Dead Oceans has announced the re-issue of Bill Fay Group’s Tomorrow Tomorrow and Tomorrow, out for the first time in its entirety on a 28-track double-vinyl, as well as a 24-track CD and digitally, on 23rd Feb, 2024.
Alongside, the next installment of Dead Oceans’ Bill Fay cover series is released today, via a cover of ‘After the Revolution’ by Marlon Williams. It follows previous versions of Fay songs by Jeff Tweedy, Kevin Morby, Steve Gunn, Mary Lattimore, Julia Jacklin and Hiss Golden Messenger.
“Bill Fay exists as a secret handshake amongst us musicians. Those of us familiar with his body of work are obsessed with it. When I first heard him, years ago, I felt as if I was rediscovering something I had lost and had long been looking for.” – Kevin Morby
Stream Marlon Williams’ version of ‘After the Revolution’:
https://marlon-williams.lnk.to/after-the-revolution
When Bill Fay’s third album didn’t appear, following the 1970 and 1971 classics Bill Fay and Time of the Last Persecution, musicians and fans of Fay’s, Bill Stratton and Gary Smith, got in touch with Decca Records to ask why. Upon finding out there wasn’t a contract in the offing, they invited Bill to the Fulham Arts Centre for a solo set, where they had been gigging frequently as part of The Acme Quartet.
Their meeting birthed the initial sessions of the Bill Fay Group, when the three, along with bassist Rauf Galip, started getting together regularly in Gary’s flat in Tooting to talk and work on music. They chose five track’s of Bill’s to record as finished pieces: Life, Spiritual Mansions, Cosmic Boxer, Strange Stairway, Isles of Sleep, all recorded in two studio sessions.
Though, with Bill out of a record deal and the ushering in of punk, finding someone to release the album proved tricky. Despite band member comings and goings and minimal funds, the Bill Fay Group finished the record but soon after found they had run out of road.
On what followed years later, band members Gary Smith and Rauf Galip said:
“From the 1990s onwards, Gary and his manager regularly mentioned Bill to anyone who would listen, but nobody seemed to have heard of him! We always knew the ‘Tomorrow’ album would find a release… enter David Tibet [who in 2005 released an incomplete, CD only version, on his Durtro Records] calling Gary about a “Lost” album
…And now, Dead Oceans, who have a lot of faith in Bill’s music, wants to re-release the ‘Tomorrow’ album. A double vinyl package. Is there any more unreleased music for the fourth side? Of course. So, we’ve been opening old boxes, finding CDRs, cassettes. A musical archaeological dig. This is our choice from all the music we found.”
Vinyl Track List:
Disc 1 – side A
- Strange Stairway
- Spiritual Mansions
- Planet Earth Daytime
- Goodnight Stan
- Tomorrow Tomorrow And Tomorrow
Disc 2 – side B
- Just A Moon
- To Be A Part
- Sam
- Lamp Shining
- Turning The Pages
- Love Is The Tune
- After The Revolution
- Jericho Road
- Strange Stairway (Demo)
- Birdman (Bonus Track)
Disc 2 – side A
- Life
- Hypocrite
- Man
- Cosmic Boxer
- We Are Raised
- Isle of Sleep
Disc 2 – side B
- Coming Down
- Hypocrite (Demo)
- Spiritual Mansions (Demo)
- Cosmic Boxer (Alternate Version)
- The Coast No Man Can Tell (Bonus Track)
- Man (Take 1)
- When We Set Sail (Bonus Track)
Pre-order:
https://bill-fay-group.lnk.to/tomorrow-tomorrow-and-tomorrow
