Plush - Fed

"FINALLY, A FULL RELEASE FOR POP VISIONARY’S RICH OPUS."
* #1 IN THE UNCUT PLAYLIST TOP 10: "ONE OF THE GREAT LOST ALBUMS OF THE PAST DECADE, LIAM HAYES’ BAROQUE POP EXTRAVAGANZA FROM 2002 FINALLY GETS A EUROPEAN RELEASE. LIKE BACHARACH IN THE WAY THAT WILL OLDHAM IS LIKE DYLAN PERHAPS?."
- UNCUT DEPUTY EDITOR JOHN MULVEY’S BLOG: "I MENTIONED BURT BACHARACH IN THAT LAST BLOG, THOUGH PLAYING THE ALBUM TODAY IT STRIKES ME THE STRONGER INFLUENCE MAY BE JIMMY WEBB, PERHAPS HIS EARLY 70’S RECORDS LIKE ‘LAND’S END’ WITH THOSE LOOMING . PORTENTOUS ORCHESTRATIONS.  THERE ARE ALSO ANALOGIES WITH SOME OF THE AMBITIOUS SOUL OF THAT SAME PERIOD. ‘HAVING IT ALL’ , FOR INSTANCE, BEGINS AS A DISTANT COUSIN OF MARVIN GAYE’S ‘SAVE THE CHILDREN’.

Six years after its Japan-only release on the After Hours label, Broken Horse is thrilled to announce the first European release of the much-talked- about but seldom-heard Fed, the second album by Liam Hayes’ Plush.

Since Plush’s debut 7", Three Quarters Blind Eyes / Found A Little Baby was released to universal praise in 1994 on Drag City, the tale of Plush has been one mostly concerned with the promise of new recordings, scrapped sessions, rumour and speculation concerning Hayes’ quest to match the songs in his head with the recordings in his hand. What has been vastly over- looked is the music.

It was four years before Drag City released Plush’s debut album, More You Becomes You. Few albums can be described as being truly unique, but More You Becomes You is, without doubt, one of those albums that can actually put in a serious bid for that description. While a full-blown orchestral pop album was indeed planned, Hayes instead delivered a uniquely minimal set of intimate piano & vocal ballads, which somehow managed to present a unique, first-take feel despite the incredible attention to detail Hayes applied to the performances and recordings that had actually taken place.

Following the release of More You Becomes You, Hayes immediately went back to work on his original vision of the sound that Plush’s debut 45 promised. Once an initial guide draft was completed (this would later surface on Drag City imprint Sea Note as Underfed), Hayes submerged himself in a quest for perfection, spending several years on the selection of musicians and studios, arrangements, conducting orchestral players, overdubbing, listening, re-listening and piecing together takes to bring the ultimate version of Fed to the table.

Although upon completion Hayes found himself without a label in either the US or Europe, the artistic success of the album could not be denied. Throughout its 14 tracks, from the roaring opening track "Whose Blues" to "the epic "No Education" to the pop-masterpiece "Born Together" to the closing lullaby "The Woods," Fed remains spectacularly melodic and inventive throughout.

Upon its Japanese release, Uncut called the album "the dazzling symphonic album he always threatened to produce," whilst Rolling Stone called it a "soulful symphonic masterpiece" suggesting that its non-domestic release was further proof of the decline of American culture.

After six years, Fed may only barely qualify as a re-issue, but it just might be the re-issue of the year.

Tracklisting: 1. Whose Blues 2. I’ve Changed My Number 3. Blown Away 4.So Blind 5. Greyhound Bus Station 6. No  Education 7. Sound of San Francisco 8. Born Together 9. Unis 10. Whose Blues Anyway 11. What’ll We Do? 12. Having It All 13. Fed Intro 14. Fed 15. The Woods

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