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*{{official|http://iainmatthews.nl/}}
* [http://www.music-city.org/Iain-Matthews/discography/ Discography at Music City]
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*{{discogs artist|Iain Matthews|Iain Matthews}}
*{{discogs artist|Iain Matthews|Iain Matthews}}


Revision as of 10:01, 1 December 2017

For the drummer with Kasabian, see Ian Matthews (drummer).

Iain Matthews
Background information
Birth nameIain Matthew McDonald
Also known asIan McDonald, Ian Matthews, Iain Matthews
Born (1946-06-16) 16 June 1946 (age 77)
Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England
GenresFolk, pop, rock[1]
Occupation(s)Musician, singer-songwriter
Instrument(s)Vocals, guitar
Years active1967–present
LabelsDecca/Deram, Polydor, Vertigo, Elektra, Columbia, Mushroom, Windham Hill, Mooncrest, Brilliant, Watermelon
Websiteiainmatthews.com

Iain Matthews (born Iain Matthew McDonald, 16 June 1946) is an English musician and songwriter. He was a singer with Fairport Convention before forming his own band, Matthews Southern Comfort, which had a UK number one in 1970 with a cover version of Joni Mitchell's song "Woodstock".

Born in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England, Matthews was known in the 1960s as Ian McDonald, then as Ian Matthews. In 1989, he reverted to the original spelling of his first name.

Influenced by both rock and roll and folk music, he has performed mainly as a solo act, although he was a member of Fairport Convention during the early period when they were heavily influenced by American folk rock. He later had a solo career and led the bands Plainsong, Hi-Fi, No Grey Faith, More Than A Song, and Matthews Southern Comfort.[2]

Origins

Matthews grew up in

Bradford Park Avenue. During the British pop music explosion of the mid-1960s, he sang with several bands and moved to London in 1966, taking a job in a Carnaby Street shoe shop. That year he formed a trio, The Pyramid, an English short-lived surf music band, which recorded one single, "Summer of Last Year" in January 1967, on Deram Records
. A remaining song, "Me About You," surfaced on Matthews' Orphans & Outcasts Volume 3 in 1999.

Fairport Convention

In the spring of 1967, Matthews was recruited by Ashley Hutchings as a male vocalist for Fairport Convention, where he sang with Judy Dyble and then with Sandy Denny. In 1969, as Fairport drew increasingly from a British traditional folk repertoire, Matthews found out he had not been invited to a recording session and, after a short discussion with Ashley Hutchings, departed on a musical direction of his own.[2]

Matthews Southern Comfort

In 1969 Matthews recorded his debut solo album,

Ian and Sylvia songs. He followed it up by forming a working band using the name of his first album, Matthews Southern Comfort (without the apostrophe), releasing two more albums Second Spring (1970 – UK #52)[3] and Later That Same Year
(1970).

The band went through various different line-ups and toured extensively for the next two years. They had one commercial success, a

UK Singles Chart in October 1970.[3] It received heavy airplay in Canada, reaching No. 5, as well as peaking at No. 23 on the Billboard singles charts in the United States in 1971. Afterwards, Matthews left Southern Comfort, who went on to release three albums of their own on Harvest Records
.

Plainsong

In 1971, Matthews recorded two solo albums (If You Saw Thro' My Eyes & Tigers Will Survive), on Vertigo Records. Under the sponsorship of former Yardbird Paul Samwell-Smith, and surrounded by likeminded British semi-folkies (notably another ex-Fairporter, Richard Thompson), he formed Plainsong, who signed to Elektra Records.

In 1972 Plainsong released

Dave McEnery's "Amelia Earhart's Last Flight
", plus a song by Matthews, "True Story of Amelia Earhart's Last Night". The song is based on research that suggests that Earhart may have been spying on Japanese bases in the Pacific islands. It also included "Even the Guiding Light", an answer to Thompson's "Meet on the Ledge".

