C.T.A.-102 - More Strangers (In The Cave Again)/ A Thousand Days

Label: Gale

Year of Release: 1980

Paul Carman was an unlucky chap, recording a lot of music in the seventies under the "Dolphin" moniker (we covered his rocksteady version of "Hey Joe" some time ago) which tended to take existing hit singles and tear them apart, forcing them into new shapes and guises. When it worked, it worked unbelievably well. His smooth FM take on "Goin' Back", for example, is an interesting version which adds a small droplet of sixties trippiness to the otherwise slick hug of the mid-seventies production.

He was a perfectly good songwriter in his own right, though, as this single - issued under the strange C.T.A.-102 moniker - proves. "More Strangers (In The Cave Again)" is a shimmering, pulsing New Wave track which in places sounds like Colin Newman out of Wire being ordered to write a hit. It's another example of a performer from another era managing to adapt to the changing tide with astonishing ease, but clearly falling flat on their faces because nobody in the punk or post-punk scenes liked a "pretender" (unless they were sticking two fingers up and mucking about for their own amusement like The Strawbs). 

Fortunately, there's better news for the modern man in that a freshly mastered version of the track is available on Bandcamp for streaming and buying, and the link can be found below.

The B-side, however, isn't - it's a little more abrasive but is in otherwise much the same vein, taking that same dispassionate and pulsing tone. If he didn't wear wrap-around shades when performing these songs live, then I'm a Dutchman. 

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