I have a new album out which goes under the snappy title of ‘Cat in the Spirit House’. The picture below will give you a rough clue as where the name came from.
Full disclosure: These are not actually new songs but are taken from the two albums I released in the 1990s. ‘Don’t stare at the celebrities’ came out to wide- spread acclaim (hang on that should read apathy) in 1995 and ‘Shopping in bed’ followed two years later. These ten cuts represent the best songs those two albums had to offer.
In the nineties I moved to journalism and worked largely with ABC News covering the first Gulf War, the Concorde crash and the Bosnian conflict among hundreds of other stories. News features quite heavily in the lyrics if you know where to look. I was still in touch with an amazing group of musicians from by recording studio days. All these years later their playing still sounds extraordinary. Thanks to one and all.
Credit for this new album should go to my old comrade in arms Simon Webb who came up with the idea and who also suggested getting Ian Tompson to re-master the chosen tracks. Ian did a wonderful job pulling off the cobwebs using all the dastardly wizardry at his disposal.
Click here to listen to the album
Love to all
Jim
Spring 2021
Credits
Voice/guitar: Jim Preen
Guitar: Les Davidson, Tim Stone
Bass: John Gordon, Jeremy Meek, Phil Manley, Richard Lee, Simon Edwards
Drums: Richard Marcangelo, Steve Dixon
Percussion: Phil Overhead
Keys: Mick Parker, Damon Butcher, Tim Bradshaw
Vibes: Roger Beaujolais
Harmonica: Mark Feltham
Tenor sax: Ray Carless, Nick Penteloe
Backing vocals: Helen Hardy, Sonia Jones, Zoe Nicholas, Susie Webb
The Kick Horns: Roddy Lorimer (tpt), Simon Clarke (bari), Tim Sanders (tenor)
Brass arranged by Simon Clarke
Songs remastered by Ian Tompson
Photograph: Judith Hurst
Design: Rob Anderson
Framed written by Leiber & Stoller
Mr Siegal written by Tom Waits
JP responsible for the rest of the malarkey
A Little London Life 