Moving around

After Plainsong collapsed due to a bandmate's

Robert Palmer's "Gimme an Inch". However, the North American rights for his album Stealin' Home and its follow-up Siamese Friends were held by the small Canadian label Mushroom
. When label-owner Shelly Siegel died in 1979, Matthews' association with that label came to an end. The song "Shake It" is heard at the beginning of the 1980 movie
Rockstar games
.

Matthews' official web site states that at this point he "had been struggling for nearly 15 years now and was still living hand to mouth, with nothing to show for his efforts but a string of out-of-print albums, and the loyalty of those musicians and fans who shared his vision."

Prince's "When You Were Mine". He worked in an A&R capacity at Island Records and then Windham Hill Records
.

Later career

Starting in 1977, Fairport Convention held the annual

Jules and the Polar Bears. This beautifully produced effort was the first vocal album ever released by Windham Hill. Matthews then moved to Austin, Texas and recorded several albums for a series of German independent labels. He appeared with Andy Roberts at the 1992 Cambridge Folk Festival, which led to the first of what became several changed versions of Plainsong
.

In 2000 Matthews moved to Amsterdam, where he became involved in independent music projects and collaborations, including the Sandy Denny tribute band No Grey Faith and another revival of Plainsong. Moving to Horst in the south of the Netherlands, in 2008 he produced Joy Mining with the Dutch jazz ensemble, Searing Quartet. In September 2010, he released the first Matthews Southern Comfort album in 40 years and returned to a major record label.

Since 2003 Matthews has worked with Dutch pianist and composer Egbert Derix. They met when Matthews, a jazz fan, came to a concert of Derix's Searing Quartet in Cambrinus (Horst, The Netherlands). Matthews asked Derix to join him in his 2003 tour of his 1970 album If You Saw Thro' My Eyes. They played a series of concerts with Eric Coenen (bass), Arthur Lijten (drums) and Ad Vanderveen (guitar). After the tour Matthews and Derix started writing together, resulting in the 2008 album Joy Mining Matthews & Derix started their own label: MatriX. In 2012 the Iain Matthews/Egbert Derix album In the Now was released by Verve Records. Joy Mining and In the Now had separate releases in the United Kingdom and United States. In January–February 2015 Matthews and Derix toured in California to promote the US releases of their albums. Dutch filmmakers Peter Jong and Olivier Hamaker made a documentary about the making of In the Now. Matthews can also be heard on Egbert Derix' solo album Paintings in Minor Lila (2012) on which the music of British progressive rock band Marillion is featured. The album has contributions by Matthews, Marillion singers Fish and Steve Hogarth, and Supertramp saxophonist John Helliwell. Matthews was guest vocalist in 2011 on the Helliwell/Derix Quintet tour in The Netherlands. Matthews and Derix co-wrote eight songs for Matthews's solo album The Art of Obscurity (2013)

In December 2011 he performed as Matthews Southern Comfort with his Dutch band at the 2nd Great British Folk Festival at Butlins Skegness and performed a set of both old and new songs. In January 2014 Matthews toured as part of the Gene Clark No Other band, performing Gene Clark's album No Other with other singers such as Robin Pecknold of the Fleet Foxes

Matthews is a season-ticket holder at

Scunthorpe United
football club.

