Infinity Drive
£10.00 – £15.00
Description
Infinity Drive is an album of demos written and recorded as album content for The Stranglers when John Ellis and Paul Roberts were members. The tracks were not used. However, over the years, many fans have asked if these tracks would ever be released in a commercial format. As a result of support from a number of generous Kickstarters we can now make this interesting piece of musical history available on CD. Choose the option below if you want the cover signed by John and Paul.
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| Infinity Drive |
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8 reviews for Infinity Drive
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| Infinity Drive |
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8 reviews for Infinity Drive
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If you liked the John Ellis and Paul Roberts era of The Stranglers (MIB) you will love this album of tracks that didn’t make it onto MIB albums. Thought provoking lyrics, intricate guitars by John and the wonderful voice of Paul. Buy it now you won’t regret it, the only regret will be JE and PR sadly left the MIB. Check out also John’s other work of Sly Guitar and The Gallery series, well worth listening to !
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A really good listen, containing a great deal of musical and lyrical depth. These tracks should have made up the bulk of The Stranglers’ disappointing Coup de Grace album. They’re far superior. My personal faves are the title track and ‘Never Saw Anyone.’
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Being a fan of John Ellis and Paul Roberts, I couldn’t pass by this new release of “old” material which sounds very fresh. I have been listening to these recordings for two weeks already and there is no sign of them becoming boring.
Oh, those vocals! Oh, that guitar! -
An album such as this is an interesting challenge as the artist is choosing to expose songs that were often strangled at birth; it takes a certain courage and self belief to release the material regardless of the reason why the songs didn’t make the selection for the original intended destination album. The first surprise I had on listening to the album was how developed the songs are, often demo recordings are just bones with minimal flesh added to give an idea of a song, at other times they are simple 4 track things with an electronic beat added for tempo. These sangs are neither, they are ready to go straight from the box. The lyrics are complete, thought out and at times provocative, the instruments are all there down to keyboards and backing guitar tracks underlying John Ellis’ distinctive, complex lead guitar style. Then we come to the vocals by Paul Roberts; these were reportedly added many yeas later and are, I fear to say, much better than any vocals recorded during his tenure with The Stranglers. While in the band Paul focused on deeper, resonant tones and was at times forcing his voice artificially low while on this album he is very much mid range and his voice rings out in a manner not heard before. It’s a good album and I feel had some of these songs made it to full gestation and been recorded by The Stranglers, with the extra resources available then their Coup de Grace album would have been a far stronger and more memorable piece.
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Infinity Drive is an excellent album destined to be a future classic from two of England’s best singer song writers .
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Having pledged for it’s release, it’s with some candour that I confess I did not expect a collection of songs as accomplished as the dozen pieces we have here. I had wrongly assumed these songs were going to essentially be an interesting but basic bunch of rough demoes. How wrong I was. John has done a superb job with this CD – it sounds incredibly fresh and to be totally unambiguous – it actually hangs together better than any Stranglers MKII release. Both John & Paul contributed some excellent material to the band although when you hear Infinity Drive as an album in it’s own right you realise the others for all their undoubted talent were simply not needed on these songs.
The instantly likeable title track reels you in and is followed up by a fabulous mix of memorable melodies and harmonies elevated by the incredible vocals of Paul Roberts. I think the album contains some of the best lyrics John ever wrote, Paul interprets them with a finesse that very few singers could match. If I had to single out a few tracks my favourites would be ‘Silent Eyes’, ‘HooxinYou’ & ‘Never Saw Anyone’.
I understand there are no plans to play this material live, should that change let me know when and where – I’ll be there.
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Several years ago, a mutual friend of mine & Paul Roberts told me about these demos & shared a link to John’s Soundcloud page where he had uploaded some of them. I was transfixed by the songs & played them numerous times, always amazed that a certain band rejected them in favour of tracks that I considered inferior.
When John & Paul announced they were going to release these demos, on a physical format for us to hear in full, I jumped at the chance & I have not been left disappointed.
If you are a fan of that line up of the band who wore black (Not Johnny Cash, the other lot!) 😉 this will not disappoint.
