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Black Cat, Dark Horse

by Lloyd / Bean

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Sterling black vinyl copy of the debut from the duo of Robert Lloyd and Janet Bean, which comes with a download code so you can listen to it on any number of formats.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Black Cat, Dark Horse via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £22 GBP or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    A nicely packaged compact disc with cover photo from Philip Solomonson and design by Sheila Sachs.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Black Cat, Dark Horse via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      £15 GBP or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £10 GBP  or more

     

1.
There was a time / we were together It's not a crime / or great endeavour But you will never ever find another lover baby like me I never sought / someone to turn to Butterfly caught / so let’s continue ‘cos you will never ever find another lover baby like me The merry dance Nureyev ignores Half a chance Black cat, dark horse Got two ideas / you got two blisters Pony careers / or ‘The Three Sisters’ Well you will never ever find another lover baby like me The merry dance Nureyev ignores Half a chance Black cat, dark horse It is my fire / that you are burning Was my desire that has kept me learning And you will never ever find another lover baby like me No you will never ever find another lover baby like me (Robert Lloyd / Peter Byrchmore / Janet Beveridge-Bean)
2.
My harrowed heart was made to wander for dales that lesser lovers spurned But at the end of each meander I'd find that to the start returned I've failed to keep my mind contented with all the ground rules fate presented And now I find myself aware of heavy reckonings to bear These journeys, far from my intention were so much further than they seemed I was not always damned to dream a country of my own invention Whenever places haunt or heart the soldier in me just deserts For those whose secrets might be soothing my silence comes as no surprise For I've been waiting to say something so long my tongue is black with flies I've tried to keep the home fires burning but my nature's less discerning You'd think a downcast soul is mine, but I'm an outcast by design. These journeys far from my intention are so much further than they seem I was not always damned to dream a country of my own invention. And now I find myself aware of heavy reckonings to bear. (James Elkington)
3.
Wake Up Baby 03:34
Wake up baby, before it’s too late Wake up baby, it’s time to celebrate There’s nothing here for me, so I won’t hesitate Life’s for me babe, I won’t live it second rate Wake up baby, wake up without a sound Wake up baby, get off the merry go round I’ll be in love but I swear I won’t be a clown That’s all there is to that, I’m gonna leave this lonesome town Wake up baby, don’t hold your head so high Wake up baby, and focus your eyes You think you think, but to me you look hypnotized I’m leaving now babe, I wish you well goodbye There’s nothing here for me, goodbye babe There’s nothing here for me, goodbye babe You know there’s nothing here for me (Dion DiMucci)
4.
Well how come it is I get so impressed? However it is, I wish you all the best As the things go right for you and I walk away Sweet Georgia Black I bid you good day Well how come it is everything looks so sweet? It’s easy to understand, it’s what attracted me Well I say, Sweet Georgia Black I wish you good day Imagine if you had none of this at all Well I would still love you, you might even hear my call But now I won’t be there when the next teardrop falls Sweet Georgia Black I’ll be nowhere at all Well I planned my days just to fit you in And I might get to see you if you were doing nothing Well that’s tough but Sweet Georgia Black it’s not good enough My two ways of wanting for you are starting to fight I don’t know if it’s you or me I’m thinking of every night I guess there is nothing wrong with being a memory & although you are it takes nothing from what you mean to me And so for the final time, in verse at least, Go on and be happy & I hope you succeed And everything goes right for you as I walk away Sweet Georgia Black I hope you have a nice day But I won’t let this moment get turned in to a trap And if you are ever without then I won’t turn my back Here I’ll stand, with the words that I have written torn up in my hands
 (Robert Lloyd)
5.
Many days have passed since then But I still recall the moment when Despite the crack in my pretences You helped me stumble to my senses & now the emphasis has shifted Remember feeling bitter n twisted? But you were there when I felt vacant My jungle juice, my eggs & bacon I’ll clean the scum from around your bath Go arse over elbow just to make you laugh Come lowly land or come high water Impotent son or pregnant daughter Come overflow or empty stomach Some kind of naught, some kind of summit For all the space you give to me When you take, please take my energy & as & when trouble hits town Bet your bottom darlin’, I won’t take it lying down & when it shows it’s no’s n not’s We’ll show we come as a job lot No stone unturned, no sheets to wash No second hand on the violent watch There are no things we feel need proving We get out of it without moving Come lowly land or come high water Impotent son or pregnant daughter Come overflow or empty stomach Some kind of naught, some kind of summit (Robert Lloyd / Mark Tibenham)
6.
A dialect for two born from a gesture shot across the room A gun was played our fates were doomed on the arc of smile The ground it spun the moon hung with grace of a song Over a river and what was to come on the arc of a smile A quiver of arrows was slung from the first to first to the last I succumb on the arc of a smile On the edges of space, we conjure while a wounded orchestra sways for you and I a melody made on the arc of a smile (Janet Beveridge-Bean)
7.
Though you've played at love and lost And sorrow's turned your heart to frost I will melt your heart again. Remember the feeling as a child When you woke up and morning smiled It's time you felt like you did then. There's just no percentage in remembering the past It's time you learned to live again at last. Come with me, leave yesterday behind And take a giant step outside your mind. You stare at me in disbelief You say for you there's no relief But I swear I'll prove you wrong. Don't stay in your lonely room Just staring back in silent gloom. That's not where you belong Come with me I'll take you where the taste of life is green And everyday holds wonders to be seen. Come with me, leave yesterday behind And take a giant step outside your mind. (Gerry Goffin / Carole King)
8.
The lie is upon and speaking its worst A lie is a lie, I cannot deny Still, I cried when I first heard its cancerous curse Again you'll despair clairvoyants declare! Failed words and venomous vows They rose me up once but bury me now The True Lover's Knot and The Lie Each lie is a bloodhound dismembering hares Long before long, the lie was your song Now they join me in chorus like dog Jordanaires Now sing it with me and set yourself free with... Failed words and venomous vows I'd swear on my life but I never knew how The True Lover's Knot and The Lie Caverns of courage it takes to tell truth so they say But deceptionists practice an art that is older than time Time cannot stop me from getting my way Those above board, be put to the sword Now dishonesty shadows the shortening day Volumes of curse, verse after verse of Failed words and venomous vows they rose me up once but bury me know Failed words and venomous vows I'd swear on my life but I've never known how The True Lover's Knot and The Lie (Janet Beveridge-Bean / James Elkington)
9.
In the dead of night In some distant land In these troubled times We're in unsafe hands In the way you move In the days of old In the corner of the waiting room In winter when it's cold Tears like stars must fall Hearts like stones must sink Grief like dawn must break In the way you move In the days of old In a corner of the waiting room In winter when it's cold Tears like stars must fall Hearts like stones must sink Grief like dawn must break In a dungeon deep In the space between the walls In some dreamless sleep In the words of the prophet In the belly of a whale In the backstreets of my brain In the morning when we wake In the thoughts I can't explain Tears like stars must fall Hearts like stones must sink Grief like dawn must break In the wee wee hours In the backseat of your car In your bones and in your blood In the moment Tears like stars must fall Hearts like stones must sink Grief like dawn must break
 (Jon Langford)
10.
One Shot 02:53
11.
And lo! on the fifth of the sixth 