Discography

Solo

  • Pyramid, "The Summer of Last Year" / "Summer Evening" (1967) UK Deram; his first recording (single)
  • Matthews Southern Comfort (see below)
  • If You Saw Thro' My Eyes (1971) UK and US Vertigo
  • Tigers Will Survive (1972) UK and US Vertigo
  • Valley Hi (1973) UK and US Elektra
  • Journeys From Gospel Oak (1974) UK Mooncrest
  • Some Days You Eat the Bear...Some Days the Bear Eats You
     (1974) UK and US Elektra
  • Go For Broke (1976) UK CBS / US Columbia
  • Hit And Run (1977) UK CBS / US Columbia
  • Stealin' Home (1978) UK Rockburgh / US Mushroom
  • Siamese Friends (1979) UK Rockburgh / US Mushroom
  • Discreet Repeat (1979) Rockburgh
  • Spot Of Interference (1980) UK Rockburgh/US RSO
  • Shook (1984) Polydor
  • Walking A Changing Line (1988) Windham Hill
  • Nights In Manhattan (1988) Taxim Records (live at The Bottom Line in New York, May 1988)
  • Pure And Crooked (1990) Gold Castle
  • Live Alone: Notebook Series No.2 (1991) Perfect Pitch
  • Orphans & Outcasts Volume I 1969-1979 (1991) Dirty Linen
  • Skeleton Keys (1992) Line / Mesa (different artwork)
  • Intimate Wash: Notebook Series No.3 (1993) Perfect Pitch
  • Orphans & Outcasts Volume II 1981-1989 (1993) Dirty Linen
  • The Soul Of Many Places (1993) Elektra (compilation album)
  • The Dark Ride (1994) Watermelon
  • Pure And Crooked (1994) Watermelon (4 bonus tracks)
  • Camouflage: Notebook Series No.4 (1995) Perfect Pitch
  • God Looked Down (1996) Watermelon
  • The Seattle Years 1978–1984 (1996) Varèse Sarabande (compilation album)
  • Nights In Manhattan (And Points West) (1997) DCC (4 bonus tracks)
  • Excerpts from Swine Lake (1998) Blue Rose / US Tangible (4 bonus demo tracks)
  • Orphans & Outcasts Volume 3 (1999) Perfect Pitch
  • A Tiniest Wham / A Live Wham 2CD (2000) Blue Rose and Perfect Pitch (different artwork) (CD2 Iain Matthews & The Swinelakers live in Nurnburg, September 1998)
  • If You Saw Thro' My Eyes (remaster) (2003) MK2 Records
  • Zumbach's Coat (2004) MK2 Records / Perfect Pitch
  • Zumbach’s Coat CD + DVD (2004) Blue Rose / Perfect Pitch (DVD features 6 songs live by Iain and Ad Vanderveen)
  • Sparkler 2CD (2005) Blue Rose (CD1 Best Of The Texas Recordings 1989-2004; CD2 If You Saw Thro’ My Eyes Live)
  • I Can't Fade Away DVD (2006) Cherry Red (features a full show from Iain and his band at the Marquee Club in London in 1984).
  • If You Saw Thro’ My Eyes Live (2006) Vinyl Japan / ItsAboutMusic
  • Osolomeo DVD + CD (2006) Inbetweens Records (DVD is A Night In Colorado solo concert from October 1993; CD is Iain and Andy Roberts at the Brosella Festival July 1992)
  • Journeys From Gospel Oak (Expanded Edition) (2006) Castle Music (includes 5 songs rerecorded in 2006 as bonus tracks)
  • Go For Broke (2007) Vinyl Japan (limited edition Japanese CD of Go For Broke + 6 live bonus tracks recorded in Denver June 1976)
  • Hit And Run (2007) Vinyl Japan (limited edition Japanese CD of Hit And Run + 7 live bonus tracks recorded at rehearsals in Los Angeles)
  • Contact (2007) Blue Rose, CD + DVD (with Richard Kennedy and Mike Roelofs, live in Heilbronn, Germany, December 2004)
  • Rhino Hi-Five: Ian Matthews (2007) Rhino / Elektra/ Apple Music (5-track digital EP)
  • Collected (2011) Universal (57-track 3CD career retrospective, all tracks chosen personally by Iain)
  • If You Saw Thro’ My Eyes (remaster) (2012) Esoteric / Cherry Red
  • Tigers Will Survive (2012) Esoteric / Cherry Red (original album remaster + bonus track)
  • The Art Of Obscurity (2013) MK2 Records / Omnivore Music / Fledg'ling
  • Stealin’ Home (2014) Omnivore (original album remaster + 9 live bonus tracks recorded at Texas A&M University in November 1978)
  • Live At Rockpalast – Hamburg 1983 (2017) MIG (DVD + 2CD: CD1 is the audio version of the DVD; CD2 contains the studio versions of all the songs)
  • Walking A Changing Line 2CD (2017) MIG (original album remaster + CD2 of outtakes)
  • A Baker’s Dozen (2017) MK2 Records

