4AD Further Listening / His Name Is Alive (Rarities)

His Name Is Alive

Here are some fantastic early recordings, outtakes, EP's etc. from Michigan's His Name Is Alive. Hope you enjoy!
His Name Is Alive / Early Music Vol 1 (1985-1989)

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1-8 originally appeared on the first HNIA tape called "Riotousness And Apostrophe" (1986). This tape also included "Darkest Dreams", which was identical to the version that would reappear on "Livonia" (4AD, 1990) so it is omitted here. 9-16 were on the second tape, Summer 1987. 17-25 are from October 1987 - January 1988 and were released on a tape called "I Had Sex With God". track 26 was from an unfinished 4th tape from 1988. Track 27 is a collage of recordings from 1990 during my first trip to London to meet with the 4AD folks. It was maybe going to be the bonus track for Rykodisc's release of the "Livonia" LP in the USA. Jymn played bowed bass on 7. Amy and Alicia played strings on 5. Angie sang on 10,21 and 24. Karin sang 17-25, except 19. Damian played drums on 20,22 and 25. Tracy played bassoon on 21. Tracy also briefly performed a drum solo with me during the itroduction to track 21. Tracks 5 and 11 were later sampled on the "Home Is In Your Head" LP (4AD, 1991) in the songs "Pointless" and "Reincarnation". Most songs were reissued briefly in 1990 by the band on a cassette called "1985-1989 Stuff, Early Works". It featured a very colorful stolen photo from a medical textbook on eyeball injuries. Tracks 13-15 and 27 are previously unreleased, they are from a weird mix tape I made my friend Danny who lived in Blissfield, Michigan. Thank you, Warn Defever, age 31, Livonia, MI.

His Name Is Alive / King of Sweet

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King of Sweet is a compilation album by His Name Is Alive, originally released in a limited run by the Perdition Plastics label in 1993. Most, if not all, of the songs had previously appeared on the band's many self-released cassettes in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and some of them had appeared in different versions on the band's 4AD releases.


His Name Is Alive / Radio LP

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Name Is Alive's Radio LP is a fine mix of live radio appearances at home and across the world recorded between 1993 and 1998. Since the range is so large, it encompasses the many different musicians who have at one time or another found their way onto HNIA recordings. As with the usual HNIA fare, Warn Defever directs his band through numerous alterations to all the material and nothing sounds as it does on the original recording. It's great to hear the band's improv jamming that is almost always well-represented in the live forum. Here, Lovetta PippenAlex Chilton, Peter Green, and Detroit's Outrageous Cherry on this record, and it includes performances from BBC sessions, Detroit's WDET studios, and KCRW's renowned Morning Becomes Eclectic live series. Other added touches include Mexican radio ads (originally appearing on the band's live disc, Sound of Mexico) and snippets of Defever reading from one of his many children's stories. ~ Ken Taylor, All Music Guide


His Name Is Alive / Summer Bird EP

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Reliably mystifying indie auteur Warn Defever's band His Name Is Alive has the four tracks of the "Summer Bird" EP available for free download for a limited time on their Web site. The title track is, Defever writes, "a 1970s singer-songwriter flavored track written about lost love using Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge's complete destruction of Cambodia as a metaphor." As usual with Defever, his bizarre production decisions lead to some wonderful sounds -- the Dirty Dozen Brass Band meets Yo La Tengo jam on "Last Summer," the series of Steve Reichian textures that ends "Get Your Curse" -- but make for music that's easy to be intrigued by but hard, at least for me, to love.


His Name Is Alive / Raindrops Rainbow EP

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The Raindrops Rainbow EP marked the first major release from the band since Last Night in 2002. Originally released exclusively through the iTunes music store, the EP also later appeared as a promotional CD on Defever's new Silver Mountain Media label. The EP served as a preview of 2006's Detrola, introducing new vocalist Andy FM. With two new songs, and re-recorded versions of two older HNIA songs, the EP found the band somewhat returning to their roots, and was well-received by many fans who had been disappointed with the soul and R&B sound of the band's final two 4AD releases.