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 The 1997 issue on Indolent Records [as seen at left] barely made it out to the wilds before being withdrawn and the album was reissued the next year on Cooking Vinyl instead.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
Stephen Duffy: I Love My Friends UK CD [1998]
- Tune In
- Eucharist
- 17
- Lover’s Beware
- You Are
- The Deal
- She Belongs To All
- Autopsy
- What If I Fell In Love With You
- Something Good
- Twenty Three
- The Postcard
- 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.
Stephen Duffy: You Are CAN CD5 [1998]
- You Are
- 17
- House Of Flowers
- In The Evening Of Her Day
- 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.
Stephen Duffy: 17 [CD #1] UK CD5 [1997]
- 17
- Mao Badge
- Comedown
- Hey Kat
Stephen Duffy: 17 [CD #2] UK CD5 [1997]
- 17
- House Of Flowers
- Barbarellas
- Hanging Around
Stephen Duffy: 17 [CD #3] UK CD5 [1997]
- 17
- Holding Hands With Grace
- In The Evening Of Her Day
- 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.
Stephen Duffy: 17 [reissue] UK CD5 [1998]
- 17
- Mao Badge
- In The Evening Of Her Day
- 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.
The Lilac Time: Looking For A Day In The Night – US – CD [1999]
- Salvation Song
- The Nursery Walls
- A Dream That We All Share
- A Day In The Night
- I Won’t Die For You
- Broken Cloud
- The Family Coach
- Morning Sun
- All Over Again
- Back In The Car Park
- Mayfly Too
- Sleepy
- The Spirit Moves
- Reunion Ball
- Hard For Her
- Comedown
- Holding Hands With Grace
- 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
- Tune In
- The Deal
- Eucharist
- Mao Badge
- Lovers’ Beware
- In The Evening Of Her Day
- Holding Hands With Grace
- The Postcard
- Seventeen
- Twenty Three
- Autopsy
- She Belongs To All
- One Day One Of These F***s Will Change Your Life
- You Are
- What If I Fell In Love With You
CD 2: Blown Away: Selected Demos Volume 1
- Night Thoughts
- Blown Away
- The Whole Earth Singing
- C’est La Vie, C’est La Guerre
- Go
- Suburban Symphony
- Another Golden Shot
- The Waitresses Story
- An Ear For Silent Voices
- The Girl Of The Year
- Lupin
- 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.
– 30 –
I have this excellent 20 track version of “I Love My Friends”, reissued in 2006, which rounds up all the b-sides: https://www.discogs.com/Duffy-I-Love-My-Friends/release/648547
Still, I’m looking forward to the bonus disc of this new reissue.
Note that the “Hanging Around” b-side is a one-off collaboration between Stephen and Alex James of Blur. It’s performed the band Me Me Me.
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Gerald McBoing-Boing – Curse me for the novice! I had completely forgotten about the 2005-6 Duffy DLX RMs. I only have the Cherry Pop version of “The Ups + Downs.” There was also the “Duffy” album recast. Trust me that the new track order will devastate upon listening.
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I’ve never heard this album, but I like his earlier material enough that this seems like a must-have item. Order placed!
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That album just did nothing for me. I was unaware of the crossover of the two b’s onto the US release of LFaDitN, which is one of my favorite Lilac Time albums.
I don’t get it, I generally like what he does under the Lilac Time brand but every disc I’ve bought where he’s just Stephen Duffy……I’ve sold ’em all.
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Tim – I get it. You prefer folk rock Duffy. I like both, but give pop the edge.
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Order placed! Now to track down that version Mr. McBoing-Boing has …
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Everything besides Dr. Calculus he’s been involved in did not ring with me. Maybe I should give it a 2nd try…. Any suggestions ?
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slur – Dr. Calculus is the freaky outlier to nowhere else in Duffyland. Have you tried The Devils? His early naughties team up with Duran Duran’s Nick Rhodes is the ultimate Hi-Concept® “they said it couldn’t be done” project?
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I’m going to give this a try. Would you recommend it ?
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slur – His solo stuff is very pop/rock. The Lilac Time is folk pop/singer/songwriter stuff. The Devils was Duffy and Rhodes getting together in 2000 to revisit some of the proto-LeBon era DD songs in Duffy’s notebooks twenty years later. Production is modern [DAW] but the synths are vintage. The lyrics were not changed. It’s definitely the closest thing to Dr. Calculus in the Duffy saga, thought less ambient/berserk and more song-based. Dr. Calculus was an amazing album to encounter in 1986!
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Hi
I have a copy of the original ’17’ 3 x CD single set (in the slipcase). Let me know if you would like to make me an offer.
Thanks.
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H Hall – Welcome to the comments! There was a slipcase too?! I have what is a fair price in my mind… but I don’t have the cash right now. Offer appreciated, though! I may get back to you on that later this year… if I’m lucky.
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