SHAWN SMITH - The Diamond Hand CD & T-shirt

Funnily enough I was gonna say that, then thought better of it!

Getting closer to the tour, I'm going to London and Bristol, I seriously can't wait. If your on facebook add yourself to the show(s) your going too.
http://apps.facebook.com/ilike/artist/Shawn+Smith

shit... its the early hours of may 5 and i just find out he's playing edinburgh tonight. think its too late. didn't realise this had been updated.

was just posting about him as well...

Brain Of E wrote:

why is this still a sticky?

Because Shawn Smith rules you.

Let it all Begin and Shield of Thorns re-issues are now available on hardcopy cd! In addition, two new t-shirts are also available.

Remember, Let it all Begin features 3-bonus tracks:
So the Heart Can See, Behind Bars, and Peace
(reissues also available on iTunes)

Details and pictures on The Shawn Smith Collective: http://www.sscollective.net

Thanks!
ssc

If anyone missed this on the old Brad forum and RM, I just thought I'd post it here. My review from York this year. The planets aligned this day. Fucking amazing.

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We went and saw Shawn play in York the other night. My wife and I flew over from Dublin and spent a few days driving around to the stately homes she likes to visit. The show was in a (deconsecrated?) church. No stage. Folding chairs for the audience. No stage lights-just oridinary small ceiling lights with a dimmer switch. It was fucking great. We got there an hour early (ticket said 8pm start time, but it was pushed back to half . I went in to the venue for a look, and the promoter told me to go have a beer in the cemetary in the church yard. He let me put my jacket on a front row seat first though. We got beers and sat out in the attached cemetary and drank amongst the tombstones until they'd let us in. The day was gloriously sunny.

We got let in, and chatted to people sitting next to us. I'd say the gig was 80 people, tops. All the chairs got taken, with half a dozen guys standing at the back. It's a tiny church, and Shawn could see the back wall. He walked on, strode to the piano, sat down and played 'The Day Brings'. He ballsed up one of the verses and excused himself due to his nerves. I got a beautiful recording of the show. He also sang the 2nd verse of Not Too Late first, stopped, started clapping and looking upwards trying to remember the first verse (and I nearly started singing it to help him), and then went back into it. He also said he wouldn't do an encore as it's a bit naff to walk all around the audience to go off stage, but he was called back for one with a standing ovation anyway. (It was Time O the Year-->Purple Rain-->Amazing Grace). We were sat front row, in front of the left (if you're facing Shawn) speaker. The piano wasn't mic-ed up to the PA, just to Shawn's little monitor. It was a very 'stereo' sounding show from our seats, as we were getting the vocal on our left side (from the speaker) and the piano from our right side (from the instrument). Hope that makes sense! He interacted with the audience more than usual, taking requests if he knew the songs. Someone asked for Mr. Pink. There's always one, isn't there? (Mr. Pink's a metal tune at heart, and this is a solo piano show).

Shawn took time post-show to sign autographs and take pictures with everyone, too. (My wife and I each got a poster signed; one in black, one in silver, and a photo).

The setlist (from my photo of the setlist) was as follows (however, he changed it a bit). I can get the correct setlist when I edit the MiniDisc.

The Day Brings
Isn't That Right
Some Never Come Home
Screen
Crown of Thorns
Buttercup
Suffering
Time O The Year
Not Too Late
Pearl
Wrapped In My Memory
Without Love
My Very Best
Here Come the Holy Rollers
Ring That Bell
Leaving Home
Purple Rain

He didn't play My Very Best or Pearl. Time O The Year was actually played as a final encore and segued into Purple Rain, which seagued into Amazing Grace. The 3 songs from the new album (Here Come the Holy Rollers, Ring That Bell and Leaving Home) were played in the middle of the set. Crown of Thorns was breathtaking.

I saw Brad in Adelaide in 1998, and I saw them in 2002 in Washington DC, and both times thought they were kind of sloppy live. Shawn solo, with just a baby grand piano, is amazing. The voice, the playing, the weather, the venue. All the elements conspired to make a wonderful day in York. The town itself itself has it's original medieval walls around it and has plenty of tiny streets and funky stores. What a wonderful day. It was also my 3rd time meeting him, and, although innately shy, he has been graceful every time. Hope he comes back soon.

Edit: Actual set played:
The Day Brings
Some Never Come Home
Screen
Crown of Thorns
Wrapped in my Memory
Suffering
Not Too Late
Here Come the Holy Rollers
Losing Home
Isn't That Right
Buttercup
Without Love
Purple Rain-->The Day Brings (outtro)
(encore break)
Time O the Year-->Amazing Grace

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Edit for pj.com: The recording is currently unavailable, as per management's instructions, so please don't ask for it. If I'm ever allowed to circulate it, I will. (Remember: it's my Wembley 2007 PJ show in circulation, so I'm not 'hoarding' in this instance).

Also, Just received the 2 re-releases from the label in the mail. Very nice packaging. Elegant, would describe it nicely. (Not really sure why I bought them. I have the original pressings, and the bonus tracks-that's fandom, I guess.)

On another note: shawnsmith.co.uk closed today. Refers us to the label's site. Hope they make some changes then, as it needs updating.

I have 2 Brad shows I'm willing to trade for any Brad/Satchel and especially Shawn solo shows if anyone's interested, and has anything I don't. They are:
October 26 2002: 9.30 Club, Washington DC (this is my own recording, not the one in circulation and sounds good) [lineage: Sony ECM 717 mics-->Sharp MD-->CD WAVE-->WAV)
January 2 2003: The Gov, Adelaide, Australia (this is my friend's recording. Don't know the mics, so the lineage is roughly Sony MD-->CD WAVE-->WAV-->my CDR.

All my other older Brad shows are in not accessible, but they're all from the Maxell XL 2 Cassette days, so I'll even take CD upgrades to them. Thanks for reading!

so how is this record? have yet to hear it

mfc2006 wrote:

so how is this record? have yet to hear it

The Diamond Hand album is great. Really great. The only downside, sonically, are the awful female harmonies on "The Congregation". Big thumbs down for Lucy Suzuki's (she's Shawn's self-styled 'guru') incredibly irritating backing vox. Other than that, the album's a cracker!

I think the best tunes, off the top of my head, are "Losing Home", "Ring that Bell" and "Here Come the Holy Rollers". Of course, that's just my totally subjective opinion.

As well as the J-man's suggestion above, you can also buy the re-released first two albums as well as this new one at soundvssilence.com

Randall.

Mike_No_One wrote:

Those "awful female harmonies" and "incredibly irritating" vocals are mainly sung by Regan's young daughter.

I was going by the liner notes on the back of the album cover:
"chase hager and lucy suzuki singing background vocals".

Perhaps I was a bit harsh: the vocals per se ain't so bad, the song just doesn't require them, I feel. But I do find them irritating. But who said I had any taste?!