And Also The Trees – Live In Lyon – June 6, 1988 – RFI-FIP – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
And Also The Trees in concert from Lyon and recorded on June 6, 1988 by RFI in Paris. The band formed in 1979 in Inkberrow, a large village in Worcestershire, with a lineup featuring two sets of brothers: Simon Huw Jones (vocals), Justin Jones (guitar), Graham Havas (bass) and Nick Havas (drums).
The band made their live debut on 12 January 1980 at Grieg Memorial Hall in Alcester. A home demo tape was sent to The Cure, who were looking for support bands on their tour, leading to a friendship between the two bands. In 1981, And Also the Trees played several shows in support of The Cure’s UK tour. Their second demo tape, From Under the Hill (1982), was partly co-produced by Robert Smith and Mike Hedges. Graham Havas was replaced at this time by Steven Burrows.
In 1983, the band released their first single, “Shantell”, which was produced by The Cure’s Lol Tolhurst. Their second single, “The Secret Sea”, followed in 1984 and was also produced by Tolhurst. Tolhurst also produced their debut studio album, And Also the Trees, which was released in February 1984. The band received the attention of BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, and were invited to do a session in April 1984, which was produced by Dale Griffin for broadcast on 24 April.
The EP A Room Lives in Lucy (1985) introduced the mandolin-like guitar sound which became their trademark for the next few years. It gave the band their only placing on the UK Independent Chart, peaking at number 30. The next album, Virus Meadow (1986), was followed by their first European tour, which yielded the live album The Evening of the 24th (1987). Another EP, The Critical Distance, was released in 1987. The singles “Shaletown” and “The House of the Heart”, and the next album The Millpond Years (1988,) were produced by Mark Tibenham.
Farewell to the Shade (1989) was followed by the single releases of “Lady D’Arbanville” (a completely revised Cat Stevens cover) and the French-only “Misfortunes”.
Fifteen studio albums later, the band are still together. To get an idea of what they were up to in the later 1980s, hit the play button and dive into this concert from Lyon.
