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Nil Desperandum

by Mysterious Monks

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1.
The Moneylender 02:29
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2.
Dawn Trustee 03:41
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3.
Poor Little Rich Girl 02:53
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4.
When You Smile 02:12
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5.
The Night Clerk 03:21
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6.
Lonely Woman 03:53
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7.
Love's On The Blink 02:04
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8.
Rickshaw Man 02:45
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9.
Beat Up Buggy 03:06
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10.
Spinster Of The Parish 03:18
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11.
Oriental Nights 02:06
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12.
Marzipan Man 02:39
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about

THIS IS AVAILABLE AS A PHYSICAL CD ALBUM AS WELL AS A DOWNLOAD

The Monks hail from Coventry and have a mysterious, allbeit interesting history.

Graham Wale (keyboards, lead vocalist and composer) and Jon Lord. (lyricist and lead vocals) have been meeting every week to write songs together for over 45 years.

They recorded their self funded demos on a very tight budget at Jacksons Studio in Rickmansworth, run by Malcolm and John Jackson, sons of the bandleader and DJ Jack Jackson. The Monks recorded most of their work in the late sixties, with Graham on keyboards/vocals, and a session drummer and bass player. These tracks were overseen by engineer Vic Maile who went on to work with Elton John, Eddie and the Hotrods, and record Motorhead’s Ace of spades.

They sent songs to all the major record companies and music publishers and drew a blank, until one day, whilst in London to talk to various record companies, Jon happened to spot the offices of Verulam Music. He knocked on the door, which was opened by a man who said he would take our demo and listen to it later.

Within the week Graham and Jon had signed a publishing contract and a song was selected for the debut album planned for Marsha Hunt following her huge success on the London stage in the musical “Hair”.

Unfortunately the song didn’t get included.

After persevering with their attempts to get a release on their own album Graham and Jon abandoned the project, and the ¼” reel to reel master tapes in their boxes lay forgotten in a cupboard at Jon`s house.

When Jon retired from his position running Cabin Studios in Coventry, he dug out the original tapes and asked local producer Paul Sampson if he could transfer the songs to cd if at all possible. Surprisingly, the quality of the recordings was excellent, and deemed worthy of release.

Thanks to the effort of Paul, who digitally restored the tracks where necessary, enhanced them with additional instrumentation, and the input of ideas from Chris Sidwell (Crokodile Tears) Graham and Jon are delighted with the end product.

Track list –

The moneylender
Dawn trustee
Poor little rich girl
When you smile
The night clerk
Lonely woman
Love’s on the blink
Rickshaw man
Beat up buggy
Spinster of the parish
Oriental nights
Marzipan man

credits

released January 1, 2012

Paul Sampson - Producer, overdubs and mixing
All songs written by J Lord/G Wale
Performed by Graham Wale and John Lord and Paul Sampson
Published by Sonar Music 2012 with the exception of Track 12 published by Jackson Music
Released on Psalm Reader Records 2012

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Sonar Records Coventry, UK

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