Einmal Ist Keinmal

1993

1993 was a fairly prolific year for VOTR. Sometime in the first few months we had recorded a series of cover versions and from late Spring through the Summer we embarked on a triple release of around 50 songs: one of which, Einmal ist Keinmal, featured new versions of songs we had previously recorded in the 1980s, which we are re-releasing now with many additions.

I think the genesis of VOTR was that we were playing in another band together but shared wide-ranging musical interests and tastes that we wanted to pursue in an open and unlimited way. Thus the source releases for these songs, Old Age Echoes (1986) and Building then Burning (1987) saw us write and record most of the ideas that came to us, throw in a few covers and get taping for our friends.

At least initially the style was jazz chords and Whitmanesque lyrics, as in two of our earliest songs: Intentions and Sparkles from the Wheel but as Rob taught me how to play the (6-stringed) guitar, his more cultured tunes were augmented by my early strum-alongs, which usually focused on autobiographical VIth form romantic failures or silver screened yearnings. This being the 80s, when I was short of a romantic failure, or film star crush, politics was able to throw a subject or two my way, either domestic, as in One of Many or in international form, such as Ariel.

Listening again now the lyrics quite often display more rhyme than reason but they and the music that surrounds them do convey a sense of positive and expressive experimentalism, which is pretty much as I remember the atmosphere in Rob’s attic room.

Richard Knowles April 2015

At the point the original recordings were made we had neither acoustic guitars or recording equipment so both were borrowed for the rather rushed sessions that produced Old Age Echoes and Building Then Burning.

Sometime Git Chris Morris supplied the Fostex four track cassette machine whilst erstwhile Christine keyboardist Paul Finch lent us a guitar of indeterminate parentage for the first album and Andy Cohen a nice EKO for the second.

Robert Boole April 2015

Reissue Track Listing

Here Comes A Friend
Jumping & Falling
Intentions
Ariel
Song For No One
My Favourite Haunt
Sparkles From The Wheel
Greata’s Song
Turn Away
(Coming Back To) An Empty Heart
Mad For Mad
One Of Many
This Idiot Glitter
This Honest Lie
Anja’s Song
Sympathetic Rose
Not Such An Idle Threat
Word Of Truth
Dancing In The Road
Ariel
Greta’s Song
Weed
Here Comes A Friend
Skeleton
Sympathetic Rose
Quicksand Girl
Turn Away

All the songs were written and performed by Richard & Rob with the exception of the 1993 versions of Greta’s Song and Sympathetic Rose which feature Pete Nagel on electric guitar.

The cover photograph, ‘Pont Neuf’ by Eugène Atget is courtesy of the Getty Trust Open Content Program.