The Sound Of The Colourfield boxset announced

The Sound Of The Colourfield boxset is the first definitive collection of The Colourfield’s short-lived recording career which spanned from 1984 to 1987.

Released on 27 February via Chrysalis Records, the set features 96-tracks, 42 of which are previously unreleased. It brings together two albums (Virgins And Philistines and Deception) and their B-sides and remixes, newly mastered from the original master tapes. Two CDs are packed with unreleased demos, outtakes and live concerts, one recorded at Hammersmith Palais in 1985, the other at Warwick University the following year. There is also a DVD featuring all the group’s promo videos and BBC TV performances.

Approved by band members Toby Lyons and Karl Shale, and started with the involvement of Terry Hall before his sad passing in December 2022, it is packaged in a A5 Mediabook, with newly written sleeves notes by Classic Pop’s John Earls and contributions from Lyons and Shale, alongside producers Hugh Jones and Ian Broudie.

Timeless Songwriting

Where Terry Hall’s previous group Fun Boy Three had been a continuation of The Specials, The Colourfield were a different proposition altogether. Recruiting guitarist and organist Toby Lyons (formerly of 2Tone’s Swinging Cats) and bassist Karl Shale from Coventry mavericks Zanders System, The Colourfield initially seemed to be out to take on anything that took that their fancy. The first single, the gloomy The Colour Field was a restless, charged energy of Take, before everything was upended by the classic romanticism of Thinking of You.

Their debut album, Virgins And Philistines, made with Echo & The Bunnymen/The Icicle Works producer Hugh Jones, showcased Hall and Lyons’ talents for traditional songwriting at odds with the voguish fads of their peers.

If the word ‘legacy’ was anathema to someone as easily bored as Terry Hall, then he was starting to be concerned with the building blocks of what made a song truly last, a talent later exhibited with Vegas and his solo albums, as well as the DJ sets that saw him became an early champion of Guilty Pleasures. That grandeur quickly moved on in late ’85 with line-up expanded by recruiting former Teardrop Explodes drummer Gary Dwyer, a self-titled standalone EP produced by Ian Broudie saw the quartet become tough and menacing.

On the second album, as this boxset’s sessions initially recorded in Paris testifies, that taut energy could have been carried through, before new producer Richard Gottehrer eased Shale and Dwyer aside to have Deception as The Colourfield’s machine-tooled funk album, aligned to Cameo and Sly Stone more than Burt Bacharach or Henry Mancini.

As with The Specials’ first incarnation and the Fun Boy Three, The Colourfield lasted for just two albums. Forty years on, bolstered by extras including a thrillingly tense Hammersmith Palais show, this boxset shows how timeless the band’s songwriting remains, no matter their songs’ settings.

The Sound Of The Colourfield Tracklisting

CD One – Virgins And Philistines

01 Thinking of You
02 Faint Hearts
03 Castles in The Air
04 Take
05 Cruel Circus
06 Hammond Song
07 Virgins and Philistines
08 Yours Sincerely
09 Armchair Theatre
10 Sorry

CD Two – Deception

01 Badlands
02 Running Away
03 From Dawn to Distraction
04 Confession
05 Miss Texas 1967
06 She
07 Heart of America
08 Digging It Deep
09 Monkey in Winter
10 Goodbye Sun Valley

CD Three – A-sides, B-sides And Mixes

A-sides and B-Sides
01 The Colour Field – A-side 7” single, Jan 1984
02 Sorry [Original Version] – B-side to The Colour Field single, Jan 1984
03 Pushing Up The Daisies – B-side to Take single, July 1984
04 Windmills of Your Mind – B-side to Take 12” single, Jul 1984
05 My Wild Flame – B-side to Thinking of You 7” single, Jan 1985
06 Little Things – B-side to Thinking of You 7” single, Jan 1985
07 Castles in The Air [Single Remix] – A-side, Apr 1985
08 Your Love Was Smashing – B-side to Castles in The Air single, Apr 1985
09 I Can’t Get Enough of You Baby – B-side to Castles in The Air 7” single, Apr 1985
10 Things Could Be Beautiful – A-side single, Jan 1986
11 Frosty Mornings – B-side to Things Could Be Beautiful single, Jan 1986
12 Running Away [Radio Edit] – A-side single, Feb 1987
13 She [Single Remix] – A-side single, Jul 1987
14 Monkey in Winter [with Sinéad O’Connor]- B-side to She 12” single, Jul 1987
Versions
15 The Colour Field [Extended Version] – A-side to 12” single, Jan 1984
16 Take [Extended Version] – Previously Unreleased
17 Thinking of You [Singalong Version] – B-side to Thinking of You single, Jan 1985
18 Castles in The Air [Extended Version] – A-side to 12” single, [Apr 1985
19 My Wild Flame [Extended Version] – B-side of Thinking of You single, Jan 1985
20 Castles in The Air [Instrumental Version] – B-side to Castles in The Air single, Apr 1985

