Other People’s Angels
1992
Other People’s Angels was the fourth Voice of the Rain release, one that flirted with real drums (played by Mark Craine) and the first to feature a guitarist that wasn’t Rob or Richard (Pete Nagle).
Lyrically it mines typical Voice Of The Rain seams: loves lost, never had to lose and prospective, all laced with a healthy dose of nostalgia and uncertainty about the future.
Walkman and Bicycle and September both allude to the banal necessity of working life, while One Hundred Years searches for a Grandmotherly perspective in which to place that banal present.
Pillows, St. Machar Drive and Half the World were written about the same old girlfriend, whose reaction was that they were ‘a little sentimental’.
On returning to Aberdeen this year I discovered that the street in question was actually off St. Machar Drive and that consequently the song should have been entitled, The Chanonry. The gates and wall remain but ‘new Dunbar Hall’ has now been demolished.
More positive notes can be found in Try making me laugh, Girlfriend into Girlfriend and For the better, the latter particularly notable for the fact that requested to provide a solo, Pete came up with something for every part of the song apart from the solo, which was then played by Rob.
Richard Knowles January 2014
Reissue Track Listing
Try Making Me Laugh
Walkman And Bicycle
Pillows
Girlfriend Into Girlfriend
Different Signs
100 Years
70s Child
St. Machar Drive
Fortune Teller
September
For The Better
Jimmy & Marilyn
Half The World
I Know You’re Waiting
Fear Of Flying
All the songs were written by Richard & Rob
and performed by
Richard Knowles – Vocals, Bass & Guitar
Robert Boole – Guitar, Bass, Keyboards, Tapes, & Programming
Mark Craine – Drums on 1, 7 & 11
Pete Nagel – Guitar on 7 & 10
Rebecca Knowles – Vocals on 1 & 4
The cover photograph, ‘Hairdresser’s Shop Window, Boulevard de Strasbourg’ by Eugène Atget is courtesy of the Getty Trust Open Content Program.