Guns (album)

Guns
Studio album by Cardiacs
Released	1999
Genre	Art rock, post-punk
Length	45:57
Label	Alphabet Business Concern
Producer	Tim Smith
Cardiacs chronology
Sing to God (1995) Guns (1999) Greatest Hits (2002)

Guns is the eighth studio album by Cardiacs, and their last with Jon Poole. It was recorded and mixed at Apollo 8 in London. After a brief period of unavailability, the album was re-pressed in August 2007 and is once again available on the official "Cardiacs website".

Themes

Some of the song lyrics seem to have been written using 'found' text and the cut-up technique; two known sources are the celebrated Portuguese to English phrasebook English As She Is Spoke (providing e.g. "you mistake yourself heavily" in "Sleep All Eyes Open") and the screenplay of the 1955 film The Night of the Hunter, providing seemingly all of "Clean That Evil Mud Out Your Soul" including the song's title; its chorus, for example, uses "Merciful heaven only knows what unholy sights and sounds all we innocent babes has made in them dens".

Track listing

All songs written by Tim Smith. Riffs and arrangements by Jon Poole and Tim Smith, and additional lyrics by Bob Leith.

1. "Spell With a Shell" - 3:17
2. "There's Good Cud" - 2:17
3. "Wind and Rains Is Cold" - 3:20
4. "Cry Wet Smile Dry" - 3:27
5. "Jitterbug (junior is a)" - 7:31
6. "Sleep All Eyes Open" - 2:58
7. "Come Back Clammy Lammy" - 4:07
8. "Clean That Evil Mud out Your Soul" - 2:25
9. "Ain't He Messy Though" - 2:03
10. "Signs" - 4:25
11. "Song of a Dead Pest" - 2:37
12. "Will Bleed Amen" - 7:30

Personnel

• Tim Smith - Vocals, Guitar and Keyboard
• Jim Smith - Bass and Vocals
• Jon Poole - Guitar, Keyboard and Vocals
• Bob Leith - Drums and Vocals

Additional personnel

• Sarah Smith - Saxophone and Vocals (tracks 1 and 3)
• Joanne Spratley - Vocals (tracks 6 and 7)
• Sharron Saddington - Vocals (tracks 1, 3, 8 and 12)
• Rob Deschamps - Trombone and French Horn

String quartet

• Chris Brierly
• Catherine Morgan
• Mark Pharaoh