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Ocean Head

by Latin Quarter

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1.
NO MAN’S LAND (Dunsford/Harewood/Jones) For all the trees I couldn’t see the wood Then all the wood got set alight. A single spark and love went up in smoke And still it burns into the night You ran me ragged and you scattered me Like leaves sent spinning in the fall Indifference blowing like a desert wind There’s nothing growing here at all I’m here in no man’s land I’m lost in no man’s land Can’t find a helping hand Out here in no man’s land I’m here in no man’s land I’m lost in no man’s land No one can understand This is no man’s land Since you left I’m like a town closed down The streets are choked with tumbleweed I’m working out at the abandoned mine For half the money I don’t need OK you never promised me a Shangri-La You never offered me paradise But where I am I just don’t want to be It’s hard as nails and cold as ice. It’s a lost horizon You’ve left me nothing To set my sights on But an empty runway and an unpaid fare In a window seat on a plane to nowhere.
2.
LEGALISE IT (THE MAKING OF AL CAPONE) (Skaith) It was the making of Al Capone And we are down the prohibition road again History laughing in our faces Farce and tragedy rolled into one Can’t we bring some sense to bear? Can’t we bring some sense to bear on this? Can’t we bring some sense to bear on this? Legalise it. So much money to go around and round For politicians, policemen, warders and the rest A head rolls bloody across a disco floor ‘Plata o plomo’, corruption or death Maria’s full of grace and now something more Sees the chance to raise her family up Feeling sick as the plane comes into land Hope the bag don’t break, pray to your Virgin, trust your luck. This is no stoner song Is no hymn to getting wasted But if something goes so very wrong Must be time to change it. Must be time to change it It was the making of Al Capone And Joseph Kennedy too I hear History laughing in our faces Farce and tragedy rolled into one
3.
MISS TEEN USA SOUTH CAROLINA (Skaith / Jones) Miss Teen USA South Carolina Had something to say in her pearls and eye-liner Something to say to the world out there The world beyond Charleston, a world full of care But the words wouldn’t work, they were badly behaved And her something to say just couldn’t be saved. Miss Teen USA, South Carolina In a gingham bikini, a long way from China Stamps her neat foot to wake up the U.S. And takes up her sword, the pageant princess Then the words start to fall, into places they fit And a crowd gathers round, all lickety-spit They have pride on their minds and taxes to kill And they’re taking their anger to Capitol Hill Miss Teen USA, South Carolina Won’t take out the trash or work in a diner She leads from the front in her dream to restore What she dreams that her country enjoyed years before And the words start to whip, and the crowds starts to shriek ‘Health care and welfare, it just makes us weak’ And they’re sure of their maker, and sure of their rights They have Gabrielle Giffords trained in their sights And spare me the law-suit, spare the sermon There’s always a crowd behind every lone gunman. In the land of the free, nothing is finer Than a stumbling speech from Miss Teen USA, South Carolina
4.
EVEN SUPERMAN (Skaith/Jones) Even Superman, even Superman is dead But there’s still bucks to be built out of the rubble where he bled Take his cape and cut it into squares And sell it long to uncertain people to show them someone cares Take the kryptonite and bury it in lead Tell the world, tell the world that doesn’t wait Tell the world that even Superman is dead. Take his bright insignia take his gold and molten shield Prepare your eyes for the sight of all the dread that it conceals. Take Metropolis, take his love for Lois Lane And ask ourselves why the hell we thought he’d ever kept us sane. Even Superman’s no more But can you answer the question ‘What did we invent him for?’ Even Superman’s expired Too weak to wrestle with the world that he inspired
5.
Unwind 03:31
UNWIND (Dunsford/Harewood/Jones) You measured by certainties that didn’t exist You accepted forever when you barely had kissed In a town at a time of a peace that no-one could find The silk mills, the anthills, the tendrils, Began to Unwind You were keeping your balance but losing your feet Living the gulf between a drum and a beat It never stopped running, the blood of the contract you signed The weak wills, the nerve pills, the treadmills, Began to Unwind You knew how many fractures make up a big break But it took without giving and left you to shake Forging ahead but somehow always falling behind The cheap thrills, the stand stills, the bar bills, Began to Unwind A lover too late after a premature wife Touching the limits of a limitless life In the teeth of a gale as it bit and started to grind The saw mills, the drink spills, the untils, Began to Unwind You measured by certainties you only invented In a life that you paid for but still only rented You figured that leaving was kinder than being unkind The wind chills, the windmills, the free wills, Began to Unwind
6.
WALKING ON THE WING (Skaith/Jones) * I thought you were an angel, when I heard you sing, I thought you were a rock to which a drowning man could cling I thought you were the nectar, I thought I was the sting I thought you were the pilot, you were walking on the wing. It’s only fleeting, we’re only passing through I know it feels like endless, but we’re waiting for the cue Yes we have to live it, live by each mistake Sometimes we even call it right, but mostly we just ache The first ten times it happened, I thought it was ‘coincidence’ But then I sensed a pattern, and I lost my confidence You try so hard to change it, but it laughs in your face ‘til the only choice that’s left you, is to lose it all with grace Walking on the wing I said I’d be there when you fell But I could not break your fall because Cos I could not break your spell. Oh no I could not break your spell.
7.
IF I BELIEVED IN GOD (Skaith) A bomb drops on some wedding party But these aren’t people we count worthy Un-named, unimportant, in some non-place Brown skins usually. More settlements on the West Bank And evictions in Jerusalem Such righteous men with their righteous wars And their righteous talks of peace. If I believed in God I would ask him Could we start all over again That’s what I would ask him If I believed in God I would ask him Could we start all over again That’s what I would ask him….. Do without the kings and those who strive To live above the rest And can ‘truth’ mean what it says And not what power thinks is best. No serpent please nor all the fear Of women, sex and love And not worship men Who once would sacrifice their only son. More and more I turn away from so much I know is true Turn right to the back page And bury myself in transfer news Don’t want to hear about some woman stoned Or blasphemer running for his life Many now they do fight back But I deny is how I survive.
8.
LOVE CAN SOMETIMES FALL (Skaith/Racklin/Johnson) Sometimes I forget I no longer share your bed I can only touch you like a friend But I like this man you’re with now, seems you’ve been making plans Like the ones maybe we once had. So restless, restless you In this endless mystery. And love, oh love, How love can sometimes fall. And love, oh love, Can sometimes fall. Had a dream last night a pretty clear dream One of the clearest dreams that I have ever had You put your hands on my eyes you said ‘Guess who?’ I guessed you You said you were coming back. I think I tried to believe you You remain this perfect mystery I sit and watch as time just passes me now Getting faster every hour , every second, every day Try to work out all the things that came between us But I don’t buy this shite they talk about ‘Mars and Venus’ I think no one here knows very much at all. Now, forever, sickness, and in health All the promises we made And then came all the sleepless nights Waiting for your footsteps on the street outside. Once thought I’d always love you I guess you thought the same thing too.
9.
THE LAST FLIGHT OF DAG HAMMARSKJOLD (Skaith/Jeffries/Jones) There’s a plane across the moon As a nation finds its feet There are listening posts in Cyprus That can track a man’s heart-beat There’s a plane across the moon As a nation holds its breath There are trades on hold in London Waiting on Lumumba’s death You say ‘Yeah, but that was then and this is now, That was then,’ But now is made up of then, Now is made up of then, Again, again; again, again. There’s a plane across the moon As a nation spreads its wings There are cables out of Washington In code a darkness brings There’s a plane across the moon As a nation leaves the nest Just send the thugs some dollars And greed will do the rest Planes and moons let business take its course The infant state must suffocate, no profit in remorse Moons make planes much easier to sight Some damage is collateral, Dag Hammarskjöld’s last flight
10.
ANOTHER NIGHTS BROKEN GLASS (Skaith/Jones) Another night's broken glass what was it this time? Was it the last of the free-gift champagne flutes from the filling station? Was it the wedding present tray, engraved 'Congratulations' ? Was it the snow scene coliseum from Corinne's room ? Must have been most of the downstairs lights judging by the gloom. Or the wall clock, or the mixing bowl or the living room's sliding door No. It must have been the mirror, We can't see ourselves anymore. Another night's broken glass, hey watch where you're walking Take a deep breath before you sweep the mess, break out the sticking plaster. Retrieve the bracket from the timepiece, is it ticking faster? As the vacuum sucks the splinters in, they tear the sack. The ship's broken out of the bottle and it won't be sailing back. Not to this typhoon, to this River Plate, to this act of piracy Where all the salty renegades are really you and me. A man is a ship of glass tossed in a sea of terror We don't need these metaphysics spelling out the error As you crack a composition of soda, lime and sand And you curse the old Phoenicians as it cuts into you hand Another night's broken glass what was it this time? Another night's broken glass what was it this time? Was it the snow scene coliseum from Corinne's room ? Must have been most of the downstairs lights judging by the gloom. Or the wall clock, or the mixing bowl or the living room's sliding door No. It must have been the mirror, We can't see ourselves anymore. Another night's broken glass.
11.
Ocean Head 04:05
OCEAN HEAD (Skaith/Jones) We start so small there’s so much to us Who builds the wall we can never rise above? But I can tear them down for you Tear them down, but I’m not going to drown for you Someone rocked you on the deep Someone rocked you off to sleep Now I’m rocking you awake How much rocking can you take? Rock you ready now to walk the waves instead Wake up, wake up ocean head We work so hard, we live for working Where are the stars? If we could only raise our heads But I can hand them down to you Hand them down but I’m not going to drown for you. Let the sea come crashing in in Let it take you up again Let it pound upon your shore Let it’s love become your law But it can’t wash out whatever came before. We are so wise but there’s no one listening Who starts the lies that keep us prisoners But I can burn them down for you Burn them down, but I’m not going to drown for you.

