Lilac Time, The
Prussian Blue
a beautiful new mix of the album track "Prussian Blue" for this twelve-inch EP. Ushered in by some previously unheard vocal harmonies from Claire Duffy, the song perfectly encapsulates The Lilac Time's undying utopian ideal of a world where a pop record will take the listener as seriously as a novel or a poem would. Where songs begin with couplets such as "Diaphanous friendships/In transparent splendour/Icons in infancy", alluding to "our lilac emperor" (Claire and Stephen's little daughter) on the way to a chorus that must have caused plenty of discussions around Lilac Time aficionados' kitchen tables ("Yes, but Derek Jarman didn't actually hand-tint 'Blue', did he?"). On three immaculately recorded live tracks, featuring all four Duffys (Stephen, Claire, Nick and, no relation, Melvin) as well as bassist Micky Harris and drummer Michael Giri, we are taken right back to the beginning of The Lilac Time with a gorgeous rendition of the classic "The Road to Happiness" from their 1987 debut. Side B starts with "A Day in the Night", the title track of their 1999 album which back then marked the end of another eight years' hiatus for the band. The extended coda over a loop of an Indian woman speaking, featuring more prominently here than on the studio version, explores exciting psychedelic tendencies previously only hinted at. This is The Lilac Time for Heads. To round it all off, "The Lost Girl in the Midnight Sun" (from 1989's "Paradise Circus") effortlessly blends the bouncy bluegrass groove of the original with the most light-footed of Bo Diddley beats. Even by their appreciators, The Lilac Time have not usually been credited as a mind-expanding, barn-storming live act. Time for another reassessment then.