Flowermouth


Flowermouth is the second studio album by British duo No-Man, released in 1994 on the One Little Indian Records label, and subsequently reissued on September, 1999 by 3rd. Stone Ltd, and in a deluxe format by Snapper Music in February 2005.

History

Flowermouth was considered the band's most ambitious album to date, and remains a fan favourite. Despite being the band's best selling release, it was obvious by now that No-Man couldn't continue along the path which their record company wanted them to follow. Following Flowermouth's release, No-Man parted company with both One Little Indian in Britain and Epic/Sony in the US.
Long-term band member Ben Coleman had left prior to the album's release and by 1994, the band had effectively retired from live performance.
Considered a vitally important evolution, the album realised the expansive promise of the band's earlier material. Combining dream pop, art rock and moody minimalism, with an epic orchestral scope, Flowermouth was well served by the guest performances of /Rain Tree Crow's Jansen and Barbieri, King Crimson's Robert Fripp and Mel Collins, jazz trumpeter Ian Carr and eerie Dead Can Dance singer Lisa Gerrard.
The original One Little Indian version of Flowermouth features several slightly different mixes to the ones featured on the later reissues.
For the second reissue, Steven Wilson delivered a definitive remaster and the band have added two bonus tracks to the running order. The reissue also features improved digi-pack artwork and new sleevenotes containing a combined band interview/essay by music journalist Dann Chinn.
Portions of the recording sessions ran parallel to those of the Barbieri & Bowness' Flame project. Wire Magazine, in conjunction with the label, distributed a four-track sampler CD with their July 1994 issue which included two tracks from each release.
The strings from the end of "Watching Over Me" were later sampled for the song "Only Rain" on Returning Jesus in 2001.

Track listing

  1. "Angel Gets Caught In The Beauty Trap" – 9:56
  2. "You Grow More Beautiful" – 5:37
  3. "Animal Ghost" – 6:09
  4. "Soft Shoulders" – 3:57
  5. "Shell Of A Fighter" – 7:48
  6. "Teardrop Fall" – 4:37
  7. "Watching Over Me" – 4:48
  8. "Simple" – 7:03
  9. "Things Change" – 7:31

    2005 bonus tracks

  10. "Angeldust" – 9:11
  11. "Born Simple" – 12:09

    Personnel

with:
RegionDateLabelFormatCatalog
United KingdomJune 1994One Little IndianCDTPLP67CD
United KingdomJune 1994One Little IndianVinylTPLP67
United KingdomJune 1994One Little IndianCassetteTPLP67MC
Japan1994One Little IndianCDCOCY-78166
United KingdomSeptember 19993rd Stone Ltd.CD Remastered EditionSTONE 045CD
United KingdomJuly 2003Hidden ArtCD ReissueHI-ART 17
United KingdomOctober 2005Snapper MusicCD RemasterSDPCD195