Songs

Cardiacs: Is This The Life? (live, 1990)

The choice of a Cardiacs live video for this blog is a bit unfair, as the band probably did their best songs in the 80s, but in this concert filmed in 1990, everything just clicks into place.

All That Glitters Is a Mares Nest is also the third live album by British band Cardiacs. The band opened for Napalm Death at the Salisbury Arts Centre and the headliner recorded their Live Corruption video on the same night. The bands had the same manager, who was naturally cost-conscious in producing two live videos at the same time. Despite the cost-cutting, the still very high quality of ‘Maresnest’ beats all my previous live video favourites, including Pink Floyd’s Pompeii live.

“Finding” the band was a matter of chance in my case. I bought a Maresnest VHS cassette from one of the now defunct and legendary discount stores in Helsinki in the early 90s. I hadn’t heard the band’s music before, but the cheap price and a familiar name caught my attention. I was stunned to say the least and still am. The full live video in full at the end of this blog post.

Wikipedia: “Cardiacs’ sound folded in genres including art rock, progressive rock, art punk, post-punk, jazz, psychedelia and heavy metal (as well as elements of circus, baroque pop, medieval music, nursery rhymes and sea shanties)”

The Cardiacs were a band formed in the late 70s that combined genres ranging from rock, punk and prog to circus music in an unprecedented way. At the same time, XTC and Devo were perhaps doing something similar, and were also early Cardiacs favourites and sources of inspiration. The band’s story is a rather strange and sad one, as their remarkable musical output and releases were marred by bad luck, both in business and in the health of their prime mover, Tim Smith.

When I heard Mr. Bungle’s stunning first album in 1991, I had no idea that Cardiacs had made strikingly similar music a decade earlier (just look for the music video for Tarred and Feathered). Indeed, Mike Patton later said he was a Cardiacs fan, but did many other artists and bands: Steven Wilson, Blur, Tool, Marillion, Supergrass, Shane Embury (Napalm Death), Mikael Åkerfeldt, Justin Hawkins (The Darkness) and Wildhearts.

The Cardiacs’ powerhouse and main composer was Tim Smith (1961-2020), who died of dystonia, a rare neurological disease.

Smith’s way of composing is second to none. Many of Cardiacs’ songs contain abrupt prog-punctures but in places the band surprises by relying on quite direct riffs and chord progressions, such as the massive stadium rock/grunge/alternative feel of Is This the Life. The song was released in 1988, so it’s just one example of how the band was ahead of its time. Below is a live version of the song from the 1990 live recording (the blog posts also includes the full live version in better quality) and the original music video.