The "Alabama Song"—also known as "Moon of Alabama", "Moon over Alabama", and "Whisky Bar"—is an English version of a song written by Bertolt Brecht and translated from German by his close collaborator Elisabeth Hauptmann in 1925 and set to music by Kurt Weill for the 1927 play Little Mahagonny. It was reused for the 1930 opera Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny and has been recorded by the Doors and David Bowie.

Sun Dial is a British psychedelic rock band formed in 1990 by Gary Ramon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Family (band)</span> English rock band

Family were an English rock band, active from late 1966 to October 1973, and again since 2013 for a series of live shows. Their style has been characterised as progressive rock, as their sound often explored other genres, incorporating elements of styles such as folk, psychedelia, acid rock, jazz fusion, and rock and roll. The band achieved recognition in the United Kingdom through their albums, club and concert tours, and appearances at festivals.

Disappear Fear is an American indie pop/indie folk/Americana/world beat band formed in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1987.

"The Scarecrow" is a song by the English rock band Pink Floyd on their 1967 debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, though it first appeared as the B-side of their second single "See Emily Play" two months before. It was written by Syd Barrett and recorded in March 1967. This song was one of several to be considered for the band's "best of" album, Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd.

"Let's Go Away for Awhile" [sic] is an instrumental by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1966 album Pet Sounds. It was composed and produced by Brian Wilson, and performed by uncredited session musicians later known as the Wrecking Crew. The track is the first of two instrumentals that appear on the album, the other being its title track.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lady Lynda</span> 1979 single by the Beach Boys

"Lady Lynda" is a song written by vocalist/guitarist Al Jardine and touring keyboardist Ron Altbach for American rock band the Beach Boys. It was released on the band's 1979 album L.A. . Its melody is based on "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" by J. S. Bach.

"Here Comes the Night" is a song by the American rock band the Beach Boys from their 1967 album Wild Honey. Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, the group later rerecorded the track for their 1979 album, L.A. , as a disco song lasting nearly eleven minutes. A four-minute edit of this version was released as a single on February 19, 1979 and reached number 44 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

<i>The Cure</i> (The Saw Doctors album) 2005 studio album

The Cure is the 6th studio recording release by Irish rock band The Saw Doctors. The CD was released on The Saw Doctor's own record label, Shamtown Records and has the catalogue number of SAWDOC013CD. All the songs on the album are original songs written by members of the band, except for Track 11, "Funny World", which is written by old friend Paul Cunniffe.

<i>Live at Wembley 78</i> 1998 live album by Electric Light Orchestra

Live at Wembley '78 is a live recording by Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). Edited in length as was the VHS/DVD version.

<i>All the Best Songs</i> 2007 compilation album by No Use for a Name

All the Best Songs is a compilation album by the American punk rock band No Use for a Name, released July 10, 2007 through Fat Wreck Chords. A "best of" album, it compiles 24 tracks from the band's six studio releases between 1993 and 2005, as well as two previously unreleased songs recorded during sessions for their 2005 album Keep Them Confused. Following the 2012 death of band leader Tony Sly, Fat Wreck Chords released an updated version of the album in 2016, dropping the two Keep Them Confused outtakes and adding four tracks from the band's final studio album, 2008's The Feel Good Record of the Year. The Keep them Confused outtakes were later released on the b-sides compilation Rarities Vol. 2: The Originals

<i>Unplugged</i> (Kerber album) 1998 live album by Kerber

Unplugged is the second live album by Serbian and Yugoslav hard rock band Kerber, released in 1998. Originally released as two separate audio cassettes, the album was released on single CD in 1999.

<i>The Dreams We Have as Children – Live at the Royal Albert Hall</i> 2009 live album by Noel Gallagher

The Dreams We Have as Children – Live at the Royal Albert Hall is a charity live album by singer/guitarist Noel Gallagher in support of Teenage Cancer Trust. Gallagher recorded the album at a charity concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 27 March 2007.

<i>Sea Shanties</i> (High Tide album) 1969 studio album by High Tide

Sea Shanties is the debut album of English rock band High Tide, notable for including the violin as a rock instrument. The cover artwork was drawn by Paul Whitehead.

<i>Man and Myth</i> 2013 studio album by Roy Harper

Man & Myth is the title of Roy Harper's 22nd studio album. Released 47 years after his debut album, Sophisticated Beggar, it is his first studio release in 13 years.

<i>American Twilight</i> 2013 studio album by Crime & the City Solution

American Twilight is the fifth studio album by Crime & the City Solution, released on March 26, 2013 through Mute Records. The album was recorded after a 23-year hiatus that found the band relocating from Berlin to Detroit.

<i>Across Six Leap Years</i> 2013 studio album by Tindersticks

Across Six Leap Years is the tenth studio album by British alternative band Tindersticks, released on 14 October 2013. The album consists of ten previously released songs from the band's and singer Stuart Staples' solo back catalogue, which were re-recorded at Abbey Road Studios. The title refers to the fact that there had been six leap years during the 21 years that Tindersticks had been together up to the recording of this album, and hinted that the record was something of a retrospective interpretation of their career.

References

  1. ↑ All Music - Fuchsia biography
  2. ↑ Fuchsia according to Tony Durant article
  3. ↑ "Forgotten Classics", Mojo, issue 136, March 2005
  4. ↑ CD booklet with album Fuchsia, Mahagonny and other gems
  5. ↑ Record Collector magazine, June 2013, and Uncut magazine, July 2013.
  6. ↑ "Me and My Kites with Tony Durant of Fuchsia", Exposé Online
    - Me and My Kites, with Tony Durant from Fuchsia, Fruits de Mer Records
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.