Our leading purveyor of psych-pop steampunk Mr Paul Roland has oft been better recognised in Europe for his talents, than at home. A peculiar situation when you hear his quintessentially eccentric Englishness. In recent years RC has championed his new material and several continental reissues; it’s a pleasure to now see Cherry Red taking responsi…
Though recent new albums from the welcomingly prolific psych-pop master have been appealing in their different ways (his Velvets inspired Bates Motel, the gothic soundtrack Hexen and his Brothers Grimm dark-folk songbook, Grimm), Paul Roland’s latest work invokes the essence of his classic LPs, particularly A Cabinet Of Curiosities, and is al…
Who’d have thought, when this master of the arcane was on his sojourn from the music business – scribing books on everything from spirit world visitations to Nazi war crimes – that his return to chronicling Victoriana in song would be so prolific and remarked upon. New albums and reissues abound but, for an entry point, this compe…
Had internet file-sharing come to prominence earlier, this record might have been recorded in collaboration with members of The Velvet Underground. While conducting a newspaper interview with Nico, Sterling Morrison and Maureen Tucker in the 80s, Roland enquired as to their interest in recording with him. Subsequently embarking on writing these son…
The current Paul Roland
reissues inhabit a curious
place that’s positioned
somewhere between a
director’s cut and
a full-on re-imagination. He
tells us that he doesn’t remix
tracks, but simply adds what
he hears as being missing
from their original production:
“I’ve a good number of
tracks that I…
“It’s based on the fairy tales
of the Brothers Grimm. The
originals, not a fluffy Disney
version,” pop-psych’s
laureate, Paul Roland, notes
of his latest offering. “I’m
making little movies for
people to listen to…” That
sentiment has resonance.
Over the 30-plus years that
he’s been…
Paul Roland has
remained a
cherished figure
on the gothic
rock and psychpop
periphery for
30 years now: wider recognition
may have eluded him because,
in strictly musical terms, these
are tricky worlds to reconcile.
Duel, for example – originally
released in 1989 – would have a
fight on its hands in psych-pop
circle…
Syborg continue their sterling
work on psych-pop genius Paul
Roland’s back catalogue with
this twofer reissue of his
acoustic mini-albums,
previously released on the
French New Rose imprint, as a
follow-up to last year’s Burnt
Orchids/Danse Macabre
package. Where those were
full-band recordings, these
albums (from 1987 …
