2008
LETTERS FROM THE UNDERGROUND
On The Fiddle Recordings
LETTERS FROM THE UNDERGROUND includes Burn America Burn - a scathing attack on American society in the wake of mass killings at Virginia Tech and Columbine to name but two - A Life Less Ordinary and Before The End, the band's first love song.
The album received critical acclaim with Mojo describing it as ‘an impressive return to the fray’ and the Daily Mirror as ‘one of the most politically committed and musically incisive albums of their career...’.
JEREMY: This was the rebirth of the band, stripped back to basics - and angry!
Sean Lakeman came into produce, having impressed Jon with his work on Seth Lakeman’s debut album.
The first songs were written on a trip to Ireland, The Cholera Well being the big one. Now we knew what direction the album would take, Sean took us to a tiny studio in Cornwall away from all distractions before going back to the Metway.
Sean has a ‘no nonsense’ attitude; he said ‘no slow songs, lots of loud guitars’.
Nick Cave was working on the soundtrack for his film, The Proposition in one of our studios at the time. He came in for a listen - he loved Behold a Pale Rider particularly, which was great but didn’t take up our offer of a guest vocal. Shame.
- "The Cholera Well"
- "Death Loves Youth"
- "Eyes Wide"
- "Before the End"
- "Burn America Burn"
- "Heart of the Country"
- "Pale Rider"
- "A Life Less Ordinary"
- "Accidental Anarchist"
- "Duty"
- "Fight or Flight"