born to be stiffed by the ethics and quarrels 

that loathed to see him resting on his laurels 

he said, "fuck your morals"

 Was his own man for bad or worst 

An also-ran spawn of the cursed by sick fate

 And finding love a test would surely dictate that he would pick hate

 And time would prove a weapon 

His crime would be to breath the air 

He would stain the sheets of the Black Country 

 And in good stead for later life 

 he made the bed, his future wife was cooking

 a soon come life for them, as she was looking

 at the rucking 

A class mates ears in either hand

 on to the tears he did expand with spittle The spite inside the phlegm was uncommittal, 

so pre-marital

 And the pome it had been tasted

 'Twas the homophobic, racist flirt
 
that she would wed in the Black Country 

 Into the snare of wilted flowers 

she rushed to share her youthful hours with learning 

that tolerance and reason are for burning 

and he's not for turning 

And once upon ago the sex 

would pretend not to know the hex of violence

 The days it would plot treason drunk on silence,

 a potent alliance 

And a thorn he'd always carry 

and still born is what she asked to be

 Got divorced from hope in the Black Country

 Her sell by date it came and went

 Stood at the gate of heaven, bent on boredom,

 the born and bred qualifier for whoredom, 

he got the chore done 

He'd borrow cash and grass his pals

 and scratch his rash and ever shall be a user

 The empathetic liars down the boozer

 they love a loser
 But overpriced is such a friendship 

and they thank Christ he drank himself to death 

He was a boil on the arse of the Black Country 

 And the despair that had been suffered

 offered no prayer for the belated death

 of that ugly child from the Black Country 

No, they'll mourn him not in the Black Country (Robert Lloyd / Peter Byrchmore)

about

Recorded in sunny Valencia, "Black Cat, Dark Horse" melds the talents of Chicago's Janet Beveridge Bean (Eleventh Dream Day / Freakwater) with those of Robert Lloyd (from the Midlands' mighty Nightingales) for a unique and magnificent album of songtastic magic.

Backing musicians include:

Pete 'The Tank' Byrchmore, ex-Nightingales, musical mastermind behind Robert Lloyd's solo work, and current guitarist for Membranes

Mark Bedford, whose bass-ic genius underscores the pop majesty of Madness

Pablo Roda, a mysterious man who showed up, jumped right in and held it together with utter perfection.

credits

released June 2, 2023

ROBERT LLOYD - vocals
JANET BEVERIDGE-BEAN - vocals
MARK BEDFORD - bass and double bass
PETER BYRCHMORE - guitars, bass VI, keyboards
PABLO RODA - drums
GERARDO SANZ - whistling on "Eggs And Bacon"

Recorded at Estudio Elefante, Valencia, Spain
Engineered by Jorge Bernabe and Alberto Luiz
Mixed and engineered by Andi Schmid

Photography by Phil Solomonson
Design by Sheila Sachs

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Lloyd / Bean Valencia, Spain

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