In 2003 I bought a disc called Portishead - Pearl on the Always Records label (a Russia, Ukraine, & Eastern European imprint) that stated it was copyrighted by Go! Beat, Portishead's label.
But Portishead never released an album called Pearl. It turned out to be Mandalay, the Empathy album, an infamous bootleg. The album was actually a rip-off of Mandalay's Empathy album, expertly repackaged & credited to Portishead. Even the production & songwriting credits are attributed to Geoff Barrow / Beth Gibbons. The tracks were simply in a different order & the Mandalay song ''Opposites'' was renamed ''Pearl''. The rest of the song titles were identical.
Thank goodness for the Interweb & the likes of Discogs these days. Other than being a total rip-off of both bands, it is certainly high praise for Mandalay.
Mandalay was formed in the 1995 by multi-instrumentalist / programmer Saul Freeman & vocalist Nicola Hitchcock. Their debut album Empathy featured appearances by former Japan / Rain Tree Crow member Steve Jansen, double bassist Danny Thompson, & trumpet player Jon Hassell.
This Life
Flowers Bloom
Insensible
Another
Enough Love
All My Sins
Opposites
This Time Last Year
Kissing the Day
Beautiful
About You
Enjoy the Trip,
NØ
Empathy
ReplyDeleteZrArzPg3jS_yEgN-zo6wGAgzEUKmIS1Q9fZiTVjYrHs
VEry cool Nathan, HANX! Yes, I fear w/o Discogs I would be lost in vinyl w very few details at all.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't really do without Discogs I guess but ya gotta watch them. They're not always accurate.
ReplyDeleteI remember finding that Pearl album and thinking what the heck is this? Yes, Discogs to the rescue. Remove the misplaced hype, and it was a pretty good album and brought attention to the correct group.
ReplyDeleteI wholly agree that a good band got kinda screwed over by the as-you-sez so well, "misplaced hype" & they deserved to be know not for the swindle but for their music. I know of some early struggles in the band Thieves (Freeman & David McAlmont) had previous to Mandalay. I think Seth released a solo album mid 10s (electro-ambient maybe). I know that after Mandalay Nicola had a bunch of medical scares: car accident & Epstein-Barr virus but on recovery worked on music with avant garde composers Hector Zazou & Ryuichi Sakamoto. She released a post-Mandalay solo album with tracks with bothe Henry & Ryuichi as well as friend from Thieves/Mandalay days Michael J. Ade. After that ??? Don't know if the early "scandal" posed problems or not.
ReplyDeleteI have a Mandalay EP & full-length Instinct that I'll dig out & share here in the comments. Give me a day or two.
DeleteI've got these singles from them to share:
Deletehttps://mega.nz/file/FvkCjSgC#gpiLjbt7RESVRsOA9Vb-UzKAGjHa6Hms15b3ZnvNgME
Thanks, Mooz for Not Seventeen & This Life. I'll swap ya for Flowers Bloom & Instinct:
DeleteFlowers Bloom EP
https://mega.nz/file/epEnjYpA#CKYpdlIQfZSRUrBQVhMFylvqvQKao_rkkl0TGRPhmHE
Instinct
https://mega.nz/file/btcGkKyI#BZbNr5s0ptfhIz9cLUPRDafm1KLnJ3xYtor-ZsO1J34
Thank you
DeleteMost welcome, friend.
Delete