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The Frenz Experiment
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Original UK release
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First released 29 February 1988 on Beggars Banquet LP: BEGA91; cassette: BEGC91; and CD: BEGA91CD (later pressings: BBL91CD)
01. Frenz
(Smith, ME)
3:28
My friends
Gonna tell you about my friends:
My friends ain't enough for one hand,
My friends ain't enough for one hand,
My friends don't amount to one hand,
One hand.
My friends don't add up to one hand,
My friends don't amount to one hand,
One hand.
Tell ya 'bout my friends. (Why do you count them?)
My friends don't count up to one hand,
My friends cannot count on one hand.
My friends don't amount to one hand.
Tell ya 'bout my friends.
My friends don't add up to one hand,
My friends don't count up to hand.
Tell ya 'bout my friends.
My friends don't amount to one hand,
My friends don't count up to one hand,
One hand.
Tell ya 'bout my friends.
(Do you count them?)
(How many are there?)
02. Carry Bag Man
(Smith, ME)
4:26
I'm in love with the Carrier Bag Man
I love the Carrier Bag Man X2
Carrier bags strewn all around the room
Ah, the Carrier Bag Man-- I am him
Coz I am the Carrier Bag Man -- I am the carrier bag man
I've no time to sit comfortable down
But I still need armchairs round my home
To put carrier bags on
I am the Carrier Bag Man
Carry a bag man!
I don't make waves, I hide bags in graves
No cash is earned straight nowadays anyways
Please all you onlookers understand
So make gangway for Carrier Bag Man
I am Carrier Bag Man
[megaphone rant]
When in town I keep head down
Kneel on the croft when the mariah comes round
Fat-assed workmen, I scurry around
There's few good places to hide bags behind
Coz I am Carrier Bag Man.
Carry a bag man!
03. Get A Hotel
(Hanley, S/Scanlon/Smith, ME)
4:38
Get a hotel today.
Go get a hotel today.
Go get a hotel today.
Before the idea slips away,
Get a hotel.
Go get a hotel today.
That was the first question raised,
There was a question raised.
Get a hotel
Wanna get in (x2)
But this is not the place to bring it up
Go get a hotel today(x2)
Before the bike siren calls
Times running
Like butter dissolving
Times running, time dissolving,
Times running melting
Times running passing
Its running passing.
Get a hotel today (x2)
She says get a hotel
Ne'er do well
Get a hotel (x2)
Before the bike siren calls
And the horn siren yells
It says
Get a hotel (x2)
You better
Go get a hotel today (x2)
Times running
Times running passing
Times running,
Times running,
It's running it's passing
Like butter melting
Times running, passing, it's running passing
Like flesh cut melting
It's running it's passing times running it's passing dissolving,
I was eating gravel when two cars put in. (x2)
Headlights dousing,
Broken warehouse;
I just got out
Dirt inhaled
The cinders told me,
Ya shoulda got a hotel.
Go get a hotel today. x2
Before the bike siren calls.
And the blood-curdlers yell.
Go get a hotel today.
All thugs use the Burton ploy;
The Lord acts
Around my appeal.
He says get a hotel.
Shoulda!
Go get a hotel today.
Get a hotel.
A little voice yells
should of got a hotel.
Get a hotel.
Go a hotel today.
Get a hotel,
Get a hotel.
04. Victoria
(Davies)
2:45
It was bad, called obscene
And the rich were so mean
Stately homes for the Lords
Golden lawns, village green
Victoria was my queen
Victoria, Victoria, Victoria
I was born, lucky me
In the land that I love
Though I'm poor, I am free
When I go I shall fight
For this land I willl die
Let her sun never set on
Victoria, Victoria, Victoria
Canada to India
Australia to Cornwall
Singapore to Hong Kong
From the West to the East
From the rich to the poor
Victoria loved them all
Victoria, Victoria, Victoria
05. Athlete Cured
(Smith, ME)
5:51
Look under
Look under
From the hotbed of creation
in dreamstate.
The cure, bulletin, zeitung
Was in no pill.
Look under.
The cure was in no pill.
The German athletic star was continually ill.
For months doctors were puzzled.
The star would complain of the smell in his room.
On visiting him this was found to be true.
An odour resembling hot-dogs permeated the whole bedroom.
A solution was only discovered by my closely
watching his brother Gert.
Gert was handsome, well-meaning, but slightly a careless type.
Not malicious, I hope you understand and grasp.
No chance.
But on returning from his clerical job, Gert
would park his Volkswagen at the end of the day
willy-nilly in the driveway, usually the wrong way round,
so that the exhaust fumes would flow upwards right through
the open windows of the athletic star's upstairs bedroom.
(carburettor)
I also discovered that Gert would turn his engine
over for up to an hour. I don't know why.
Citizens in my street are also
partial to this.
Look under.
The cure was in no pill.
Obtaining a new parking space for Gert's motor-car, athletic star soon
recovered.
Unfortunately, this being East Germany,
Gert patriotically volunteered to be sent on a labor
beautification course of the countryside north-west of Dresden.
And never seen again.
And never seen again.
Look under.
