Thread by @RobynHitchcock

Welcome to SHUFFLEMANIA! brought to you by #TimsTwitterListeningParty.

THE SHUFFLE MAN:

He’s a Gemini. He surfs the impossible with a wand and a top hat: an amoral superhero with a moral compass.

This song was recorded at my kitchen table. I sang this into a cheap recorder, sent the tape to Brendan Benson, and when it came back it had a band on it. So I double-tracked my vocal… #TimsTwitterListeningParty

Here's Track 2: THE INNER LIFE OF SCORPIO:

If you’re a Scorpio ♏️ you’re supposed to have a nose for the darker things in life: detective, surgeon, erotic explorer. Actors have to be all those things & hang their personae up in the cupboard afterwards. #TimsTwitterListeningParty

I sent a phone recording of THE INNER LIFE OF SCORPIO to Johnny Marr in Manchester and he promptly sent it back to me wreathed in drums, piano, bass and guitars. Anne Lise Frøkedal added harmonies from Oslo.
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And now THE FEATHERY SERPENT GOD:

It’s not the gods that do the damage so much as their faithful followers. The Mayan flying snake Quetzalcoatl doesn’t bother with airports, but he’ll get you there on time. He certainly got me off the ground…

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My fab friend from San Francisco - Kelley Stolz - is playing the sitar and drone on this one. "Little Perry" is a stuffed lobster well known to folks who have watched my live streams. @emmaswiftsings & @Frokedalmusic are on harmony vocals.

Look out, it's Track 4!

MIDNIGHT TRAM TO NOWHERE:

It rattles out of the dark damp night and scoops up the wandering souls who are still at large after the bars close. Its interior has a warm red glow - might be a bar itself: you never know. #TimsTwitterListeningParty

My cat Tubby recorded the harmonica on this track; ominous synth is played by Patrick Sansone, eerie harmonies are from @tristentristen & Buddy Hughen.

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Here's SOCRATES IN THIN AIR

I saw Socrates on a plane, just before lockdown. He was flying economy in his white robes and marble beard, with a wee glass of poison by his right hand. Airline staff will get you anything if you ask nicely.

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This track was recorded at @AbbeyRoad on October 9th 2020, my only recording in the outside world on this album. @RewKimberley's guitar came from Cambridge and @EricSlick’s drums from Texas.

October 9, 2020 was John Lennon's 80th birthday. That's not a coincidence.

Here's NOIRER THAN NOIR, the first track on Side B of SHUFFLEMANIA!

Can you out-creep life itself? Camouflage yourself like a Virgo ♍️ and see. Operating on vampire hours is apt to give you fangs, if not a cloak.

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As a youngster I was jealous of the sun, but I never drank blood, good or bad. @charliefmusic plays marimba, bass & percussion on Noirer Than Noir. Sebastián Gutierrez suggested the tempo & the mood - thank you, gentlemen!

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THE MAN WHO LOVES THE RAIN

Adapted from a short story title by Raymond Chandler that he never wrote. I’m really proud of this one. It's the marrow in SHUFFLEMANIA's bones.

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I love @emmaswiftsings harmony here. She has a beautiful voice, expressing the lament of the angels - somehow it blends well with the English soil in my own vocal. Definitely a water song, probably Pisces ♓️

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THE SIR TOMMY SHOVELL is a mythical pub in Britain. I wrote it as a bit of pubstalgia for London boozers as pined for in midsummer Nashville.

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You can hear @brendanbensongs, @RewKimberley & self having a fun electric knees up.

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THE RAGING MUSE is Track 9 on SHUFFLEMANIA!

Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, started as a migraine in the head of her father, Zeus. Inspiration is ruthless - it gestates in you and bursts out in much the same way, or so it feels.

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@DaveyLane1 guitar screeches all the way from Melbourne, while @charliefmusic unleashes the piano and wrangles some bagpipes. Living proof that a great band never needs to actually meet.

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Here's the final track on SHUFFLEMANIA!:

ONE DAY (IT'S BEING SCHEDULED)

Some say this one is optimistic, others hear the opposite feeling in it. It could go either way.
@seanonolennon
&
@morriswindsor
illuminate this song, which I hear in deeply saturated technicolor.

I am enormously grateful to the wonderful cast of musicians who played on SHUFFLEMANIA! from all around the world. #TimsTwitterListeningParty

SHUFFLEMANIA! is my first time creating an album mostly via correspondence, and also my first time with a Tubby the Cat as a co-producer. He did a great job co-ordinating all the stems. So did his wrangler,
@emmaswiftsings. #TimsTwitterListeningParty

SHUFFLEMANIA! is out now @tinyghostrcrds

Love to @Tim_Burgess & @LlSTENlNG_PARTY for a fun groove tonight, and to everyone who joined us.

tinyghostrecords.shop

RH x