NUM1220
Album cover

Jacobites

Robespierre's Velvet Basement

In founding Swell Maps, the post-punk prefacing Birmingham art-snots, Nikki Sudden and his drumming brother Epic Soundtracks charted new territory for racket and corrosive guitar. But after folding Swell Maps at the dawn of the ’80s, Nikki Sudden plowed through another decade’s worth of terrifically fertile ground. Drawing on his devotion to the Rolling Stones and T. Rex—alongside guitarist Dave Kusworth as Jacobites, plus a cheekily named cohort of British sidemen—Nikki Sudden cut a string of raw, inspired rock ‘n’ roll records, etched with double edged travel melancholia and hard-bitten punk dejection.

The lush second album by Nikki Sudden and Dave Kusworth as Jacobites, 1985’s Robespierre’s Velvet Basement is a decadent and inviting garage, decorated by upfront acoustic guitars and unabashed devotion to Faces, Stones, and the folky young Bolan. Drunk on red wine and shambling through predictions of Brit pop to come, Robespierre’s Velvet Basement , originally planned for four sides of Glass Records vinyl, was pared down to hit a pinnacle of Nikki Sudden’s ’80s oeuvre, a loose and grandly bedraggled portrait of British rock at the crossroads.

  • LP

    1 150g LP
    1 tip-on single LP jacket
    1 side-spine obi

Track List

  1. Nikki Sudden Big Store
  2. Nikki Sudden Snow White
  3. Nikki Sudden Fortune of Fame
  4. Nikki Sudden Where The Rivers End
  5. Nikki Sudden Silken Sheets
  6. Nikki Sudden Ambulance Station
  7. Nikki Sudden Son of a French Nobleman
  8. Nikki Sudden Hearts Are Like Flowers
  9. Nikki Sudden It'll All End Up In Tears
  10. Nikki Sudden She Never Believes
  11. Nikki Sudden All The Dark Rags
  12. Nikki Sudden One More String of Pearls
  13. Nikki Sudden I Am Just A Broken Heart
  14. Nikki Sudden Only Children Sleeping