Lamb : frequently asked questions

The bands UK record label tries to avoid cheap imports coming into the UK from Europe. In order to prevent UK retailers from buying these, the label adds value to the UK versions.

2) When will Andy release more material under his 'Hip Optimist' alias?

When he gets round to it! In his own words:

"Hip Optimist is sitting in Cuba with a giant cigar, laughing at me running around, patiently waiting for me to get around to getting him busy in the studio."!

Andy was one of the first artists to release a single ("Anafey") on Skint Records (long before Fatboy Slim hit the big time...) From the old Skint site:

"Hip Optimist was actually Andy Barlow who now spends his time being one half of the excellent Lamb, this track was bought to our attention by a mutal friend Patrick McCool who actually features on the track as a sort of MC. We had planned to sign Lamb to Skint after we heard the tracks Andy was doing with Louise Rhodes, but unfortunately it was not to be, but anyway we were very chuffed to have put this out."

So far, Hip Optimist has remixed:

Lamb:  "Cotton Wool"
Lamb:  "Gold"
Hardkiss:  "Phoenix"
Galliano:  "Roofing Tiles"
Space:  "Neighborhood"
Max Lässer:  unknown title
Deus:  "Sister Dew"
Sugizo:  "Archetype Of Kannon"
Placebo:  "Special K"

Good luck tracking the non-Lamb tracks down - they're very obscure. Most of them (especially the Placebo one) were never officially released...

3) Where can I get Lamb sheet music / chords?

Nothing has been officially published (yet) but you can download the following:

Between Darkness And Wonder (Word)
What Sound (Word)
Fear Of Fours (PDF)

(You'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader to read the PDF file)

4) Where can you buy Lamb t-shirts?

You can buy tour shirts from the official site.

5) Haven't I heard "Angelica" somewhere before?

Well, the track borrows a few bars from Debussy's "Claire De Lune" (from his "Suite Bergamasque". These were re-recorded however, not sampled.

6) What's with the mobile phone ringing on "Small"?

While Lamb were recording the track in the studio, a courier came in and his phone went off at that point. They liked it so much they kept it in.

7) What's the secret track at the end of the "What Sound" CD?

It's called "Blessing In Disguise". In Andy's own words:

"That will be me on my battered piano, rescued from a skip"

8) What happened to the "Softly" single in 1999?

softly European CD This remix (by Dave Bascombe) was scheduled to be the third single from "Fear Of fours". Unfortunately, it was withdrawn before it was released in the UK, though a few copies of the CD singles DO exist and managed to sneak out via online shops - these are extremely rare though! Surprisingly enough, promo copies are much more common - a one-track CD & three-track 12" are fairly easy to locate...

One of the reasons the single was withdrawn is probably because the previous singles "B Line" and "All In Your Hands" charted at 52 and 71 respectively - not the most encouraging figures to justify a follow-up, especially as they couldn't get it played on the radio either...

The single did have a very limited release in Europe as a 4-track CD, but not many copies were pressed and it's very difficult to track down now. An Australian promo CD also exists though it never had an official release. There are also rumours of a Japanese CD but no-one seems to know if it actually exists or not...

9) What / where is the secret track on "Fear Of Fours"?

It's an instrumental remix of the last track "Lullaby" - however it's actually located BEFORE the beginning of the CD!! To get to it, start the CD at track 1, then rewind it back approx. 2:30 minutes... Note, this doesn't work on some CD players. The US promo CD doesn't have this track - neither do the Australian and Japanese versions (though you do get different extra tracks at the end of these)

10) Who or what is "Gorecki"?

Henryk Mikolaj Górecki (pronounced go-ret-skee) is a modern composer (born in Poland, 1933) most famous for his 1976 3rd symphony entitled "Symphony of Sorrowful Songs". This music is most famous for being used in the final scene of the Peter Weir film "Fearless" (starring Jeff Bridges)

It was this symphony by Górecki that inspired Louise to write the song named after him. If you're interested then read the customer reviews on Amazon - it's very popular!

More info about Górecki himself can be found on the following links:

http://www.schirmer.com/composers/gorecki/bio.html
http://www.usc.edu/dept/polish_music/composer/gorecki.html
http://classicalmusic.about.com/library/weekly/aa081699a.htm

11) Where can you get promotional videos?

The videos for B Line, Gabriel and Wonder are available on their respective CD singles. The US release of "What Sound" comes with a bonus DVD featuring the videos for Gabriel and Sweet. These two videos are also available on the official German Lamb site along with an electronic press kit.

On the unofficial side, Lamb Zone has the B Line video and a clip of the Softly video. Sakis' site has Cotton Wool and Gorecki.

12) Who are the other members of the band who play with Lamb live?

Jon Thorne Electric / Acoustic Bass		Oddur Runarsson Electric / Acoustic Guitar		Nikolaj Bjerre Drums
Jon, Oddur and Nikolaj also, for the first time, recently co-wrote and recorded Between Darkness And Wonder with Andy and Lou.

13) When are Lou and Andy's birthdays?

Andy - 20 July
Lou - 1 November

top of page