Sing To God - Background

Background

"Tim would have drums and rough keyboard chords on tape and would ask me to come up with guitar and bass riffs. I was literally allowed to do pretty much anything I wanted. Tim would then do the production bit and get the best out of me… I remember Tim had programmed the weird bit in the middle of "Odd Even" and left me to find a guitar line amongst the chords so I was sat on my own dropping myself in. When he came back it was done and he was very happy... particularly with my choice of last note! We would both make suggestions then Tim would edit the ideas into something that worked. Tim would chip in with ideas for my songs too like the string arrangement on "Manhoo" which was lovely."

Jon Poole on his contributions to Cardiacs Sing to God album)

The album was preceded by the release of the Bellyeye single on Org Records (the record-releasing wing of long-term Cardiacs’ supporters Organ Magazine). The album featured two further singles, Manhoo and Odd Even, both released (like the album) on the band's own Alphabet Business Concern label. None of the three singles charted.

The album was notable for a change in Cardiacs' working methods. Whereas most previous material had been written and arranged by Tim Smith, the Sing to God sessions saw extensive contributions from Jon Poole who played a strong role in orchestrating Smith's basic material with detailed riffs and keyboard parts (and contributed several songs entirely written by himself). Drummer Bob Leith also made significant contributions to the album's lyrics.

The album also features material from various Cardiacs related projects. The track "Nurses Whispering Verses" had been recorded twice before, once on the band's 1981 cassette album Toy World and once on the original cassette release of the band's 1984 album The Seaside (it was removed from the 1995 CD reissue). "Bell Stinks", "Bell Clinks" and "Angleworm Angel" were all taken from the repertoire of the thrash band Panixsphere (which featured Tim Smith and Jon Poole alongside Christian Hayes and David Francolini of Levitation). "Billion" is allegedly the first song which Tim Smith ever wrote, resurrected and recorded many years after its composition. The song "Wireless" features Tim Smith reading from a children's story called "Peril on the Sea" written by Dawn Staple (who would join the band in 2004 as a percussionist and backing singer).