Even in this “demo” format, the vocal performance from Paul, & the musical structure from John, drips with class. There would have been very little to do in the studio by the rest of the band to create a “final product”. -
These songs that ‘got away’ would have been among the best the stranglers released in the 90s. The title track, Hoox in You and Definitely Drowning are my faves. Highly recommended for fans of Paul and/or Johns work.
Johnnie Holdaway –
If you liked the John Ellis and Paul Roberts era of The Stranglers (MIB) you will love this album of tracks that didn’t make it onto MIB albums. Thought provoking lyrics, intricate guitars by John and the wonderful voice of Paul. Buy it now you won’t regret it, the only regret will be JE and PR sadly left the MIB. Check out also John’s other work of Sly Guitar and The Gallery series, well worth listening to !
Jim Drury –
A really good listen, containing a great deal of musical and lyrical depth. These tracks should have made up the bulk of The Stranglers’ disappointing Coup de Grace album. They’re far superior. My personal faves are the title track and ‘Never Saw Anyone.’
Mikayel Abazyan –
Being a fan of John Ellis and Paul Roberts, I couldn’t pass by this new release of “old” material which sounds very fresh. I have been listening to these recordings for two weeks already and there is no sign of them becoming boring.
Oh, those vocals! Oh, that guitar!
Paul Wright –
An album such as this is an interesting challenge as the artist is choosing to expose songs that were often strangled at birth; it takes a certain courage and self belief to release the material regardless of the reason why the songs didn’t make the selection for the original intended destination album. The first surprise I had on listening to the album was how developed the songs are, often demo recordings are just bones with minimal flesh added to give an idea of a song, at other times they are simple 4 track things with an electronic beat added for tempo. These sangs are neither, they are ready to go straight from the box. The lyrics are complete, thought out and at times provocative, the instruments are all there down to keyboards and backing guitar tracks underlying John Ellis’ distinctive, complex lead guitar style. Then we come to the vocals by Paul Roberts; these were reportedly added many yeas later and are, I fear to say, much better than any vocals recorded during his tenure with The Stranglers. While in the band Paul focused on deeper, resonant tones and was at times forcing his voice artificially low while on this album he is very much mid range and his voice rings out in a manner not heard before. It’s a good album and I feel had some of these songs made it to full gestation and been recorded by The Stranglers, with the extra resources available then their Coup de Grace album would have been a far stronger and more memorable piece.
David Woolfenden –
Infinity Drive is an excellent album destined to be a future classic from two of England’s best singer song writers .
Adam Fairclough –
Having pledged for it’s release, it’s with some candour that I confess I did not expect a collection of songs as accomplished as the dozen pieces we have here. I had wrongly assumed these songs were going to essentially be an interesting but basic bunch of rough demoes. How wrong I was. John has done a superb job with this CD – it sounds incredibly fresh and to be totally unambiguous – it actually hangs together better than any Stranglers MKII release. Both John & Paul contributed some excellent material to the band although when you hear Infinity Drive as an album in it’s own right you realise the others for all their undoubted talent were simply not needed on these songs.
The instantly likeable title track reels you in and is followed up by a fabulous mix of memorable melodies and harmonies elevated by the incredible vocals of Paul Roberts. I think the album contains some of the best lyrics John ever wrote, Paul interprets them with a finesse that very few singers could match. If I had to single out a few tracks my favourites would be ‘Silent Eyes’, ‘HooxinYou’ & ‘Never Saw Anyone’.
I understand there are no plans to play this material live, should that change let me know when and where – I’ll be there.
Guy Cooper –
Several years ago, a mutual friend of mine & Paul Roberts told me about these demos & shared a link to John’s Soundcloud page where he had uploaded some of them. I was transfixed by the songs & played them numerous times, always amazed that a certain band rejected them in favour of tracks that I considered inferior.
When John & Paul announced they were going to release these demos, on a physical format for us to hear in full, I jumped at the chance & I have not been left disappointed.
If you are a fan of that line up of the band who wore black (Not Johnny Cash, the other lot!) 😉 this will not disappoint.
Even in this “demo” format, the vocal performance from Paul, & the musical structure from John, drips with class. There would have been very little to do in the studio by the rest of the band to create a “final product”.
eric vonx –
These songs that ‘got away’ would have been among the best the stranglers released in the 90s. The title track, Hoox in You and Definitely Drowning are my faves. Highly recommended for fans of Paul and/or Johns work.