| Westlake | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | November 1987 | |||
| Recorded | 18–19 April 1987 | |||
| Studio | Greenhouse, London EC1 | |||
| Genre | Indie rock | |||
| Length | 22:46 | |||
| Label | Creation | |||
| Producer | Paul Gadd, Steve Nunn | |||
| David Westlake chronology | ||||
| ||||
Westlake is the first album by English singer/songwriter David Westlake. Creation Records released the album in November 1987. Under the title D87, the album was reissued in expanded form in August 2023.
Westlake is a mini-album recorded 18-19 April 1987 at Greenhouse Studios on Old Street, Islington, London EC1. It was produced by Paul Gadd (son of Gary Glitter) and Steve Nunn.
The record was Luke Haines’s first release. [1] The Triffids’ rhythm section plays on the record.
Alternative recordings of “The Word Around Town” and “She Grew and She Grew” appear on Hey Hey We’re The Manqués, a collection of demos issued by Cherry Red Records in 2012 with The Servants’ second album Small Time . [2]
Creation Records released the original vinyl album in November 1987 (CRELP 019). A CD issue followed in August 1993 (CRECD 019).
Creation Records gave the album its title. [3] Westlake at first intended naming the album after its opening track:
Initially, I had in mind that it would be a Servants record called The Word Around Town. But in the music press there was always a thin-column advert for a mail-order company called Small Wonder Records. The available space meant they would abbreviate titles to fit into their adverts. For instance, they’d have Joy Div LWTUA for Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart . I realised that having my name next to The Word Around Town in acronym-form would be something best avoided. [3]
Shortly before the album’s release, “The Word Around Town” appeared on Doing God's Work – A Creation Compilation , issued October 1987. [4]
Re-titled D87, Optic Nerve Recordings issued the album in expanded form on 25 August 2023. [5] D87 includes a four-song BBC Radio 1 session recorded in 1987, [6] and two demos of otherwise-unrecorded songs.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Mojo |   [7] |
| New Musical Express | 7/10 [8] |
| Scottish Daily Express | [9] |
| Shindig! | [10] |
Luke Haines describes the album as “a minor classic”. [11] On original release, Melody Maker called Westlake a record of “wry melancholy”, praising the songs’ poetic quality, and the “sheer ease and glow” of the music. [12] In 2023, the Scottish Daily Express said D87 was “a long-overdue reissue” and “A long-lost gem.” [9] The Arts Desk said “the David Westlake of this period was firing on all cylinders”, welcoming the reissue: “any reminder of his flair as a songwriter is welcome”. [13] Mojo labelled the album “Lit-pop”, singling out “the urgent, bookish ‘The Word Around Town’.” [7] Shindig! called D87 “literate ... rock ’n’ roll”, recognising that the reissue had been renamed to reference the C86 compilation on which Westlake appeared in his band The Servants, and noting that “If not for the lack of a full-time rhythm section, [the original release] would’ve been The Servants’ debut”. [10]
Side one:
Side two:
The Beatles' bootleg recordings are recordings of performances by the Beatles that have attained some level of public circulation without being available as a legal release. The term most often refers to audio recordings, but also includes video performances. Starting with vinyl releases in the 1970s, through CD issues in the late 1980s, and continuing with digital downloads starting in the mid 1990s, the Beatles have been, and continue to be, among the most bootlegged artists.
The Auteurs were a British alternative rock band of the 1990s, and a vehicle for songwriter Luke Haines.
Orange Juice were a Scottish jangle pop band founded in the Glasgow suburb of Bearsden as the Nu-Sonics in 1976. They became Orange Juice in 1979, and took inspiration by contemporary punk bands including Subway Sect, Television, and Buzzcocks but also 1960s acts, most notably the Byrds and the Velvet Underground. Musically, the band brought together styles and genres that often appeared incongruous, for example, country, disco and punk.
Microdisney were an Irish rock band formed in Cork in 1980. They were founded and led by songwriters Cathal Coughlan and Sean O'Hagan (guitar). Originally typeset as Micro Disney, the band had become Microdisney by the time they had relocated to London in 1983 and signed to Rough Trade Records. Between 1983 and 1986 the band recorded six Peel Sessions for BBC Radio and released their debut album for Rough Trade called Everybody Is Fantastic.
