Cardiacs, Sing For Tim at The Garage, London, 3rd May 2024 –  The Smith and Drake Ensemble (as we later learnt they were called from the obscure piece of paper fixed to the wall of the venue) were just exquisite, done just right, done perfectly, beautifully precise, heartfelt interpretations of songs Tim, Bill and Sarah made many moons ago. Close friends of Cardiacs opening the night and the celebration of leader of the starry skies Tim Smith at London’s Garage. An opening set from a beautifully restrained unrushed ensemble with Richard Larcombe handling the vocals perfectly, these are wonderfully crafted interpretations rather than covers, emotionally reverential, respectful, and as Richard said on stage, if Tim Smith had only made the three albums that were the Mr and Mrs Smith and the Sea Nymphs albums, that would have been more that enough. It may only just have gone half six but the room is full and basking in the quiet of these beautiful songs (save for those at the bar who probably didn’t know what was going on and are soon shusssshed). This is a beautiful start, there’s more than a few already in tears, the Ensemble are special tonight, they know it is important to do things the right way, Richard and impressive friends, all proper players, are getting us off to a wonderful start, do hope they do it again sometime in the future, they really were just right tonight, accomplished, respectful, masterful playing, perfect start.    

Oh it was good to come out of the tube station and see Cardiacs t-shirts everywhere, to see a long (long) line of faces in the queue, some new and surely way too young to have actually seen Cardiacs, some older and life-scarred. New faces, old friends and old faces you’ve seen a hundred times in the pond and only ever nodded at (or sold a fanzine or tape or handed a flyer to), warm hugs, accents telling tales of travel from California, Sweden, Germany, Ireland, Scotland, a Bad Brains t-shirt wearing youth from South Wales way too young to have ever experienced the Pond before, excitement in the North London (in a city) line, brilliant. The pond is the name given to the pit, the Cardiac fishes in the pond, so named by Tim many years ago. Not had a reason to go to the Garage for a long time, scene of many an Organ show back in the day (including the many times we put on Cardiacs and related bands, it seems a fitting place for a celebration, it feels strange to not be flyering the line or organising a guest list or dealing with something). Does the upstairs venue still exist? One of my fondest of many many Tim Smith tales involves a rare solo gig upstairs (he hated not having a band with him, he said never again after that one). I recall the afternoon soundcheck, and I have told this before but do forgive, I can’t resit committing it to paper (one day we will write that book). The solo gig was somewhere in the 90s, one of only a handful, just Tim on stage, just myself and  Cardiacs soundman Dave Murder (the name Tim gave Dave Mercer, Tim gave everyone a name), there’s just the three of us in the building and suddenly there’s a giant smile as wide as a crocodile’s on Tim Smith’s face as he plays, seeming lost in the moment staring up at the rafters, and Murder and I are looking at each other wondering what’s going on, when it suddenly dawns on us, he’s playing to the rats that are watching him from the roof, there’s hundreds of them scuttling, and I swear they’re watching him and I’ll also swear that at the time we were putting on gigs every week upstairs in the small venue above the main one, and I hardly ever saw or heard those rats again, they had just come for Tim’s gig – and you see, that was Tim, that was the kind of thing that happened. He wasn’t perfect, but I miss not having him around, sitting in pubs talking music after mastering a record, sitting in soundchecks, tales for another time and tonight we’re all here to Sing to Tim. It is fitting that we are doing so at last, it has been a while since we lost him, we needed to get together to celebrate Tim Smith, we needed to hear those songs again, to dance again, to meet again.

Spratleys are billed as headliners, they’re on in the middle, Jo Spratley and her band that once did include Tim, they’re performing the songs Tim and Jo wrote together, songs from the album they made as well as a song from Tim’s solo album Ocean Land World, a rather fine song, one of his finest, Don’t You Ail flash the Sea to Steam. Tim once said he was trying to write pop songs and to his frustration “they always came out sounding like all the other shit I do”. Spratleys songs are simpler but yes, they still have that fingerprint all over them and tonight, Jo looks like she’s really enjoying performing them, there’s a lot of emotion up there, there’s joy, there’s tears, there’s drums, tambourines and ribbons and a beautiful sway, these songs always had a beautiful sway, a flow, a majestic rhythm, a kind of pushing throb, they are different, still with that same wonderful essence though and they are being performed rather well to a very very attentive joyous crowd tonight, of course they are. I wasn’t going to start picking out songs this evening but the performance of Oh, does deserve particular mention, that really was quietly beautiful, it was a rather brave performance, fragile, raw, extra special on a special night. The two bands would have been more than enough, two wonderful performances, two very different performances, the feeling in the room is glorious, big smiles, people floating, subtle light drenching us all, films playing behind the dark figures of the musicians who make up Spratleys tonight (the Japs has been dropped from the name now). The two bands would have been more than enough, we would all have walked away happy,  but it is only eight-thirty, the evening is still young…

