Been listening a lot recently to Shack's Waterpistol from the early 90s. What a shame the Head brothers never hit the big time. Personal problems and bad luck, so I guess they share some of the blame. This one has that same classic sound as The La's great debut, which I often think of as one of my all time favorites. Almost like a companion piece at times. The story goes that it was originally completed in 1991, but then the masters were lost in a studio fire. And the producer even lost his DAT copy in a rental car while in America, not knowing that a fire had destroyed the masters. The DAT was later recovered and the German Marina label finally released it in 1995. I've only had it for a few months now but can tell it's gonna be a favorite long into the future. Still need to find a copy of Here's Tom and also The Magical World of The Strands by Michael Head & The Strands. I think the HMS Fable CD in the late 90s may have been the only one released in the US, but not sure. I bought it way back then and really like most of it, but it's the only other one I have so far besides Waterpistol, which is a much stronger album overall. Not really any missteps. Any other fans?

H.M.S. Fable was on my Listmania, and yeah, I think it's the only one with a US release. Love it to death. One of my best used-bin finds ever. Waterboys meets Mojave 3?

I recently ordered Here's Tom With the Weather, having given up on finding it in a store anywhere. It's good.

Unfortunately my copis of Waterpistol and The Strands are in storage at the moment, and it's never gotten enough listens for me to figure out where they fit on the Shack scale.

Did you know there's a live album of Shack as backup band for Arthur Lee?

Wow...Shack! There's a band name I haven't heard mentioned in ages. Loved HMS Fable!

Yeah, some great songs on HMS Fable, but Waterpistol just takes that sound to a whole new level for me. I could probably just listen to it over and over all day because it has such a great flow to it where I don't think I really ever got that same feel from HMS Fable.

Someone else did tell me about that Arthur Lee album and said the performance is great but the recording is shit. Have you actually heard it? It does sound intriguing.

This thread has been a pretty good read. One of my best friends loved and adored H.M.S. Fable as well and told me I had to buy it. Found it really cheap at Amoeba Records and picked it up shortly thereafter. The album really didn’t make that much of an impression on me but liked the vibe and a few songs. It’s definitely one of those albums that was looked over and not played enough in 1999. Hearing that this made HideousLump’s Listmania no less, my friends obsession and Aural’s love for this album makes me wonder if I have something in my collection that I need to discover. It's times like this that I remember why I never sell anything back.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago and I remember Fastnbulbous really raving about Here's Tom With the Weather. Never did get around to hearing that one at all but now you have Davey saying that they have this incredible story of a long lost tape that was recovered.

I will definitely look into this band because it sounds intriguing.

Davey, do you know of any albums by the band named Moose? If not I would really love to send you some of their music because I think you would like them.

No, never heard of them except for your mention earlier. PM me and we'll talk about it more. Do you know Animals That Swim? Another great Brit band from the 90s that seemed to never get a break and finally split up a few years ago. Too bad. They did get one CD released over here in the US called Workshy that really has some nice songs including the hysterical sendup of Roy Orbison performing in a dive bar, complaining that he was never as popular as Elvis because he's too damn ugly. I just picked up the retrospective recently called Faded Glamour that was released in the UK last year and it's brilliant from start to finish. The new one from Miracle Mile called Glow is due Oct 3 in the UK. Anxious to hear more about it because they've put out some great pop music in the past.

Water What???