Heaven Born and Ever Bright[b] is the third studio album by British rock band Cardiacs,released on 15 May 1992 through the band's label Alphabet Business Concern,originally marketed by Rough Trade and distributed by Rough Trade and Pinnacle.[6] It was produced by Tim Smith,engineered by David Murder and mixed by both. Due to Rough Trade going bankrupt soon after the album's release,it was scarce until reissued in 1995. This reissue was remastered and given new cover art.
Heaven Born and Ever Bright was the first Cardiacs album since the departure of almost half the group. Percussionist Tim Quy left Cardiacs in 1990,and did not work with them again. Saxophonist Sarah Smith and keyboardist William D. Drake also stopped touring with the band,although they contributed to later recordings and made occasional guest appearances at concerts. Christian Hayes left Cardiacs during the making of the album,although it still features many of his guitar and vocal performances as well as a song he co-wrote. Heaven Born and Ever Bright is the first Cardiacs album featuring Jon Poole,but their last with Dominic Luckman. It is unclear how much Poole is actually featured on the record.
In 2005,when asked what his favourite Cardiacs album is by Popular I Magazine,Tim Smith said "I like them all for their own reasons. Sorry. However,I will defend one of them as it wasn’t so well received when it popped out and that one is Heaven Born And Ever Bright. I think it came out exactly how it was intended to. A lot of people seem to think it was a bit of an accident."[13] Similarly,asked in 2001 if Sing to God was his favourite Cardiacs album,Smith said "No…I sort of like them all in one way or another….a funny thing is that the album our fans seem to dislike the most is one that I am very proud of…. the Heaven Born And Ever Bright album which we did back in 1991…it’s got a really weird sound to it…I reckon all our albums sound completely different to each other anyway…unless you hate the stuff and then I suppose they will all sound exactly the same….and shit…and there’s an awful lot of people who share that opinion."[4]
In a 2025 buyer's guide to Cardiacs for an article covering the album LSD,the magazine Uncut called Heaven Born and Ever Bright "a strange,unsettled album that suffers for sitting between two peaks in the Cardiacs' recorded history" while noting "its share of great moments",including "Goodbye Grace" "fulminat[ing] with curious experiments."[12]
Track listing
All tracks are written by Tim Smith,except where noted. Vinyl releases have tracks 1–6 on Side One,and tracks 7–11 on Side Two.[14]
Heaven Born and Ever Bright track listing
No.
Title
Writer(s)
Length
1.
"The Alphabet Business Concern (Home of Fadeless Splendour)"
Hayes is credited as a writer of "Core" rather than "Goodbye Grace" on 1992 versions of the album, and is not credited for "Helen and Heaven" and "For Good and All" in the 1995 CD liner notes but still on the CD itself.[14]
↑ Date of the ill-fated Rough Trade release. Digital listings such as Spotify, iTunes and Deezer use this date[1][2][3]; Tim Smith also referred to the album's release date as 1991 in interviews.[4]
↑ Written Heavenborn and Ever Bright in The Rough Guide to Rock[5]
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