Label: Arista/ Rockin' Horse
Year of Release: 1986
Two-and-a-half years ago or so, I uploaded an acetate I found of a Foster Pilkington single called "Town of Forgotten Talent". I thought it was an exceptional lost eighties single and I still do - filled with fury about the decimation of numerous towns in the UK at the time, it (sadly) remains topically relevant today. More than that, though, it was a moody and spiky yet elaborate piece of work musically, and sounded fantastic.
That and this single seem to have been Foster Pilkington's only two eighties releases. The latter fell into my hands more recently (for the princely sum of 50p!) and is a slightly tamer effort, though that's not saying much. Despite the fact that it was issued on Arista, it has a distinct indie sound to it, and a sharpness that was very rare on a major label in 1986. The fact that Foster Pilkington appears to have produced, arranged, wrote and sung the track means that he was clearly left alone to be very much his own man, but unlike Prince this isn't funky - it's just agitatedly bouncy, like an aural spacehopper covered in barbed wire coming through your speakers (look, I'm trying here, OK?)
The amount of information about Foster Pilkington online is fairly weak, which is annoying as he remains an active musician and performer. His last LP "The Love That Kills" emerged almost exactly a year ago, and is available on Bandcamp. He's based out in Brightlingsea near Clacton and Colchester these days, and still gigs regularly - clearly one to watch out for.
4 comments:
There's some more detail on YouTube. If you type in "Foster Pilkington" you discover his name is actually Stephen Foster-Pilkington. Click on the verbage under the 12 inch of "Talent" and it mentions he was signed to Joe Jackson's management company at one stage, for example.
Rather belatedly catching up on this post. What a great tune - had his record company bothered to send out promos to student radio stations at the time, I would certainly have played this.
SFP played all the instruments too which was still quite rare back in the mid-eighties. The Art of Being Shy! A beautiful, simplistic little demo unfortunately swamped in huge 80s reverb. Such an innocent contrast to the biting cynicism of both 'Town' and 'Listening Land'. I managed Steve at this time - he really deserved to break through but hey, like Les McQueen of Creme Brulee said in The League of Gentlemen, "It's a shit business."
Hello, Stephen here. I'm in the middle of preparing a new album which will hopefully be finished before the hot days commence. It is going to be a rather punky affair.
I've also started gigging again complete with a guitar,fiddle,
an ep and two books to sell (a novel and a collection of short stories - some of which have had success in various competitions). I am aiming at playing cafes. If anyone knows a suitable venue for such musings all ideas will be very gratefully received.
Thanks to my dear friend Mick Dabrowski for putting the record straight. Recording those records was immense fun.
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