about

‘…one of the most exquisite albums to ever come out of England.’

That is how the New York Daily News described ‘Modern Times’ the debut album of the group Latin Quarter in 1986. In Germany too it was received with great enthusiasm and went on to sell nearly 250.000 copies. In total, Latin Quarter made 6 critically acclaimed albums before finally splitting up in 1998.

Now, five of the original band members are back together with a new acoustic-pop album, entitled "Ocean Head". The album, to be released in Europe on February 17, 2012, contains 10 new and 1 older song, and combines the political and the personal themes for which Latin Quarter have always been renowned.

credits

released February 17, 2012

Engineered, produced mixed and mastered by Steve Jeffries.

Greg Harewood - bass
Yona Dunsford - vocals
Steve Jeffries - keyboards and backing vocals
Steve Skaith - guitar and vocals
Mike Jones – lyrics

Latin Quarter photos by Claudia J. Diaz Garcia
Artwork by Neomania Design
(c) 2012 Westpark Music, www.WestparkMusic.de

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Latin Quarter UK

Latin Quarter are celebrating the 40th anniverary of their 'Modern Times'-album this year. They first burst onto the scene with their singles "Radio Africa" and "New Millionaires" – songs that stayed for months in the German single charts in the 80s. The band split up in 1998. In 2011 five of the original musicians got together again. 7 new albums released after this reunion. . ... more

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