A.K.A. – A Young Person’s Guide To “I Love My Friends”

Here’s some great news for fans of songwriter Stephen Duffy. His 1997-1998 album “I Love My Friends” is getting a third lease on life. The 1997 issue on Indolent Records [as seen at left] barely made it out to the wilds before being withdrawn and the album was reissued the next year on Cooking Vinyl instead. I managed to snag the Indolent copy on the early days of eBay back when I actually bid on records and CDs there! [a fair two decades ago]

What we didn’t know back then was that the label didn’t have the confidence to release the album that Duffy had recorded, and he was admonished to go back into the studio with Lilac Time producer Andy Partridge to got some “single ready” material. So “You Are” and “What If I Fell In Love With You” replaced material in the original running order before the Indolent much less Cooking Vinyl versions reached the fans. I can’t say anything bad about the sumptuous pop of “You Are,” a song that ranks among the finest I’d ever heard from Duffy in what was then a dozen years of fandom.

1998 version

Cooking Vinyl ‎| UK | CD | COOK CD144 | 1998

Stephen Duffy: I Love My Friends UK CD [1998]

1. Tune In
2. Eucharist
3. 17
4. Lover’s Beware
5. You Are
6. The Deal
7. She Belongs To All
8. Autopsy
9. What If I Fell In Love With You
10. Something Good
11. Twenty Three
12. The Postcard
13. One Day One Of These F***s Will Change Your Life

In 2001, I was in Toronto shopping and found the Canadian “You Are” 5-track single.

Page Music ‎| CAN | CD5 | D1379 | 1998

Stephen Duffy: You Are CAN CD5 [1998]

1. You Are
2. 17
3. House Of Flowers
4. In The Evening Of Her Day
5. Comedown

Years later I saw on Discogs that there had been a 3xCD issue of “17” on Indolent though I have never been able to source these releases.

Indolent Records ‎| UK | CD5 #1 | DUFF 006 CD1 | 1997

Stephen Duffy: 17 [CD #1] UK CD5 [1997]

1. 17
2. Mao Badge
3. Comedown
4. Hey Kat

Indolent Records ‎| UK | CD5 #2 | DUFF 006 CD2 | 1997

Stephen Duffy: 17 [CD #2] UK CD5 [1997]

1. 17
2. House Of Flowers
3. Barbarellas
4. Hanging Around

Indolent Records ‎| UK | CD5 #3| DUFF 006 CD3 | 1997

Stephen Duffy: 17 [CD #3] UK CD5 [1997]

1. 17
2. Holding Hands With Grace
3. In The Evening Of Her Day
4. A Darling Who Can’t Wait To Taste You

What I did manage to find was the single CD Cooking Vinyl version of “17” instead. And that wasn’t all that easy, either.

Cooking Vinyl ‎| UK | CD5 | FRY CD68 | 1998

Stephen Duffy: 17 [reissue] UK CD5 [1998]

1. 17
2. Mao Badge
3. In The Evening Of Her Day
4. Barbarellas

To make thing even more complex, the following Lilac Time album had two of these B-sides appended as some of the five bonus tracks on the US version of “Looking For A Day In The Night” the following year.

spinART Records ‎| US | CD | SPART77 | 1999

The Lilac Time: Looking For A Day In The Night – US – CD [1999]

1. Salvation Song
2. The Nursery Walls
3. A Dream That We All Share
4. A Day In The Night
5. I Won’t Die For You
6. Broken Cloud
7. The Family Coach
8. Morning Sun
9. All Over Again
10. Back In The Car Park
11. Mayfly Too
12. Sleepy
13. The Spirit Moves
14. Reunion Ball
15. Hard For Her
16. Comedown
17. Holding Hands With Grace
18. Ratoon

I have no idea if these are Lilac Time re-recordings of the B-sides or not. I suspect not, but I can’t check now. All of this detail is getting a new coat of paint with the DLX RM of the title that new label Needle Mythology [their very name taken from the Duffy song title] will be issuing on May 10th. The original running order of “I Love My Friends” has been restored and the two Andy Partridge session tracks have been appended as a bonus 7″ in the case of the LP. The CD version is the one for us, though. The original running order is appended by the two Partridge tracks at the end and there is a second disc of demos included in the package. Wait! It gets better.

Stephen Duffy: I Love My Friends DLX RM UK 2xCD [2019]

CD 1 : orignial album

1. Tune In
2. The Deal
3. Eucharist
4. Mao Badge
5. Lovers’ Beware
6. In The Evening Of Her Day
7. Holding Hands With Grace
8. The Postcard
9. Seventeen
10. Twenty Three
11. Autopsy
12. She Belongs To All
13. One Day One Of These F***s Will Change Your Life
14. You Are
15. What If I Fell In Love With You

CD 2: Blown Away: Selected Demos Volume 1

1. Night Thoughts
2. Blown Away
3. The Whole Earth Singing
4. C’est La Vie, C’est La Guerre
5. Go
6. Suburban Symphony
7. Another Golden Shot
8. The Waitresses Story
9. An Ear For Silent Voices
10. The Girl Of The Year
11. Lupin
12. We Continue For Australasia

The cost of these discs of wonder is a modest £14.00 [$18.14] and pre-orders from the Superdeluxeedition.com store will be signed by the artiste. I’ve done this weeks ago, but if you’ve an interest, then click here.

Canny shoppers will hold on to that earlier release of the album, because “Something Good” is missing from either of the new CDs. Furthermore, six of the original “17” B-sides are still missing from the story in this new edition. So those remain on the ever-expanding want list. Analyzing the revised running order shows that the original song order built an emotional powerful narrative arc that had been torn apart to lose its collective power for the sake of commerce. As dazzling a single as “You Are” is, the listener is being far better served by the artist’s original intent. It will be interesting to see if other Duffy albums will get the renewed love and attention that this one has. His second album,”Because We Love You,” was originally called “Cocksure” after one of the B-sides from singles of that period and I can imagine that one getting the reissue nod as well. Especially since the Japan only CD of that title is incredibly scarce.

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