And of course there’s the growing throb of noise slowly building up, not quite the vile countdown, something different, respectful, this of course can’t ever be the full ritual, it is a celebration, orchestrated by Bic I do believe, by Bic and Jim maybe, and Jo Spratley, whoever has planed it, they have done it in just the right way. We’re still not quite sure what to expect, there’s been all kinds of hints, rumours, mentions of Panixphere, maybe some Cardiacs members on the stage? And then suddenly there they are, well not quite suddenly, there is the build up and then the black and white dirty great flower on the screen at the back of the stage, then someone carrying a sax, and there there’s Bic, the shadowy figure of Bob Leith climbing up behind his kit, and then Jim, Jim, Jim, Jim, Jim… and is that Jon Poole in the middle of it all and The Duck And Roger The Horse and we’re off, we’re going off and things, and hey, it isn’t a night to be reviewing the performance, they’re off and galloping, the Pond is jumping, here we go. Some have forgotten the etiquette and there’s no one there to tell them to stop danger pushing like angry bears, mostly we’re all dancing together, like it was only last week when we last all did gather and dance with Tim rather than for him. Sometimes Bic, or Christian is singling (rather emotionally), sometimes Jon Poole giving it his all, Day is Gone is special, it always was, all these songs are special, we all know that, there are so many they could have chosen to play, it doesn’t really matter tonight, everyone in here knows every word to every one of them. 

This is a celebration, we’re here to sing to Tim and singing and dancing we are, and I know everyone says it about “their band” but this Pond is special, this is something that has built up organically (and without permission, without the come-late music press or a record label’s marketing department, just years of word of mouth), this is something that has grown and grown and still does grow, this is a special bond built. 

There’s bits of Maresnest playing on the screen behind them, Tim Quy’s face is so good to see and there’s Dominic Luckman on the screen. Craig Fortnam (North Sea Radio Orchestra and such) is playing percussion and adding to the detail in a wonderfully knowing way, as are Chloe Herington on sax, and Adrien Rodes on keyboard, no tapes tonight by the sounds of it, playing it all live for the first time since heaven knows when. Tiny from Sleepy People and such gracefully sings a song, so does Sharon Fortnam, Jo Spratley returns in fresh costume, Kavus bounces on in his usual over the top way, so good to see Mark Cawthra up there, Tim would have loved Mark being there. And of course there’s a impossible to fill giant Tim shaped hole and of course they’re doing a brilliant job and Jon Poole’s performance is to be admired, but it is impossible, and of course that spark isn’t quite there, that little bit of smile, that glint in the eye, that smile in the voice when Tim was at his best, that love he had for it all, how could that hole it ever be filled? It can’t, of course not, It is just wonderful to see Jim up there, to hear these songs played by people who had a big hand in creating them, understanding them, it is just so good to be on the edge of the Pond and to see so many faces again, to see all the shirts, to smile, to just enjoy, to celebrate a special thing. There’s been treat after treat, I won’t list all the songs, they thrashed through some of them, they gracefully flowed through others and On Land and in the Sea is wonderful way to end it all, I must confess I’m watching (and filming) the crowd more than the band by the time we get to On Land and that drone at the end, the final note held as long as they dare in just the right way to end it all. Arms in the air, tears on faces, big smiles exchanged, lumps in throats, overwhelming and all just right. 

He was a very special man, it was good to be here for one more go, one more dance, and oh what times we all had with Tim Smith. Tonight was just right, thanks Tim, thanks everyone, a special night, we did indeed sing for him… (sw)

oh and for the record, the ‘band’ were Jim, Bic, Bob, Jon, with Craig Fortnam on percussion, Chloe Herington sax, and Adrien Rodes on keyboard. ‘Guests’ were Sharon Fortnam/Saddington, Jo Spratley, Tiny Wood, Kavus and Mark Cawthra

Find all the music you need via www.cardiacs.com or their Bandcamp. Meanwhile, previous Cardiacs coverage on these pages, although there was lot lots more on previous websites and especailly during the print days – Organ, kissing big ugly sharks since 1986.

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