The cure was in no pill.
Had to look under the window sill.
The window sill.
Look under.
The cure was in no pill.
Had to look under the window sill.
The window sill.
From certain facts you have to go on and further
and often it is better to go around or look under.
the windowsill
etc..
etc..
06. In These Times
(Smith, ME)
3:25
A flat season - vision gone
Picture frame it and say so long
My Aqua-cat is where it's at and new to mammal range
Buy you know it would never suit, territories alpine
In These Times - Meeowww
In These Times - Fishcat Mother
In This Time - Spectral Filter
In These Times - A Feline Nutter
In these times
A Man down South, he did go out and he did kill fifteen
What the papers could not grasp or work out, was his life
in a Flea brain
In These Times - Universal Tepid
In These Times - Stagnant Mind
In This Time - And in these times
These Times - They're both the same
Diluted Jesuits pour out of mutual walkmans
From Elland Road to Venice Pensions and down
the Autobahns
In This Time - If That's it I'm leaving
In These Times - Leave this planet fast
In These Times - It affects my sleeping
In This Time - My dreams are one to miss
Ones to be avoiding
In times like this
I often hope in days ahead my gossamer front gates
will keep out the trash in which my psychic streets' emershed
In These Times - Spectral Filter
In These Times - In Your Midst
In These Times - This song's a belter
In This Time - For times like this
In These Times - I picture framed pre-teen rap gangs,
with alsatians, Scapa flow steel became
inexpensive
A first season - vision gone
Picture frame it - and say so long
They say 'Give up Buster' - cram it down
But I grow stronger, and break their Midszzzzzzzz
07. The Steak Place
(Smith, ME/Smith, B)
3:56
Head down
Head down
Head, head, head down.
Fool of the Commonwealth drove down there,
Down turnpike;
Desperate for food desperate for respite.
The steak place.
The steak place
Cheap carpet lines the way
Aluminium tack door handles
Candelabra lions head
Via butchers display too.
The steak place (x2)
Via a carcass row
Things are brought forward and eaten,
I see the corners filled with hitmen,
Two young lawyers they are whispering, in
The steak place (x2)
I wanna stay here,
I don't wanna go anywhere,
I could remain here,
Head down
Head down
Head down
Head, head, head down
The steak place (x2)
I'd stop the automation,
I'd sit behind dusty lace,
I have a word with hitmen,
I give off a beatific face.
The steak place (x2)
From New York City run screaming,
Into New England states,
Combined a man not should have to do this,
A man should not use his fist in
The steak place.
The steak place.
I wanna stay here,
I don't wanna go anywhere,
I shall remain here.
08. Bremen Nacht
(Smith, ME)
7:00
Something happened in Bremen, I know
Something I don't want to
Something under the ceiling muttered
Something in its steel shutters
Underlining my usual timing
Aligning casual set-list
And it aligned?
Knowing where right room is
I was more than usual pissed
Was first ashamed at bruise on wrist
Was then annoyed at skin-patch on back
Then I did myself acquit
On Bremen Nacht
Ich leave real quick das Bremen Nacht
Ich rausum mach aus bremen nacht
Ich rausum mach das bremen nacht
Ic-raus-Mach-Schnell aus das bremen nicht
Ich-aus Schnell mach sas bremen nacht
Ich Mach Schnell pack und aus das bremen nacht
Ich raus schnell mach von bremen nacht [1]
The child's four-fingered bruises on my hip
Meant I had been one day possessed
Right through Bremen Nacht
Right on to Bremen Tag
The sunlit Bremen day
By Tonsillitis size train station Hof
Could only in one way fail to impress
This on drinks door I did lay
I had been one day possessed
Ich rausum mach aus bremen nacht
Thank God skin-patch is nearly gone
And the impress of fingers dead
Have disappeared and left me alone
That's one night I didna put jackboots on
Don't want to end reflection
It's still there, though I am gone
And it will be a long long long time gone
before my spirit will in accident
go back and come from Bremen Nacht
go back and come from Bremen Nacht
Note: [1] These phrases are corrupted German for approximately "I must quickly leave the Night of Bremen!"
09. Guest Informant (excerpt)
(Hanley, S/Scanlon/Smith, ME)
0:39
Baghdad/Space Cog/Analyst [1]
You'll never guess who informed
It was Craig and Steve
The stool pigeons, cha-cha-cha-cha...
Guest informant, guest informant
Guest informant, guest informant
I followed the colonel to the cheap hotel,
I tapped the beds
I wired the phones as well,
Colonel Boggs Maroley was his mantle
Had not counted on
I had not counted on
Guest Informant, guest informant
I've been split on, I've been touted on,
I had not counted on Guest Informant
In the burning scorch of another Sunday over
The miserable Scottish hotel,
Resembled a Genesis or Marillion, 1973 LP cover
All the hotel staff had been dismissed,
It was me, the Hoover, and the O. A. P.s
Asked: Could he turn killer?
Thought: could I kill him?
Pondered: Or is he itinerant?
But I guess he's just a cog analyst
Guest informant, guest informant
Baghdad/Space Cog/Analyst.