CD Four – Demos & Outtakes  [all Previously Unreleased]

01 The Colour Field [Instrumental Demo] – Cargo Studio, Rochdale [Oct 1983]
02 Cruel Circus [Demo] – Recorded at Cargo Studio, Rochdale [Oct 1983]
03 Armchair Theatre [Instrumental Demo] – Recorded at Cargo Studio, Rochdale [Oct 1983]
04 The Colour Field [Guide backing track] – Recorded at Strawberry Recording Studios, Stockport [Nov 1983]
05 Take [4-Track Demo] – Home recording, Stockport [early 1984]
06 Thinking of You (Instrumental) [4-Track Demo] – Home recording, Stockport [early 1984]
07 Pushing Up The Daisies [4-Track Demo] – Home recording, Stockport [early 1984]
08 Windmills of Your Mind [4-Track Demo] – Home recording, Stockport [early 1984]
09 Yours Sincerely [4-Track Demo] – Home recording, Stockport [early 1984]
10 Castles in The Air [4-Track Demo] – Mixed by Dermot James [Nov 2024]
11 Heart of America [Ian Broudie Version] – Recorded at Amazon Studios, Liverpool [Nov 1985]
12 Jesus and The April Rain [Ian Broudie Version] – Recorded at Strawberry Recording Studios, Stockport [Dec 1985]
13 Digging It Deep [Studio Davout Version] – Recorded at Studio Davout, Paris [Jun 1986]
14 She [Studio Davout Version] – Recorded at Studio Davout, Paris [Jun 1986]
15 Frosty Mornings [Studio Davout Version] – Recorded at Studio Davout, Paris [Jun 1986]
16 Confession [Studio Davout Version] – Recorded at Studio Davout, Paris [Jun 1986]
17 Jesus and The April Rain [Studio Davout Version] – Recorded at Studio Davout, Paris [Jun 1986]
18 Heart of America [Studio Davout Version] – Recorded at Studio Davout, Paris [Jun 1986]
19 Goodbye Sun Valley [Studio Davout Version] – Recorded at Studio Davout, Paris [Jun 1986]
20 Things Could Be Beautiful [Acoustic Version] – Recorded at The Garden Studio, London [Mar 1987]

CD Five – LIVE

Hammersmith Palais 24 June 1985
01 The Colour Field [Live] *
02 Pushing Up The Daisies [Live]
03 Faint Hearts  [Live] *
04 Your Love Was Smashing [Live]  *
05 Take [Live]  *
06 Cruel Circus [Live]  *
07 Yours Sincerely [Live]
08 Sorry [Live]  *
09 Hammond Song [Live]  *
10 Virgins and Philistines [Live]  *
11 Thinking of You [Live]  *
12 I Can’t Get Enough of You Baby [Live]  *
13 Armchair Theatre [Live]  *
14 Castles in The Air [Live]  *
Warwick University 27 February 1986
15 Frosty Mornings [Live]  *
16 Take It as It Comes [Live]  *
17 Memories Can’t Wait [Live]  *
18 Things Could Be Beautiful [Live]  *
19 She [Live]  *
20 Jesus and The April Rain [Live]  *
21 96 Tears [Live]  *

DVD

Promotional Videos:
01 The Colour Field
02 Take
03 Thinking of You
04 Castles in The Air
05 Things Could Be Beautiful
06 Running Away
07 She
08 ‘Why Am I Standing Here?’  [The Making of the Making of The Colourfield] * Directed by Tim Pope
At The BBC
09 Thinking of You [Whistle Test 22.1.1985]
10 Faint Hearts [Whistle Test 22.1.1985]
11 Thinking of You [Top of The Pops 31.1.1985]
12 Castles in The Air [ORS 1.3.1985]
13 Thinking of You [ORS 1.3.1985]
14 Thinking of You [Pebble Mill at One 19.4.1985]
15 Castles in The Air [Pebble Mill at One 19.4.1985]

* Previously Unreleased

To order click here

Featured image credit: Peter Anderson

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