Luke Michael Haines is an English musician, songwriter and author. He has recorded music under various names and with various bands, including The Auteurs, Baader Meinhof and Black Box Recorder.
The Bodines were a British pop group from the mid to late 1980s that comprised guitarist Paul Brotherton, bassist Tim Burwood, drummer John Rowlands, and guitarist/vocalist Michael Ryan.
Raintown is the debut album by Scottish pop rock band Deacon Blue. The album, written largely by lead singer Ricky Ross, was released in the United Kingdom on 26 May 1987. It proved a commercial success and has to date sold around a million copies, peaking in the UK Albums Chart at no. 14 and remaining in the charts for a year and a half.
David Westlake is an English singer/songwriter. He led indie band The Servants from 1985 to 1991.
New Wave is the 1993 debut album by British rock band the Auteurs. In 2014, British independent record label 3 Loop Music re-released the album on 180gsm Vinyl and as a 2CD Expanded Edition which included b-sides, rarities, radio session tracks and the original 4-track demos that led to the band's signing with Hut Records.
Live Demonstration is a demo tape made by English rock band Oasis in 1993, prior to their rise to fame. The tape helped secure a recording contract with Creation Records, with most of the tracks ending up on the band's first batch of releases, including their debut album, Definitely Maybe.
Now I'm a Cowboy is the 1994 second album by British rock band the Auteurs. On 2 June 2014 Now I'm a Cowboy was reissued alongside After Murder Park and How I Learned to Love the Bootboys. The reissue features unreleased songs and liner notes written by Luke Haines. It was released through 3 Loop Music.
The Servants were an indie band formed in 1985 in Hayes, Middlesex, England by singer-songwriter David Westlake. The band was the original home of Luke Haines.
Velvet Crush is an American power pop band from Providence, Rhode Island, United States, that achieved prominence in indie-rock circles in the early- and mid-1990s. The band broke up in 1996 but re-formed in 1998 and have continued to record, releasing their most recent album in 2004. Vocalist/bassist Paul Chastain and drummer Ric Menck are the band's core members, having previously worked together as Choo Choo Train, Bag-O-Shells, and The Springfields, and they share singing and songwriting duties. Guitarist Jeffrey Underhill played on the band's first three albums, In the Presence of Greatness, Teenage Symphonies to God, and Heavy Changes. In the Presence of Greatness was produced by Matthew Sweet, while the second and third albums were produced by Mitch Easter.
R.O.C are a British electronic music group, founded in 1990 by Fred Browning and Patrick Nicholson in London, England. Karen Sheridan joined the band in 1993. R.O.C have released three albums and 15 singles/EPs. Producer Danton Supple joined in 2017.
Play Dusty for Me is the second solo album by English singer and songwriter David Westlake.
Doing God's Work – A Creation Compilation is a various artists compilation album of British indie music released in 1987 by Creation Records. The album was released in vinyl and CD format.
Disinterest is the first album by English indie band the Servants. The record was released in 1990 on Paperhouse Records.
Small Time is the second and final album by English indie band The Servants. It was recorded in 1991 but had to wait twenty-one years for release: a “lost second album that had been gathering dust for half a generation.”
C86 is a cassette compilation released by the British music magazine NME in 1986, featuring new bands licensed from British independent record labels of the time. As a term, C86 quickly evolved into shorthand for a guitar-based music genre characterized by jangling guitars and melodic power pop song structures, although other musical styles were represented on the tape. In its time, it became a pejorative term for its associations with so-called "shambling" and underachievement. The C86 scene is now recognized as a pivotal moment for independent music in the UK, as was recognized in the subtitle of the compilation's 2006 CD issue: CD86: 48 Tracks from the Birth of Indie Pop. In 2014, the original compilation was reissued in a 3CD expanded edition from Cherry Red Records; the 2014 box-set came with an 11,500-word book of sleevenotes by one of the tape's original curators, former NME journalist Neil Taylor.
My Beautiful England is the third solo studio album by English singer/songwriter David Westlake, released through Tiny Global Productions on 14 October 2022.
including demos for 2 songs recorded and released on David Westlake - Westlake
an interesting artist with a confusing past