Glass Hymnbook (1980-1982)

David Barker on Glass Hymnbook (1980-1982): "Religious Overdose, from Northampton, were the first band to send me a tape. It was strange and I liked it. I asked them if they wanted to make a record, they said yes and, after a trip to see them play a gig, I got them down to Ciaran's flat in East London to record it. They didn't have a drummer at the time thus saving his neighbors a bit of grief. For some reason or other, we all liked the earlier version of '25 Minutes' better than the one Ciaran recorded and used that for one side of the single, with his recording of 'Control Addicts' as the other (1981). It sold it's first run of 1000 pretty fast, thanks to John Peel and the relentless fanzine attack of lead vocalist Alex Novak. 500 more were pressed. We had no real distribution, just word of mouth, selling directly to shops like Small Wonder, Rough Trade, Red Rhino. The second single I Said Go / Alien To You (1981) was recorded with added drummer Pete Brownjohn. Plus back at Ciaran's, they cut 'Blow The Back Off It' for The Wonderful World Of Glass Volume One compilation LP (1981). The third single, featuring two long tracks 'In This Century' and 'The Girl With The Disappearing Head', was recorded in a studio in Denmark Street with myself and Ciaran Harte producing (1982). So there you have it really: three singles, a compilation track, plus a solo cassette album by Richard Formby, Outside The Angular Colony (1981), in less time than it's taken putting this CD into production."