Tuesday, 18 March 2008

All dead, yet still alive...

Dublin combo A House came up with arguably one of the greatest singles of the 90s with 1992's #46 smash Endless Art, a roll call of many of the deceased greats in the fields of art, literature and music from the past several hundred years. Not only was this one of the best list songs of all time, the band also came up with this cracking promo video to accompany it:

But, this art being endless and all, there was more to come: fourteen years later, erstwhile A House frontman Dave Couse released a new version, Endless Art '06 with his band The Impossible, which lists various cultural icons who've popped their clogs since the original recording. The recent dates - combined with the sheer number of luminaries who died in the intervening decade and a half - give it an added poignancy which the original simply can't live with (pun only slightly intended).

And then, in a twist of fate as unwelcome as it is ironic, just as I'm writing this entry it transpires that Oscar-winning director Anthony Minghella (who I'll always remember fondly for his work as script editor on Grange Hill - a staple of my childhood - in its 80s heyday) died suddenly today. The list goes on...

A House - Endless Art mp3

Couse & the Impossible - Endless Art 06 mp3

(mp3s available for 7 days)

Buy A House stuff here.

Buy Couse & the Impossible stuff here.
at

8 comments:

  1. Anonymous23 March 2008 at 07:27

    The female version of endless art is pretty cool too. apparently they got some heat because the original version contained no mentions of women, so they recorded a version that contains only women. i think it was done for the bbc. it was a included as a b-side to the single. you've probably heard it, but i thought i'd mention it anyway.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kippers23 March 2008 at 12:19

    Hi Toby. Yes, I remember that too. Sadly I couldn't include it here as I sold my copy of the 7" to a bloke in Italy through the pages of Record Collector about 11 years ago. Ahh, those zany pre-eBay times!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous24 March 2008 at 04:05

    dusted off from the archives, here's the track. I guess it was called More Endless Art. btw, thanks for that new version, I didn't know about it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Kippers24 March 2008 at 11:26

    Ahh, that's brilliant - thanks a lot! Every bit as good as the first version. "Walt Disney's Minnie Mouse"!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kippers24 March 2008 at 11:27

    You're welcome RE the 06 version btw. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I Am Not The Beatles25 March 2008 at 13:36

    Halloo, I saw Dave Couse at Water Rats a few years back with The Impossible - he was most magnificent, he played this A House track and I Am Afraid. It was a bit weird though, first saw A House in a tiny venue in Bristol supported by Bleach - then many many years later in a venue the same size. He and A House have been shamefully overlooked I feel...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Kippers25 March 2008 at 17:20

    Hey Ian TB. 'Shamefully overlooked sums' him/them up nicely.

    I remember Bleach BTW! They were from the hotbed of rock 'n' roll that's Ipswich, if memory serves. I'll have to dig out their old Shotgun 12" and rip it for the blog sometime.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous8 January 2009 at 11:38

    Hi, I´m spanish fan od "A house". Can you send me "Endless art 06" song to my mail?:
    carabopop [at] gmail.com.

    The link of your blog has expired :-(((

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete