The NoMen Greatest Hits Volume Two Xmas 2006 - it seems like a good time to reflect on the fabulous NoMen! Volume One ended in October 2003 with Topplers Records instructing them to put their feet up and have a rest. But did they? Well, NO! Billy left to concentrate on the Electroluvs, whose mighty Bubblewrapped album was released in 2006 on Ninthwave Records, Cal left to join his dad's band Junkman's Choir who also released their ÒSteel Linin' ChantÓ album in 2006 which left George and Allan with time to collaborate with The Madness of Crowds, Half Satan, The YesMen and Mr Luggs (best heard on the B-Side to his classic ÒNeeby Deep Ma GubbochÓ single released on Topplers). But the spectre of the NoMen still haunted them and, reduced to the original duo of only George and Allan, work re-commenced! (being a duo never affected Batman & Robin, Ralf & Florian, George & Gilbert or even Little & Large!) First up was working with legendary Swell Map and TVP bassist Jowe Head on the 7Ó single Merman Blues/Baby Bounce. (TopTen002) These are the things that make Topplers dreams come true, but more was to follow... The Beautiful Music in Canada asked for a contribution to their Television Personalities tribute CD If I Could Write Poetry. It features Part Time Punks and also, on the special edition, I know where Syd Barret lives. Next up was Steve Treatment's first single since 1979, the 2005 'A' sided 45. It featured ALL the NoMen and a guest appearance from Lana WoMan. The single came out in November 2005 on black vinyl with a luxury fold-out sleeve; how do you top that?
How about a half hour NoMen/Topplers special on New York's East Village Radio (thanks to Tom Dash), Yep, that actually happened! With all this activity it looked like the NoMen had lost track of their original plan to record cover versions of classics from the DIY punk era so they put a request on the Toppler website asking their audience what songs they should cover. A few interesting suggestions were ignored either because they were too obvious or too difficult but they did some nervy renditions of New York, No Wave band DNA and their first 'foreign language' tracks by Metal Urbain and obscure French punk rockers D-Stop (no, neither of the NoMen speak French nor do they have a clue what they are singing!) In 2003 the NoMen had recorded a version of Swell Maps' Cake Shop Girl which proved to be the most popular download on the website. In 2004 Topplers were contacted by a record shop in New York City who were opening up under the name Cake Shop and asked about releasing a 7 single of the track by Jowe Head to mark the occaision! Jowe suggested he use the NoMen's version of the track and add his own vocals which he promptly sent off to NYC then heard... nothing! In the summer of 2006 Allan NoMan was browsing through the Rough Trade online shop and discovered that the single had been released as a split 7Ó with Jowe head and the Nomen on one side and Cause Commotion on the other! (Cape Shok 01) The owners of the shop had overlooked telling either Jowe Head or the Nomen about the single's release (very, very cheeky!) Luckily the sales of Decider and Jowe Head singles from the Rough Trade shop was enough for us to buy ourselves a few copies of this very nice looking 7Ó single. More recordings were done with Jowe which, along with the new version of Cake Shop, appeared on his From a Parallel Universe CD
(Topplers TV010). The lesser known members of Swell Maps also got the Nomen treatment when they covered every track from Phones Sportsman's single and a selection of tracks from Richard Earl's bizarre, avant garde masterpiece The Eggstore Ilk. An infamous night out when George and Allan met Daniel Treacy ended in disgraceful results and hangovers but also inspired the NoMen to record more Television Personalities tracks including a couple from their brand new album! The NoMen's recording of All the Young Children on Crack was recorded and put online within hours of the TVP release and received many favourable comments stating it was better than the original! The first recordings the Nomen made back in 2003 were songs by Steve Treatment and in autumn 2006 thay delved back into Steve's songbook and picked a few more of his tracks to 'NoMenize'. During the recording of the 7Ó single Steve had been busy writing new tracks some of which were taken up by the NoMen and released on the Agnes Moorehead CD (TV012). Steve liked what the band had done to his songs but wanted to get involved personally so Topplers suggested he record them himself and they would do the album as a double! Steve got carried away and recorded over two hours of new songs, old songs and god-knows-what songs, all of which the NoMen edited down to an albums worth and added their own instumentation to Steve's raw acoustic tracks. The double CD will be called the Apprentice of Agnes Moorehead and will see the light of day in early 2007. (BTW Agnes Moorehead was an American actress best known for he portrayal of the mother in Bewitched!) The NoMen recorded a version of the Cult Figures classic Battleship Grey in 2004 which was... crap! In 2006 they planned to record it again with original Cult Figure Gary Jones on vocal but that's still in the pipeline.
On a sad note 2006 has seen some important people taken away; so this compilation is dedicated to Ivor Cutler, Nikki Sudden, Syd Barret and Arthur Lee. We miss you all so much. Right from the NoMen's first cover of a Swell maps song in 2003 Nikki Sudden was a great source of encouragement and humour to the band but it took the Nomen almost two years of being badgered by Nikki before they completed a five track tribute to him. Sadly, he never got to hear it.

Until Volume three, thrill to the Nomen!!!
Spike Dinger,
Topplers archive consultant.

All songs are copyrighted by the original artists and used with permission (well, some are). Recorded in the Topplers Home Studio between 2004 and 2006 except Radar Eyes and She Can Do Magic which were recorded live at Nice'n'Sleazy in Glasgow with vocal overdubbed at THS.
George NoMan - lead vocal, guitars, bontempi organ, percussion, mouth trumpet etc
Allan NoMan - bass, guitars, backing vocal (lead vocal on Stained Sheets) etc
Stephen, Rafe & Brian NoMan play drums, keyboards & guitar on Radar Eyes and She Can Do Magic.
Inspector Blake NoMan synthesised on Panik
Lewis Noman does Showaddywaddy on Xmas Dinner

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swell maps, television personalities, tvp, tvps, steve treatment, nikki sudden, cult figures, daniel treacy, jowe head, richard earl, phones sportsman, biggles books,

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