REVIEW: Sound Of The Colourfield box set

Formed in 1984 The Colourfield were The Specials and Fun Boy Three vocalist Terry Hall musical outlet for a 3 year period that saw a string of perfectly constructed guitar pop compositions including Thinking Of You and Take, with Echo and the Bunnymens Pete De Freitas, plus a classic album of its time Virgins and Philistines, all of this and much more is captured in a sumptuous 96 track 5 CD / DVD set entitled Sound Of The Colourfield, featuring 42 previously unreleased tracks, including B-sides, remixes, demos & outtakes all housed in a A5 mediabook with newly written sleeves notes by John Earls (Classic Pop/Record Collector), plus contributions from founding members Toby Lyons and Karl Shale, along with producers Hugh Jones and Ian Broudie, a 22 page booklet, with memorabilia and previously unseen archival photographs.

The aforementioned Virgins and Philistines along with 1987 release Deception open proceedings and it’s hard to argue that The Colourfield paved the way for bands like The Lightening Seeds, gorgeous shimmering guitar lines with the sort of upbeat lyrics Mark Hollis or Paddy McAloon would have been proud to pen, Faint Hearts, Armchair Theatre, Badlands and Digging It Deep all deserve special mention. Stand out b sides include the acoustic pleasure of Sorry, the simply effective covers of Windmills Of Your Mind and Little Things. Innocent impactful demos featured include Cruel Circus, 4 track demo Yours Sincerely, plus Ian Broudie versions of Heart Of America and Jesus and The April Rain sounding like peak Rain Parade.

The last showpieces are 2 live gigs, Hammersmith Palais 1985 and Warwick University 1986, whilst the Hammersmith gig captures plush audio, the Warwick recording is lifted direct from the sound desk and was not intended for commercial release, however its included here for historical purposes and it’s a joy to behold. Both gigs feature an identical line up Terry Hall vocal, Toby Lyons guitar, Karl Shale bass, Gary Dwyer drums. Hammersmith has the addition of Katrina Phillips backing vocals, Pete Barratt piano / keyboards and Jim Morrison guitar with Tim Whittaker percussion, whilst Warwick has The Smiths rhythm guitarist Craig Gannon and former Style Council keyboardist Helen Turner. Both gigs featured a strong bond of a band on form, Hammond Song is stand out gorgeous, Castles In The Sky breezes by with astuteness, the Warwick set captures The Go’s Go’s Our Lips Are Sealed with the same arrangement Fun Boy Three performed whilst the final bow of 96 Tears without the familiar Farfisa organ, with a guitar driving the song to a euphoric ending.

The Colourfield don’t quite receive the praise in certain quarters their timeless music so richly deserves, surely this masterfully crafted set will see new and old fans waxing lyrical of one of Terry Hall’s finest artistic periods.

Sound Of The Colourfield can be ordered here