Run for Home: Lindisfarne's "Mercury Years" Collected on Box from Cherry Red, Lemon

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With a sound melding harmony vocals to soaring folk-rock, Newcastle upon Tyne band Lindisfarne released three studio albums - including the 1972 breakthrough Fog on the Tyne, which spent 56 weeks on the U.K. Albums Chart - before splintering. Two-fifths of the band carried on with new members for a pair of albums in 1973-74, but by '75, the group had called it a day. Then, in 1978, they were back. The album was cheekily entitled Back and Fourth, referring to the fact that the originals had only recorded three albums and this was their fourth (even if it was the sixth to bear the Lindisfarne name). The cover also featured a photograph of the island of Lindisfarne, off the coast of Northumberland, for which the band was named. The reformed group stayed at its new home of Mercury Records for two studio albums and one live set; now, all three of those albums have been collected on the box set Brand New Day: The Mercury Years 1978-1979 from Cherry Red's Lemon Recordings imprint.

The box set opens with a re-jiggered version of the band's 1978 live album Magic in the Air, primarily recorded on December 24, 1977 at Newcastle City Hall. Chief songwriter Alan Hull (vocals/guitar/keyboards), Ray Jackson (vocals/mandolin/harmonica), Rod Clements (bass/violin/vocals), Simon Cowe (guitar/mandolin/banjo/keyboards/vocals), and Ray Laidlaw (drums) had first reunited a year earlier for a Christmas concert, and it was so successful that they were once again invited to electrify their hometown audience. This time, the concerts led to a full-fledged reactivation of Lindisfarne. The bandmates' musical chemistry hadn't deteriorated; in fact, Laidlaw, Clements, and Cowe had played together in Jack the Lad, and Laidlaw had played with Hull on his solo releases. Magic in the Air displays their tight connection both vocally and instrumentally as they reprised cuts from all three of their original Charisma albums. However, this presentation of Magic in the Air differs from the original version released on Mercury and reissued in 2012 by Cherry Red's Esoteric Recordings imprint. Some onstage chatter has been eliminated, and at least three songs ("Lady Eleanor," "Meet Me on the Corner," and "Clear White Light") have been sourced from a subsequent, post-Mercury era concert released as Caught in the Act.

CD 2 presents an expanded Back and Fourth. After courting the likes of George Martin and Glyn Johns, the distinguished Gus Dudgeon (Elton John, David Bowie) was tapped to produce the LP. Ray Laidlaw recalls in the liner notes that none of the songs were written expressly for the album; instead, they'd been presented to Dudgeon from the bandmates' own backlogs of material. Dudgeon immediately took a liking to Alan Hull's "Run for Home," correctly identifying it as a hit. (It reached the top ten in the U.K. and the top 40 in the U.S., while also charting in Australia and Canada.) Its slick pop-rock sound was removed from the group's rootsier beginnings, but its success was undeniable. Dudgeon had encouraged a more pop-leaning, almost "American" sound for the quintessentially British band, and they dabbled in genres from country to R&B on the record. Back and Fourth has been expanded with nine bonus tracks including non-LP B-sides, alternate versions, and even some later-period singles. (Note that the bonus track "Reunion" is absent; in its place is "Loving Around the Clock" from the same rarities collection on which "Reunion" previously appeared.)

Surprisingly, Gus Dudgeon wasn't tapped to return for The News, Lindisfarne's next album. Rod Clements recalled in the liner notes that the producer was too expensive, and he was "unconvinced about the band's current songwriting (probably fairly enough)." When he offered demos from other writers with whom he was associated, the group balked. They turned instead to Hugh Murphy, best-known for his work with Gerry Rafferty, to co-produce with the band. Ray Jackson remembered that they were encouraged to use more electronic instruments, such as drum machines and string synths, to give the album a contemporary sheen, but the songwriting wasn't up to the standards of Back and Fourth (as Dudgeon had feared). Lemon has expanded it with the single version of "Easy and Free" (though the positions of the single and album versions have been inadvertently swapped) and ten previously unreleased, audience-sourced recordings from a live gig at Newcastle City Hall in 1979.

The clamshell case includes a 24-page booklet with an oral history of the recordings from Ray Laidlaw, Rod Clements, and Ray Jackson as well as various photos and memorabilia. Each disc is housed in a paper sleeve replicating the original front and back cover artwork of the corresponding LP. Simon Murphy has remastered all audio. Though it lacks the original Magic in the Air, this set features the most generously expanded editions of Back and Fourth and The News. It's available now from Cherry Red and Lemon at the links below! As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Lindisfarne, Brand New Day: The Mercury Years 1978-1979 (Cherry Red/Lemon CDLEM3BOX251, 2024) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: Magic in the Air (originally released as Mercury LP 6641 877, 1978)

Lady Eleanor (*)
Road to Kingdom Come
Turn a Deaf Ear
January Song
Court in the Act
No Time to Lose
Winter Song
Uncle Sam
Wake Up Little Sister
All Fall Down
Meet Me on the Corner (*)
Bye Bye Birdie
Train in G Minor
Scarecrow Song
Dingley Dell
Scotch Mist
We Can Swing Together
Fog on the Tyne
Clear White Light (*)

(*) previously included on Caught in the Act, Castle CCSCD 346, 1992

CD 2: Back and Fourth (originally released as Mercury LP 7231 426, 1978)

Juke Box Gypsy
Warm Feeling
Woman
Only Alone
Run for Home
Kings Cross Blues
Get Wise
You and Me
Marshall Riley's Army
Angels at Eleven
Makes Me Want to Stay
Stick Together
When It Gets the Hardest
Brand New Day
Run for Home (Short Version)
See How They Run (Hangover Records HANG 9-B, 1981)
Juke Box Gypsy (Single Version)
Warm Feeling (Mono)
Happy or Sad (Demo)
Reunion (Demo) (actually Loving Around the Clock, from Buried Treasures Vol. 2, Virgin CDVM 9013, 1992)