I could not comprehend, I could not understand
Had not counted on, I had not counted all
Guest informant, guest informant
I've been split by a first-grade moron
And I had not counted on, I had not counted on
Guest informant, guest informant
Guest informant, guest informant
I've been let down, by a first-grade moron
And I could not comprehend
Had not counted on
Guest informant, guest informant
Note: [1] This line is a topic of much contention. Sean Russell advised on 14 February 1996: "I wrote to Cog Sinister with a pile of questions, one of them being what the hell Brix was saying [in "Guest Informant"]. Lucy [Rimmer] wrote back and said she asked Brix, who said the phrase was "Baghdad/Space Cog/Analyst"
10. Oswald Defence Lawyer
(Hanley, S/Smith, ME)
5:59
How could he cope with the flashing-by past?
Through my vid-earphone amp I had to tap
I relate the tract
Oswald Defense Lawyer
Oswald Defense Lawyer
Embraces the scruffed corpse [1] of the Mark Twain
Oswald Defense Lawyer
How do you think that jury made up of putrid mass
Embraced theory of triangle bullet lines
Turning in circles twice,
Then incredible, marvelous, exiting back of mind?
And Oswald's Defense Lawyer
Embraces scruffed corpse of Mark Twain
Oswald Defense Lawyer
Embraces scruffed corpse of Walt Whitman
Oswald Defense Lawyer
Embraces the scruffed corpse of Mark Twain
Decent lawyer fishes in buckskin hat
Raccoons drown beneath his embarking mass
When he sees CIA shit flying over head fast
Goody goody looks up
In cloudless sky enhancing theory of zig-zag bulletline
Oswald Defense Lawyer
Embraces the scruffed corpse of the Mark Twain
He's liberal and insane,
He caught the good news horse
His opposite is vain
The cardboard fake in the witness stand
He's got an interview in Spin magazine
He loves the magazine
His mouth is in his brain
The prosecution lawyer
Turns himself to butter
Oswald Defense Lawyer
Oswald Defense Lawyer
Embraces the scruffed corpse of Walt Whitman
Cheap rifle photo touched up
Drawn on sky
Oswald's head added on a commie tie
While Oswald Defense Lawyer
Embraces the scuffed corpse of Mark Twain
(LP side 1: tracks 1-5; LP side 2: tracks 6-10)
The cassette and CD versions included the bonus tracks:
11. Bremen Nacht Run Out
(Smith, ME)
4:44
12. Guest Informant
(Hanley, S/Scanlon/Smith, ME)
5:47
13. Tuff Life Booogie
(Hanley, S/Smith, ME/Smith, B)
2:44
14. Twister
(Smith, ME/Smith, B)
5:07
15. Bremen Nacht Alternative
(Smith, ME)
9:19
16. There's A Ghost In My House
(Dozier/Holland/Holland/R. Dean Taylor)
2:37
17. Hit The North Part 1
(Rogers/Smith, ME/Smith, B)
4:00
(Cassette side 1: tracks 1-5, tracks 11-12; side 2: tracks 6-10, tracks 13-14)
(CD: tracks 1-7, track 15, tracks 9-10, tracks 13, 12, 14, 16, 17)
Track 11 comes from the free single "Bremen Nacht Run Out" (see notes below); tracks 12-14 come from the Victoria single; track 15 is an alternate recording of track 8; track 16 comes from the single There's A Ghost In My House; track 17 comes from the Hit The North single.
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Credits
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Mark E Smith - vocals, keyboards
Brix Smith - guitar, vocals
Craig Scanlon - guitar, vocals
Steve Hanley - bass, vocals
Marcia Schofield - keyboards, vocals
Simon Wolstencroft - drums, vocals
With:
Simon Rogers - guitar, saxophone, keyboards
Produced by: Simon Rogers (tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 13, 14, 17); Grant Showbiz (tracks 2, 6, 8, 9, 16); Dian Barton (tracks 12, 15); Ian Grimble (track 11)
Engineered by: Ian Grimble and Dian Barton
Cover artwork: Paul Cox
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Recording info & notes
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Recorded at Abbey Road, London; Brixton and Manchester mid-late 1987.
Initial pressings of the LP came with a free 7" single "Bremen Nacht Run Out" featuring Bremen Nacht Run Out (4:40) and Mark'll Sink Us (4:42) (see image gallery for record labels). The LP cover has the album title in gold lettering, the CD has red lettering (see image gallery). The CD was re-pressed in 1990 and 1997 as a budget price release with a different catalogue number (BBL91CD), but the tracklisting and cover artwork remained the same as the original CD. The album was remastered and released as part of the 2013 5 CD box set, 5 Albums.
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Overseas releases
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The US LP release on Beggars Banquet/RCA (6987-1-H) and German LP on SPV/Rebel (SPV 08-1418) have track 17 as an additional track at the start of side 2. The US CD release on Beggars Banquet/RCA (6987-2-H) follows the same tracklisting as the US LP, it does not include any of the extra tracks added to the UK CD release. The German CD on SPV/Rebel (SPV 85-1420) follows the expanded UK CD tracklisting.
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