Iain Matthews - Live In Brussels 1979 (Live, Brussels, 1979) '2022

Tracks list

Tracklist:

01. Stealin' Home (Live, Brussels, 1979)
02. Just One Look (Live, Brussels, 1979)
03. Lonely Hunter (Live, Brussels, 1979)
04. These Days (Live, Brussels, 1979)
05. Man In The Station (Live, Brussels, 1979)
06. Don't Hang Up Your Dancing Shoes (Live, Brussels, 1979)
07. Gimme An Inch Girl (Live, Brussels, 1979)
08. Call The Tune (Live, Brussels, 1979)
09. Shake It (Live, Brussels, 1979)
10. Payday (Live, Brussels, 1979)
11. Slip Away (Live, Brussels, 1979)
12. Brown Eyed Girl (Live, Brussels, 1979)


 Read MoreIan Matthews MacDonald was born on June 16, 1946 in
Barton-upon-Humber, Lincolnshire, England. When he was 12, his family moved to
the village of Scunthorpe, in Northern Lincolnshire. When he was 16, he left
school and was pursuing a career in painting and decorating, but he also
developed a strong interest in music, and started singing with a local rock
group. In 1965, he pulled up stakes and relocated to London; a year later, he
was the lead vocalist with a band called the Pyramid, who were influenced by
American surf music. They landed a deal with Deram Records, and managed to put
out a single, 1967's "The Summer of Last Year," before breaking up.

He became a free agent in time to learn that Fairport Convention was looking for
a male vocalist, and he joined the band shortly before they were discovered by
Joe Boyd and released their debut single, "If I Had a Ribbon Bow," in late 1967.
It was at this point that he took on the stage name Ian Matthews, to avoid being
mistaken for Ian MacDonald, (who was then playing sax with King Crimson).
Matthews sang alongside Judy Dyble on Fairport's self-titled 1968 debut album,
and shared vocals with Sandy Denny on 1969's What We Did on Our Holidays.
However, Matthews found himself pushed to the margins as the group's focus
turned to British folk, and during the sessions for Fairport's third album,
Unhalfbricking, he and the band parted ways.

He promptly launched a solo career, and was signed to the MCA-distributed UNI
label for his first solo effort, 1969's Matthews' Southern Comfort. He formed a
band to support the album, which was also known as Matthews' Southern Comfort,
and the group's debut, Second Spring, followed in 1970. By the end of that year,
they released another LP, Later That Same Year; they also recorded a cover of
Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock" that became a hit single in the United States,
Canada, and England, and Decca, MSC's American label, added it to the sequence
of their edition of Later That Same Year. Despite "Woodstock"'s success,
Matthews was unhappy with the band, and he dropped out to relaunch his solo
career, with the group continuing as Southern Comfort.

The prolific Matthews signed with Vertigo Records, and issued two albums in
quick succession, If You Saw Thro' My Eyes and Tigers Will Survive, in 1971.
Andy Roberts played guitar on both records, and he and Matthews launched a group
called Plainsong, whose debut album, In Search of Amelia Earhart, appeared in
1972. The record won rave reviews but didn't do well in the marketplace, so
following a tour that increased tensions within the group, Plainsong split up
after completing most of the work on a second album, which wouldn't see release
until 2005 on a collection simply titled Plainsong.

Eager to get out of his contract with Vertigo, Matthews quickly cut the set
Journeys from Gospel Oak to fulfill his obligations. Vertigo was unimpressed
with the material and licensed it to Mooncrest Records, though the album
received fine reviews and would become a fan favorite. He next teamed up with
Elektra Records (who had released the Plainsong album), and went into the studio
with former Monkee Michael Nesmith, who produced 1973's Valley Hi. Some Days You
Eat the Bear and Some Days the Bear Eats You, which Matthews produced himself,
followed in 1974. Like Valley Hi, it was a commercial disappointment, and after
Elektra let him go, he turned to Columbia Records, which issued Go for Broke in
1975 and Hit and Run in 1976. They fared no better than his Elektra releases,
and soon the singer was looking for a label again.

Sandy Roberton, who produced Plainsong's album, had started his own label,
Rockburgh Records, and signed Matthews, producing his first LP for the imprint,
1978's Stealin' Home. A more commercial effort that still favored his talents,
the album was a modest success and gave him a hit single, "Shake It." With his
career on the upswing, he made two more albums for Rockburgh with Roberton,
1979's Siamese Friends and 1980's Spot of Interference. Rockburgh had fallen
into financial problems, and Spot of Interference proved to be one of their last
releases.

By this time, Matthews had relocated to Seattle, and there he formed a new power
pop-influenced group, Hi-Fi, which also featured David Surkamp, formerly of
Pavlov's Dog. The combo issued an EP, 1981's Demonstration Record, and an LP,
1982's Moods for Mallards, before they split up. Matthews dabbled in synth pop
on 1984's Shook, but it went unreleased in North America and the U.K., and he
retired from performing in frustration.

He moved into the business side of music, working as an A&R representative for
several labels, but at the urging of friend and fan Robert Plant, he returned to
recording with 1988's Walking a Changing Line, a set primarily devoted to songs
from the catalog of Jules Shear. (The record was released by Windham Hill
Records, one of the labels where he was employed during his exile from
performing.) It was also the first album where the singer was billed as Iain
Matthews, a new spelling he would use from this point on. He relocated to
Austin, Texas, and partnered with Gold Castle Records for 1989's Pure and
Crooked, which saw him putting his focus back on writing his own songs.

In 1991, Matthews and Andy Roberts crossed paths for the first time in years
while the former was playing a pub gig, and the chance meeting led to a reunion
of Plainsong. They recorded an album, 1993's Dark Side of the Room, and they
would record and tour steadily as Matthews divided his time between Plainsong
and his solo work. The group bowed out with the 2012 LP Fat Lady Singing, though
they staged a one-off studio reunion to record 2015's Reinventing Richard: The
Songs of Richard Fariña. In 2010, he would also revive Matthews' Southern
Comfort, issuing a new album, Kind of New, and touring with the group. They
would return in 2018 with Like a Radio and 2020 with The New Mine. He also
collaborated with the cult-favorite singer and songwriter Elliott Murphy for a
2000 album, La Terre Commune.

Around the turn of the millennium, Matthews settled in the Netherlands, and in
2003 he started making music with Dutch jazz pianist and composer Egbert Derix.
They began performing together regularly, and in 2010 they issued a
collaborative album, Afterwords, followed by In the Now in 2012. (Matthews also
recorded a set with Derix's group the Searing Quartet, 2008's Joy Mining.)
Amidst all this, he continued to deliver a steady stream of studio projects,
live recordings, and archival releases documenting his life in music. In 2020,
he took a look back at his work from the early '70s on Fake Tan, an album he
recorded with the Norwegian country-rock band the Salmon Smokers. Matthews's
work with producer Sandy Roberton was given the deluxe treatment in the 2022 box
set I Can't Fade Away: The Rockburgh Years 1978-1984, which featured remastered
editions of the albums Stealin' Home, Siamese Friends, Spot of Interference, and
Shook, along with studio outtakes, songwriting demos, and plentiful live
recordings from the period. ~ Mark Deming

Related artists