This is the double vinyl/cd reissue for Headswim's 1994 debut album Flood, that adds a disc of a Radio Session, b-sides and outtakes. The band came from Essex and feature brothers Dan and Tom Glendining alongside Nick Watts and Clovis Taylor. The albums artwork was by Tom and Dan's younger brother Matt, who was fighting a losing battle with Leukaemia. The re-issue of this album is raising money for The Campaign Against Living Misery with 5% of the proceeds of copies bought through www.headswim.co.uk going to www.thecalmzone.net
The album opens with the drum heavy Gone To Pot, with flaming guitars as Dan Glendining's impassioned vocals tell us just how jaded he feels, as those drums keep this songs bedrock going, the guitars fly off around it.
Soup feels like it's raging across the speakers with the full-throated vocals, heavy funky influenced grunge guitars, almost like an English Soundgarden.
Try Disappointed is slower, thoughtful wracked with intense pain, that needs to be drowned in poison. The vocals echo around the speakers, allowing listeners to wallow in the pain of disappointment.
Crawl has an acoustic opening as Glen leads us into this tale that explodes, like a great rock ballad should, as the love and hurt unfold, as he Crawls to her once more.
Dead comes in quiet, before exploding siren guitars, in your face drums, a very heavy bassline, as Dan sings about feeling like he's Dead, what may have led to this happening, the pain at the core of the song saws at you.
Years On Me is a song of regret for what hasn't happened in his life, looking for a better future, this has some strings and a very pared back almost blues grunge structure.
Apple Of My Eye feels like more of an exercise in stalking than a love song, as the traumatic pain at this songs heart slices through his neck, as the blood flows the pain grows.
Down is full of pain raging intensity with a funk laden bass undertow, as the dynamics between the guitars and vocals open things out.
Stinkhorn or Phallus Impudicus, as the mushroom of this title is also known, is a full-on raging grunge rocker, with trumpets and fly in your ear vocals, to trip you out, as you try to get that smell out of your mind.
Safe Harvest is slow imperious grunge with a classical undertow, that has echoes of Led Zeppelin as the keyboards come to the fore. As the quest for safety slowly unfurls.
The album closes with Beneath A Black Moon that slowly builds, falls, as the darkness, depression finds an outlet in the drums, keyboards and Dan's vocals. It also has on the cd copy an old school hidden track Precipity Flood if you wait 5 or 6 minutes, it's a dubby exploration with near buried vocals and all sorts of effects. If you buy the Vinyl version, it's the last track on the bonus album.
The second disc opens with the band's session for the BBC Radio One rock show, with a short intro to the session version of Gone To Pot that has more upfront keyboards than on the album version as Nicks backing vocals also seem more prominent.
Stinkhorn has different effects on the radio session that gives it a more out their stoned feel as the space invader noises attack the synapses, you fly towards your local Mushroom forager.
Try Disappointed has ringing acoustic guitar, a pared back bassline, as the ultra-clear vocals make clear what is Disappointing him.
Beneath A Black Moon opens with falsetto vocals, as the acoustic backing slowly comes in to help illustrate the depressive pain they feel.
The Fear starts as a sort of samba drum & bass tune, before the coruscating guitars come in as they tell us they live in Fear, this is a cool dance remix, that seems to have a Junior Delgado vocal sample at one point, but they have probably just stolen the idea from him.
Apprenticed To Pain is bass led dive into the inner turmoil and darkness, the drums drive home as you try to put on a brave face.
Morning Song sounds like a mellow Radiohead song for the first half, before the slow drums and bass come in as it has a more pained impassioned feel.
Rotting Tooth could easily be the song of regret for Amphetamine addicts everywhere, this is more about how the pain of the emotional turmoil around them feels like the pain of a Rotting Tooth, with the Guitars starting to sound like drills, you crave more local to drown out the pain.
The bonus disc closes with Proud that is speedy adrenal grunge, roar of pride, with good effects, pounding riff that doesn't let up, so stay strong and Proud and get this great 90's re-issue.
Find out more at www.headswim.co.uk https://www.facebook.com/groups/headswim https://headswim.bandcamp.com/album/flood-redux
