Looking back, memory is like a bookshelf or record collection constantly being reordered into alphabetical and musical disorder with no collected works by any one – no best of’s – but a lot of worst of’s.
When you lose a close one to the great gig or cig or who-knows-what in the sky, some of us don’t want to make a meal of it. You shed your tears in different ways. You tend to your own black garden. You remember in your own way.
The loss of Butterfly Music felt like a sudden change of bad weather over Oldham St. The loss of Butterfly Music followed by the loss of Tim Jr was the worst double-bill we could have imagined.
The clouds didn’t look as good as they used to. The change was in the fog. Some form of glow – the spirit of the street – was noticeably absent. Lost in a forest of dead words, we contemplated our dead friend.
We wouldn’t be seeing him again, walking down those narrow Oldham St streets that remind me of eels. But knowing the friendship Rob had with Tim, I knew he would mark the absence.
This supreme sonic experience is his painkiller. When the outside turns with the shades of sudden storm and the wind picks up inside – have your daily dose of it.
Austin Collings is a writer and Creative Director of The White Hotel venue in Salford. You can read his other post for the website here.
Volume 34 was the last recording Tim Walsh Jr did before he died, and it was the last album to be recorded at Butterfly Music before the building closed.
volume thirty four, credits
| what | who |
|---|---|
| recorded at | el estudio perplexo, andalucia |
| recorded at | the butterfly music company, manchester |
| mastered | arkestar |
| cover photograph | chinese francis |
| vocals | robert paul corless |
| keyboards, sequencing and programming | robert paul corless |
| guitars | tim walsh jr |
| bass | andrew saunderson |
| backing vocals | voxra andersen |
| release date | 4th may 2020 |