Nick Garrie

Nick Garrie is renowned in psychedelic enthusiasts’ circles for his 1970 debut, The Headache of J.B. Stanislas, a Baroque pop masterpiece efficiently buried by non-existent distribution and advertising. Given birth to June 22, 1949, in Yorkshire, Britain, to some Russian dad and Scottish mom, Garrie spent nearly all his adolescence in a French boarding college. He began composing songs while going to Warwick University or college, but his passions primarily place in surrealist books and poetry and he do mount a carrying out profession until 1968, playing pubs and restaurants while backpacking with the south of France. After playing many high-profile Amsterdam gigs, Garrie came back to St. Tropez, where he authorized to slice an LP in Brussels. The task continues to be unreleased, and in past due summer time of 1969 he finally came back to Warwick to continue his studies. Several months later a pal of his mom organized for Garrie to meet up using the Paris-based label DiscAZ, which prolonged a contract present. After documenting the never-released solitary “Queen of Spades” with American-born maker Mickey Baker (of “Like Is Unusual” popularity), he teamed with maker Eddie Vartan to begin with focus on The Headache of J.B. Stanislas. Against Garrie’s desires, Vartan employed a 56-piece symphony for the classes, and the designer (otherwise the record’s admirers) afterwards bemoaned the harmful ramifications of such lush orchestration on his sensitive, uncommonly literate music. Far more harming, DiscAZ leader Lucien Morisse dedicated suicide within times of launching The Problem of J.B. Stanislas, guaranteeing the record never even still left the beginning blocks. A crestfallen Garrie came back to college, abandoning the music business for quite some time. Beneath the alias Nick Hamilton (a nod to his mother’s maiden name), he resurfaced in 1976 with “El Quick de Vie,” a cooperation with Francis Lai, but once again retired from executing to control a ski holiday resort within the Swiss Alps. Oblivious to the developing notoriety from the Problem of J.B. Stanislas, he maintained the Nick Hamilton name for his 1984 return effort, Suitcase Guy, recorded with previous Kitty Stevens sidemen Alun Davies and Gerry Conway. The record topped the Spanish pop graphs, and gained its originator an opening slot machine on Leonard Cohen’s Spanish tour afterwards that year. Once the Stanislas monitor “Steering wheel of Lot of money” made an appearance on Phil Smee’s important psychedelic pop obscurities compilation Circus Times, the star of Nick Garrie grew, with therefore little concrete home elevators his profession the fanzine 117 released a fabricated biography being a prank. Nevertheless, the gag was dropped on many as well as the bio was recognized as fact in lots of quarters, additional muddying the waters. While working a ballooning firm, he released another Nick Hamilton LP, 1994’s The Playing Areas, and in 2002 — after time for France to instruct at a thorough college — released Twelve Aged Tunes. Finally, in past due 2005 the English reissue label Rev-Ola released The Headache of J.B. Stanislas to very much essential acclaim, adding the “Queen of Spades” solitary in addition to many unreleased Belgian demos once and for all measure.