Box Sets

  • The Original Notebook Series (2002) Coast To Coast

Limited edition 5CD archival box set containing Live Alone, Intimate Wash, Camouflage, Nights In Manhattan And Points West, plus a fifth, then unreleased CD, Woodshedding.

Slimline Series

  • Amen (2009) Perfect Pitch (live at Café de Amer, Amen with Bart Oostindie and Mike Roelofs)
  • Woodshedding (2009) Perfect Pitch (single CD issue of CD5 from the Original Notebook Series box set)

2-on-1 Reissues / Remasters

  • If You Saw Thro’ My Eyes / Tigers Will Survive (1992) Vertigo
  • Valley Hi / Some Days You Eat The Bear (2003) Water Records
  • Stealin’ Home / Siamese Friends (2005 remaster) BGO Records
  • Spot Of Interference / Shook (2005 remaster) BGO Records
  • Go For Broke / Hit And Run (2006 remaster) BGO Records
  • The Dark Ride / God Looked Down (2006 remaster) BGO Records
  • Pure And Crooked / Skeleton Keys (2009 remaster) BGO Records
  • Valley Hi / Some Days You Eat The Bear (2017 remaster) BGO Records

Groups

Fairport Convention

  • Polydor
    / US Cotillion
  • What We Did on Our Holidays (1968) UK Island / US A&M
  • Unhalfbricking (1969) UK Island / US A&M
  • Heyday: The BBC Sessions 1968-69 (1986) UK Island / US Hannibal
  • Heyday: The BBC Sessions 1968-1969 Extended (2002) Island Remasters (8 bonus tracks)

Matthews Southern Comfort

  • Matthews' Southern Comfort (1969) UK Uni / US Decca (first solo album)
  • Second Spring (1969) UK Uni / US Decca
  • Later That Same Year (1970) UK Uni / US Decca
  • One, Two, Three…Too Good ! (1970 vinyl) Teldec / MCA (German 2LP best of compilation)
  • Best Of Matthews Southern Comfort (1974 vinyl; 1989 CD) MCA Records
  • Scion (1994) Band Of Joy (collection of outtakes and BBC recordings)
  • The Essential Collection (1997) Half Moon (retrospective of 1970s recordings)
  • Matthews’ Southern Comfort / Second Spring (1996) BGO Records
  • Later That Same Year (2008 CD) BGO Records (original album remaster + 4 bonus tracks)
  • Kind Of New (2010) Brilliant / Genepool
  • Kind Of Live (2011) Perfect Pitch
  • Like A Radio (2018) MIG (new album due for release January 2018)

Plainsong

  • In Search Of Amelia Earhart (1972 vinyl) UK and US Elektra
  • In Search Of Amelia Earhart (1991 CD) Japan Elektra / Warner-Pioneer Corporation
  • And That’s That - The Demos (1992) Taxim Records
  • On Air - Original BBC Recordings (1992) Band of Joy (BBC recordings from 1972)
  • Voices Electric (1994) Line
  • Sister Flute (1996) Line
  • On Air (1997) Strange Fruit (original album + 2 extra tracks)
  • New Place Now (1999) Blue Rose
  • Live In Austria (1999) Plainsong (4-track mini-CD, live in Thalgäu)
  • A To B (2001) Spinalong Records (6-track mini-CD)
  • In Search Of Amelia Earhart (CD 2001) Perfect Pitch
  • Pangolins (2003) Blue Rose
  • Plainsong (2005) 2CD Water Records (remaster of In Search Of Amelia Earhart, unreleased second album Now We Are 3, plus radio sessions, live recordings and singles)
  • Fat Lady Singing (2012) Blue Rose
  • In Search Of Amelia Earhart (CD re-issue 2016) Man In The Moon
  • Reinventing Richard: The Songs of Richard Farina (2015) Fledg'ling

