Aotearoa psych-pop institution The Puddle, the long-running, ever-evolving vessel for George D. Henderson, have spent more than 25 years underground without losing an ounce of spark. In 2007, the group re-emerged and two years later dropped The Shakespeare Monkey, it marked the band’s sixth album in more than 25 years and a new era for George & co with the original CD edition, stretched to include almost all material from the recording sessions. This newly re-mastered LP offers the chance to dance with The Shakespeare Monkey in it's most pure form, slimmed down to 12 key tracks. Less truly is more. - Flying Out
New Zealand psych-pop pioneersThe Puddle, a revolving line-up of musicians assembled around the unstable core ofGeorge D. Henderson, have been around in one form or another since 1984. Three albums and a 7” single on Flying Nun between 1986 and 1993 attracted critical appreciation and notoriety in equal measures for “pop as shambling and sweet as you could possibly imagine”. In 1993 The Puddle toughened up and recorded the brainy outsider rock album, Songs for Emily Valentine, but, apart from a 1995 single on a French label, the SFEV recordings were not released until 2005. Then, in 2007, The Puddle re-emerged with No Love – No Hate followed two years later by The Shakespeare Monkey. When first released as an overlong CD in 2009 it was the band’s 6th album in over 25 years and only the 4th studio album to be released.George(guitars, vocals, keyboards) was joined byGavin Shaw(Sferic Experiment, Children’s Television Workshop) on bass and brother Ian Henderson on drums etc. along with future memberAl Starrett(viola) to deliver a wildly diverse collection of songs ruminating on eclectic subjects ranging from populist philosopher Colin Wilson (As it Was), dead poets (One Romantic Gesture), the Greek god Pan (Seduced by Virgins) film stars (Milk), and infinite monkey probability theorem1 (the Shakespeare Monkey). The original unedited sprawl of the CD release of The Shakespeare Monkey was an album with the b-sides left on 2 .The re-mastered LP release is a chance to re-imagine the best of the album as it would have been had it been released as an LP at the time. Less is more and all that.
Tracklist:
1. As It Was 2. So Good 3. Friends 4. Shivver 5. Solace 6. The Shakespeare Monkey 7. You're So Pretty
8. One Romantic Gesture 9. Seduced By Virgins 10. Milk 11. Naked 12. The Golden Goose
