This from Beggars Banquet Internet Site

["Huw Dylan Owen" <huwdylan@gl...screaming.net>]

 "total poetic guitar-bejewelled rock'n'roll folk art let's dance godstar
unalloyed alcoholic genius" -- Select
The Blue Aeroplanes burst out of Bristol in 1984, a pyrotechnic blur of
dulcimers, bagpipes, turntables, dancing and lots of guitars, all bound
together in tendrils of freeform poetry. Many came and were bewildered,
but
for a select few they were a revelation, and the debut LP Bop Art was a
source of comfort in trying musical times.

Bop Art - "angry, sad, beautiful, rewarding, and bursting with very real
emotion" NME

It soon became apparent that The Blue Aeroplanes were not going to take
much
notice of the rule-book. The line-up was - and remains - in a constant
state
of flux, coalescing and dissolving around the core of Vocalist /
Poet-In-Residence Gerard Langley and Dancer Wojtek Dmochowski. Various
instruments and sound-textures have appeared and disappeared -
hurdy-gurdy,
banjo, mandolin, harmonica, French horn, and espinette de vosges all made
fleeting contributions to The Blue Aeroplanes' sonic vortex before being
swept away in the endless onrush of personnel and ideas. At the last
count,
twenty-nine people have passed through the ranks of the band.

Remaining with Fire for most of the eighties, The Blue Aeroplanes
gradually
expanded their audience with a string of acclaimed records and a cast-iron
reputation for awesome live work. The critics were relentlessly won over.

Tolerance - "This album is the hardest, the most musical of victories"
Melody Maker

Spitting Out Miracles - "This could be the best left-field British pop
album
of the year" The Independent

The Blue Aeroplanes demonstrated their casual brilliance and embarrassment
of riches on Friendloverplane, a collection of lost and obscure tracks
which
was as well received as their albums proper.

Friendloverplane - "a trove of guitar bliss, a double album compendium of
transports" Melody Maker

In 1989, the band signed a new deal with Ensign, and gained a new audience
by touring the UK with long-time admirers REM. Those who witnessed the
fourteen-guitar finale at the Hammersmith Odeon - where Stipe, Buck,
Berry,
Mills, half the road crew, and an assortment of music journalists joined
the
band on-stage for Breaking In My Heart - still speak in hushed tones.
Fresh
from this live triumph, The band headed for the studio, and began work on
the superlative Swagger LP.

Swagger - "the most exhilarating live band in the country have at last
completed a long-playing record of incomparable genius" Melody Maker

Swagger became the band's biggest critical and commercial success to date,
and indicated that, by steering clear of fashions and styles to develop an
idiosyncratic and distinctive body of work, the band had achieved far more
than contemporaries with less integrity. Bolstered by their new-found
success and recognition, the band headed for LA to record the follow up to
Swagger, entitled Beatsongs.

Beatsongs - "the best album to bear a UK postmark in a long, long time"
Select

Things had clearly been proceeding too smoothly, though. Ensign records
were
swamped by Chrysalis, and it took two years of protracted negotiations for
the band to extricate themselves from what now seemed like an
unsympathetic
contract. Life Model, the LP recorded during that period, finally found an
appreciative home at Beggars Banquet, and made its delayed appearance
early
in 1994. In the meantime, Ensign had put together a compilation -
Friendloverplane 2 (Up In A Down World) which gathered together another
assortment of hidden gems.

Friendloverplane 2 - "a bona fide treat ... a vital collection" Select

Life Model - "at least their third consecutive stone cool classic album"
NME

And suddenly, The Blue Aeroplanes had been defying logic for ten years. To
celebrate - another album, natch. Plus some chaotic and memorable live
shows
where the 1994 line-up were joined by the 1984 line-up to wreak havoc on
London's Mean Fiddler.

Rough Music - "that most rare of things: a casually challenging, genuinely
rewarding and hugely enjoyable album." Time Out

"The Blue Aeroplanes will be our most fascinating band in the next decade"
Sounds 1990

So, Gerard's quixotic poetic stream continues to flow unabated, Wojtek
remains an on-stage blur of grace and frenzy, and the three guitar line-up
still conjure a multi-timbral blast of sound like no other band. As the
1995
European Tour blends into the festival season, the Blue Aeroplanes are :

Gerard Langley - Words / Vocals

John Wygens - Guitar

Max Noble - Guitar

Rodney Allen - Guitar

Jake Kyle - Bass

Graham Russell - Drums

Wojtek Dmochowski - Dancing




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