Lloyd Cole In New York Collected Recordings 1988-1996 

Limited 7 LP Vinyl Box Set 

Released 18th December 2020

‘Lloyd Cole In New York’, released on CD in 2017, will now be available as an exclusive limited edition 7 LP box set via Tapete Records. It features all four solo albums Lloyd released between 1988 and 1996 [‘Lloyd Cole (’90),  ‘Don’t Get Weird On Me Babe’ (’91), ‘Bad Vibes’ (’93) and ‘Love Story’ (’95)] plus ‘Smile If You Want To’, the ‘unreleased’ fifth album (including one previously unreleased track), and ‘Demos ‘89-‘94’, 20 recordings from home and studio made public for this release. The box will also feature a 24-page LP booklet about this most erudite of artists by John O’Connell with new interviews with Lloyd and featured musicians, producers and collaborators and a wonderful selection of photos from the period plus a poster and postcards that feature Lloyd shot in New York by feted photographer Kevin Cummins. Lloyd Cole first stepped into the spotlight when Lloyd Cole & The Commotions released their effortlessly hip debut album ‘Rattlesnakes’ in 1984. He went on to make two further albums of cerebral pop with the Commotions (his music from this era was comprehensively catalogued in the LP box set ‘Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - Collected Recordings 1983-1989’). In ’88 Lloyd decamped to New York a solo artist and made a home in the city that had always loomed large in his imagination and he fully embraced its bars, bohemia and beautiful losers. ‘Lloyd Cole In New York’ charts this fascinating phase in Lloyd’s development, which saw him experimenting with his sound and collaborating with some top notch US musicians including guitarist Robert Quine (Richard Hell & the Voidoids, Lou Reed, Brian Eno), drummer Fred Maher (Material, Scritti Politti, Lou Reed) and Matthew ‘Girlfriend’ Sweet. On his first solo album ‘Lloyd Cole’ (aka ‘The X album’ after the artwork) Lloyd embraced an edgier writing style with a nod to Dylan, Lou Reed and, not abandoning his UK roots completely, Marc Bolan. Unfettered from the democracy of The Commotions, he was happy to go wherever his muse took him and produced some of his most enduring songs such as ‘No Blue Skies’, ‘Undressed’ and ‘Ice Cream Girl’. ‘Don’t Get Weird On Me Babe’ was Lloyd’s concept album – one side orchestral (a la Jimmy Webb), the other rock. Lloyd described it as his ‘farewell to rock’. ‘Bad Vibes’, 1993’s about turn into bold psych-baroque experimentalism, polarized fans and critics alike, but songs such as ‘Mr Wrong’, ‘My Way To You’ and ‘So You’d Like To Save The World’ still stand tall.  ‘Love Story’, a lot of people’s favourite Lloyd solo record, restored his critical and commercial reputation and he found himself back in the limelight performing its biggest hit ‘Like Lovers Do’, a dreamy sliver of Byrdsian jangle pop. ‘Smile If You Want To’ was supposed to be Cole’s 5th solo album. It was completed, but record company politics meant it was never released. The songs came out on subsequent albums, yet this is the first time they have been released as they were originally intended and fully mastered by Ian Jones at Abbey Road studios. The two LPs ‘Demos ’89–‘94’ offer an insight into the development of Lloyd’s sound over this time, from early tentative recordings as a solo artist finding his way in his adopted home town, to demos he recorded for ‘Love Story’ where he embraced a more pastoral folk sound. They also include Lloyd’s previously unheard version of ‘The Ship Song’ by Nick Cave.

Limited 7-LP Edition

Tracklisting LP1 - “Lloyd Cole”

A1. Don’t Look Back A2. What Do You Know About Love? A3. No Blue Skies A4. Loveless

A5. Sweetheart A6. To The Church A7. Downtown B1. A Long Way Down B2. Ice Cream Girl

B3. Undressed B4. I Hat To See You Baby Doing This Stuff B5. Waterline B6. Mercy Killing

Tracklisting LP2 - “Don’t Get Weird On Me Babe”

A1. Butterfly A2. There For Her A3. Margo’s Waltz A4. Half Of Everything A5. Man Enough

A6. What He Doesn’t Know B1. Tell Your Sister B2. Weeping Wine B3. To The Lions B4. Pay

For It B5. The One You Never Had  B6. She’s A Girl And I’m A Man

Tracklisting LP3 – “Bad Vibes”

A1. Morning Is Broken A2. So You’d Like To Save The World A3. Holier Than You A4. Love

You So What A5. Wild Mushrooms A6. My Way To You B1. Too Much Of A Good Thing

B2. Fall Together B3. Mister Wrong B4. Seen The Future B5. Can’t Get Arrested

Tracklisting LP4 – “Love Story”

A1. Trigger Happy A2. Sentimental Fool A3. I Didn’t Know That You Cared A4. Love Ruins

Everything A5. Baby A6. Be There B1. Unhappy Song B2. Like Lovers Do B3. Happy For You

B4. Traffic B5. Let’s Get Lost B6. For Crying Out Loud

Tracklisting LP5 - “Smile If You Want To (AKA The Middle Ages)”

A1. Old Enough To Know Better A2. Memphis A3. Love Like This Can’t Last A4. No More

Love Songs A5. Man On The Verge A6. Santa Cruz A7. Alright People B1. You’re A Big Girl

Now B2. Another Lover B3. 39 Downtown B4. Went To Woodstock B5. I’m Gone B6. Fool

You Are (Demo) B7. Weakness

Tracklisting LP6 - “Demos 89-94 – Part 1”

A1. A Long Way Down A2. Sweetheart A3. Ice Cream Girl A4. Wild Orphan A5. Loveless

B1. What Do You Know About Love? B2. I Know You Too Well B3. The Witching Hour

B4. The English Weather B5. I Confess

Tracklisting LP7 - “Demos 89-94 Part 2”

A1. To The Lions A2. The Ship Song A3. Pay For It A4. Weeping Wine A5. The One You

Never Had B1. Weird On Me B2. Casanova Smith B3. Cold Empty Room B4. Everyday

B5. She Loves You B4. I Don´t Believe You (Live New York 1986)

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