Hamilton Pool

  • Return To Zero (1995) Watermelon

Hi-Fi

  • Demonstration Record (1982) First American Records (live mini-album)
  • Moods for Mallards (1982) First American Records
  • Complete Works (2006) CD + DVD Blue Rose

No Grey Faith

  • Secrets All Told – The Songs Of Sandy Denny (2000) Perfect Pitch / Unique Gravity

More Than A Song

  • More Than A Song (2001) Perfect Pitch / Coast To Coast
  • Witness (2002) Turtle Records (live in Amsterdam)
  • Witness (2003) DVD Inbetweens Records (DVD has live clips of 3 full songs plus backstage footage and interviews. Total playing time ~ 20 minutes)

Collaborations

With Julian Dawson

  • Songs From The Red Couch (1996) No label (live in Thalgäu, 4th August 1996)
  • Flood Damage (2002) No label (live in Thalgäu, 29th November 2002)

With Elliott Murphy

  • La Terre Commune (2001) Blue Rose / Perfect Pitch / Eminent

With Elliott Murphy and Olivier Durand

  • Official Blue Rose Bootleg Series 2CD (2001) Blue Rose (live in Solingen, June 1st 2001)

With Searing Quartet

  • Joy Mining (2008) Perfect Pitch (an easy listening/jazz oriented album)

With Nick Vernier Band

With Egbert Derix

  • Afterwords (2010) CD + DVD MatriX (CD live at Café Thembi, Maastricht, May 17th 2009; DVD live at Acoustic Alley, Den Haag, October 18th 2009)
  • In The Now (2012) Verve / Fledg'ling (UK), Omnivore (US)
  • That Is To Say (2012) DVD MatriX (live concert at The Music Star, Norderstedt, Germany, May 12th 2012 + 3 bonus tracks recorded October 10th 2010)
  • The Making Of 'In The Now' (2014) DVD Omnivore (~40-minute documentary about the making of the album)

With Nick Vernier Band and Emitt Rhodes

  • Time Will Show The Wiser
     (2010) Brinker Media

With Ad Vanderveen

  • The Iain Ad Venture (2000) Blue Rose
  • Ride The Times
     (2010) Turtle Records

Billboard charts

Hot 100 Singles

  • "Woodstock", Matthews' Southern Comfort (Band) (No. 23, 1971)
  • "Mare, Take Me Home", Matthews' Southern Comfort (Band) (No. 96, 1971)
  • "Tell Me Why", Matthews' Southern Comfort (Band) (No. 98, 1971)
  • "Da Doo Ron Ron (When He Walked Me Home)" (No. 96, 1972)
  • "Shake It" (US No. 13; Canada #6, 1979)
  • "Gimme An Inch" (No. 67, 1979)

Easy Listening (Adult Contemporary)

  • "Woodstock – Matthews' Southern Comfort (Band)" (No. 17, 1971)
  • "Shake It" (No. 21, 1979)
  • "Gimme An Inch" (No. 43, 1979)
  • "Don't Hang Up Your Dancing Shoes" (No. 42, 1979)

See also

References

  1. ^ Chris Woodstra (8 October 1996). "The Seattle Years 1978–1984 – Ian Matthews | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  2. ^ a b Unterberger, Richie. "Iain Matthews Interview".
  3. ^
    ISBN 1-904994-10-5
    .
  4. ^ Iain Matthews website biography Archived 6 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Iain_Matthews&oldid=813034009"