At Twilight [TWI 1154 CD] | Paul Haig | Les Disques du Crépuscule

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Paul Haig \ At Twilight [TWI 1154 CD]

At Twilight is a compilation of picked tracks recorded for Crépuscule by iconic Scottish singer-songwriter Paul Haig, who first made his name as the frontman of legendary Postcard Records guitar slingers Josef K.

Between 1982 and 1991 Paul recorded a string of polished dance-pop singles for the label, including singles Justice, Heaven Sent, Big Blue World and Love Eternal, along with parent albums Rhythm of Life, The Warp of Pure Fun and Coincidence vs Fate. The various producers and collaborators featured on this 'best of' selection include Alan Rankine, Cabaret Voltaire, Bernard Sumner, Mantronik, Lil' Louis, Alex Sadkin and Man Parrish.

Disc 1 collects together stand-out singles and album tracks from Paul's decade at Twilight. Disc 2 includes all nine tracks from his lost second studio album from 1984, recorded and co-produced with Alan Rankine (of The Associates) but never before released in complete form. "It was meant to be more eclectic than the first," explains Paul today, "although it didn't necessarily turn out that way. Still, I never consciously tried to write hit records. I think you'd lose all credibility if you thought that way."

Cover portrait by Charles Van Hoorick. CD booklet contains archive images and liner notes by Paul. A video clip for Heaven Sent appears on the DVD collection Umbrellas in the Sun.

Tracklist (Disc 1):

1. Running Away
2. Chance
3. Time
4. Justice
5. Adoration
6. Heaven Sent
7. The Only Truth (12")
8. Heaven Help You Now
9. Love Eternal
10. Torchomatic
11. Reach the Top
12. Swinging For You
13. I Believe In You
14. My Kind
15. Flight X

Disc 2:

1. Shining Hour
2. Big Blue World
3. Love Eternal
4. One Lifetime Away
5. The Only Truth
6. Fear and Dancing
7. Trust
8. Love and War
9. All Our Love
10. Ghost Rider
11. Endless Song
12. Blue For You (Interference Mix)
13. The Executioner
14. Change of Heart
15. The Only Truth (US Remix)

Available on 2xCD + digital (MP3). CD copies ordered from LDDC are slipcased. To order please select correct shipping option (UK, Europe or Rest of World) and click on Add To Cart button below the cover image.

Or, you can order with the option of tracked shipping from our friends at Burning Shed (click here to order)

Reviews:

"You'll be doing yourself a favour if you buy this 2xCD collection of Haig's output for Les Disques du Crépuscule. His work rarely fails to keep your interest, the influences being transparent but the style remaining resolutely individual. At its best - say, on the joyously daft Big Blue World - At Twilight will leave you wondering how this Scots career never dawned. 4 stars" (Classic Pop, 02/2014)

"This two CD compendium may come gift-wrapped in all-too appropriate monochrome package, but there's nothing black and white in this selection of singles, B-sides, album tracks and a previously unreleased 1984 album heard here in its entirety. The opening cover of Sly Stone's Running Away was a statement of intent, with French-Belgian female trio Antena's backing vocals over synthesised horns giving its jaunty funk guitar and Haig's lead vocal a lip-gloss smooth sheen that suggested crossover was imminent. What follows is an ongoing exploration of marrying classic song-writing to technology that moves from an early version of future major label single, Justice, to adventures in New York with producer Alex Sadkin. There are experiments in sampling with electro-pioneers Cabaret Voltaire, themselves in the midst of a sound-changing trip onto the dance-floor; and, in three different versions, The Only Truth, a euphoric indie-dance 12" produced in alliance with New Order's Bernard Sumner and A Certain Ratio's Donald Johnson. Haig sounds most comfortably confident on Alan Rankine co-productions, Heaven Help You Now and Love Eternal; one imagines it was only spite that caused Island Records to pull the plug on the lost second album's eight Haig/Rankine meisterworks that open CD2, with The Only Truth sandwiched between. By turns heroic and awash with some of the maverick zeal that pulsed The Associates, Shining Hour, Big Blue World, Fear and Dancing, Love and War, All Our Love and other life-and-death affirmations are as widescreen as Haig gets, deathly serious in intent as he squints into an aspirational chrome-reflected 1980s sunset" (The List, 03/2014)

"If you're a fan of The Human League or Heaven 17, prepare to be blown away. 4 stars" (Daily Express, 03/2014)

"Two CDs jammed packed with some of the most rhythmic, melodic and influential synth-pop this side of Brussels. What's not to like? Actually, nothing. At Twilight collects Haig's best songs (cunningly, punningly titled Twilights) and his 'lost' album from 1984 which should have followed his Rhythm Of Life debut. Oh and a few extras to keep fans happy. Beginning with early scant-electro pop such as Haig's reading of Sly Stone's Running Away, early single Justice, prime album cut Adoration and his only Top 75 hit Heaven Sent, the first disc rounds off key tracks from the 80s right up until the era when dance-legends tweaked remixes out of his catalogue - Lil Louis on My Kind, and Mantronik on Flight X. But perhaps it's the mid-80s period in-between that reveals Paul Haig's seemingly limitless songwriting talents. The Warp Of Pure Fun drew contributions from New Order's Bernard Sumner, ACR's Donald Johnson, The Associates' Alan Rankine and an enviable band of session musicians who added fairy dust to key material such as Love Eternal, The Only Truth and Big Blue World. Various versions make up the second disc, but the best were recorded for the unreleased second album, represented here in full. There's even an unheard song in the form of All Our Love, a surprisingly commercial sub-ballad that has the deftest of key changes and a nuance often found in Haig's repertoire, yet seldom found anywhere else. Of the extras here, Change Of Heart, recorded for an aborted dance mix project, is a pointer to where Haig was destined for in later years - pin-sharp, almost brutalist, pop that was to be cruelly ignored by most, apart from the thousands who preferred this to Nik Kershaw, Howard Jones and Thomas Dolby. How he wasn't a major star remains something of a travesty, although Haig himself never seemed unduly worried. One helluva picture, and great value with 30 tracks. You must get this" (Flipside, 1/2014)

"Paul Haig has never been a conformist, so it's unsurprising that he continues to stretch himself while his contemporaries dwell on former glories" (Drowned In Sound, 2013)

"As well as maintaining the coolest haircut in Scotland's capital city, Paul Haig, former frontman of Josef K, has also kept up a steady stream of studio work over the decades, ranging from soundtracks to imaginary movies to various oblique approaches to contemporary pop-rock. It's safe to say that he has stayed out in left field and allowed the likes of Franz Ferdinand to colonise the commercial ground in a style he originated" (The Herald, 2013)

"Haig tapped into the dance zeitgeist, swapped Oxfam for Gaultier and allied his croon to the emergent electro pulse" (Uncut, 2003)

"Haig has always skirted the outer limits of European pop in grand style. A primary colour concoction of synth-bump funk and acoustic guitars, stained with the darker tinge of his monochrome vocals" (Uncut, 2003)

"Paul Haig faithfully honours both The Miracle and The Familiarity of the pop song" (NME, 1982)