Cardiacs - Is This The Life (First Promo)

[Monkeyhead75]

Gehenna (or anyone for that matter) do you have a recording of the gig at The Venue with Poisoned Electric Head in support...think it was like a day event with Credit to the Nation and Zu Zu petals? Was my first gig and would love to see it on film :)

[pontello3]

guitar riff sounds like that cult song "rain" or here comes the rain i don't remember....

who know who's copied who? :)

[Bansidhe]

@pontello3 It's similair but I wouldn't say it's copied. It's just because it's a pedal tone thing with the droning D string. Billy Duffy (guitarist in The Cult) does a lot of that type of thing.

[pontello3]

@Bansidhe

possibly , i don't remember wich song come first beside, altough this sis a great cardiac's track ,even if a bit unususal for their repertoire ,wich was more a sort of...punk-prog rock!

very innovative and creative! caridacs totally undrrated band!

[pontello3]

great band!

are they still around?

this song was great but very different from what they were doing normally...wich was a sort a progressive-punk! :)

[therealchriswheelie]

@pontello3 Very sadly, no. As you may know now, guitarist/singer Tim Smith is a poorly chap these days. Last August, Cardiacs officially stated that they were very likely not to return. Sad times indeed - sending bestest wishes to Tim for a full recovery.

[greasymac]

who gives a fuck where it got in the charts! bring back tim quy!!!!

[Atomiumonamour]

This, by the way, is their weakest track.

They see it the same way.

It still has the mind drilling element.

[PeckhamExile]

@Atomiumonamour I havnt heard all their stuff, but a fair bit of it...and on the strength of what I have heard to date I have to disagree..this seems a very powerful 'wall of sound' type song jangling guitars solid drums everything else I have heard, IMO just sounds like a quirky mess..and, again personally...irritating to listen to after a while, but if you can point me in the direction of anything as solid and straightforward as this id be grateful I love this track, reminds me of 88 so much

[Atomiumonamour]

Religious atheist hymns. I have never in my live been so much beyond and out of my mind than at the concert of the Cardiacs in 1989.

[thatstidy]

Nirvana (not the band, the state of mind) specification songs are as rare as hens teeth but I saw them in 1987 full of lysergic acid diethylamide and have neer been the same since. Tim has the ability to make his music transend the listener into pastures of total glory.

[damookie]

PERFECT.

[mattiusthegreat]

Godlike song.  Not a fan of the Band, but at the time had to buy this one, those that know, know why!

Thanks for posting!

[godisatan]

Fantastic!

[derfscratch]

Oh how i just want tim to get better! please tim get better! I need another, just one more performance, just one more. In Bristol, just one more 'hit' that's all, just one more taste of sugar...

[greasymac]

gr8888888888

[please42]

Seeing this makes me happy/sad.

[fox408]

now THIS is what the 80's was REALLY all about!

[Dexbam]

yeah, this is one of the best rock-songs of the 80's!

crazy is that barely no one noticed that!

[bassthing26]

thankyou! the right people did.

[telewebservices]

Is this the life?

OH well when i die hopefully over 70 years of age and smoke free, i would find it a very lovely transformation to wake up to this tunes, well done Cardiacs, your music is WOW.

[pyenapple]

MAGIC.

[blinder999]

ahhhh genius, haven't heard this for twenty years!

[Cenobite667]

yes me too ... haven`t heard it for ~ 20 years - and it`s still one of the best songs I´ve ever heard.great :)

[PeckhamExile]

Ditto every word of that mate..

[hereandnow1111]

it was played on the tube a few times but never on top of the pops

[longdog253]

What what what! Cut out on the guitar solo! What is going on!!!

[civilians]

i remember Simon Bates & Gary Davies both loving this song- i almost crashed my lorry when i first heard it on Radio 1!!

[cornwallgreendesign]

good enough for me! :(.......

[buddyboy68]

TOTP could never handle cardiacs..........thankfully.

[NB1972]

It's just that I'm a big TOTP fan and also bought "Is This The Life" at the time and I don't remember seeing it on there. It's not listed on the database either. Would have been great to have seen the Cardiacs on TOTP though - especially in the studio :-)

[NB1972]

Yes, I remember the Top 40 breakers but I don't recall seeing this on there. I think it was on The Chart Show on Channel 4 though. Bruno Brookes played it on Radio 1 too :-)

[gehennathehorse]

I was obsessed by Cardiacs at this time, and I am sure my memory is not deceiving me. Is there anyone else out there in YouTubeland who can corfirm whether or not Cardiacs were ever on TOTP (albeit on video for 15 secs)?!;)

[NB1972]

Great song. Wouldn't have been on TOTP though as it only got to No.80.

[gehennathehorse]

Aha! This was at a time when, to try and liven up the charts (and the programme) they introduced a section where they made reference to other tracks that were the highest movers in other charts (e.g indie, dance etc), and therefore possibly bound for the main charts in the coming weeks. They showed a clip of around 15 seconds or so.

[jonwhittall]

It actually made the top 10 in 88.

[FrankTownsend]

Quite simply brilliant!

[Carpet32]

Sigh, what a song!

[SEANORGAN]

Amazing footage - isnt that the old Marquee?