From Jolie to Every Loser in London
I'm not sure what kind of distribution the Beatitude single had...but I don't think it was distributed very widely. The single was the first release for Tora! Records, a label formed by Gary Levermore. Gary was also the founder of Third Mind records, the label that released Bill's first two albums. After the single was released, the members of Beatitude moved on to other things.
November/December 1996
Most recently, Bill has been teaching French and German to high school students in England. He is happily married with a month old daughter. It seems that most of his label and contractual problems are finally behind him. Even better, Bill has a "Lost Album" in the can, completely mastered and with artwork already done. He has been talking with a few different labels, so with any luck, the "lost" album will be released sometime in 1997.
When pressed for an official statement or message to his fans, Bill had this to say:
"I have moved from being a pretentious Francophile to becoming a parochial Midlander. I've developed a passionate interest in old French coookbooks and have become obsessed by the kitchiness of 70's French singers (ie Joe Dasin) so a good third of the new LP will be in French. A couple of track titles for you..."You Meet Every Loser in London", "The Tipton Slasher", "Frank Sinatra (I'm in love with everyone that you screwed)".....Oh and Chloe says hello"
A big thanks to Rob for this info. Bill was surprised to learn that interest in his music still remains in the US. I have heard from several other Bill Pritchard fans, in the US and throughout the world. I'm confident that with the right label and promotion, Bill's music will find the larger audience it deserves.
17 February 1997
"For your info, I have signed Bill Pritchard to both a record and publishing deal and hope to have material out very soon. I am releasing a compilation cd/cassette in the UK in the next two months called 'The Great Lawnmower Conspiracy' and one of Bill's songs will appear on that…probably a track called 'Suddenly Last Summer'.
I will keep you informed of Bill Pritchards goings on. I have him in a studio between April 7th and April 11th in Sussex, England to finish off an album which is provisionally titled 'Happiness and Other Crimes'. It will be a mixture of songs from the unreleased album plus many songs which he has recently written.
As a taster, here are some titles 'Terry Toy', '(You Meet) Every Loser In London', 'Broadway', 'Melody Said' (new version), 'Susan's Soho Parties', and 'For The Good Of The People'. Tim Bradshaw of the Fat Lady Sings will be mixing/producing some of the tracks. The tracks are looking good and I'm hoping for a 12 to 14 track album. The lyrics are very strange.
Yes the deals are worldwide and we hope to license the LP to various foreign territories including the USA. I'm trying to get all of Bill's lost recordings released at some stage but be warned there are a lot of them!"
26 March 1997
Ian Herron will be mixing two of the new tracks: "Satin Green" and "For the Good of the People". Ian has previously produced Gary Numan and These Animal Men, among others. The tracks are due to be mixed on April 1 :-) Bill will then be in the studio April 7th-11th to do some final work on the album, and it should be ready to go. Still no firm release date yet, though.
The three tracks Richard sent me are "Satin Green" (a catchy uptempo number), "Live a Little Longer" (a pretty melancholic piece), and "Hippy Hoorah" (a rockin' French number with wah wah and a hot chorus). Songwriting, as always, is great. My French is too rusty to translate Hippy Hoorah, but I have a feeling the lyrics are great for that one as well. The first two will be on the forthcoming album. "Hippy Hoorah" will not be on the album, but it's too good to lose, so hopefully it will make it onto a b-side or compilation.
24 May 1997
Mixing on Bill's LP should be completed in the next few weeks. It will be 12 to 14 songs long.
"Melody Said" will be the track on my compilation album The Great Lawnmower Conspiracy, released in about five weeks time. I think it is the version on the Beatitude single, although there are so many versions floating around, I could be wrong.
Bill will be playing two gigs in the UK in July, his first shows for years. He is playing the Richmond in Brighton, Sussex on July 18th and The Kings Arms pub in Eastbourne, Sussex on July 19th. Probably both acoustic shows. If anyone comes over for the gigs from America or any other country for that matter, I will willingly put them up in my flat for a couple of days for the gigs.
11 June 1997
Next, I heard from Bill Pritchard's wife Sally. She says that the mixing is finished and mastering will be done next month. It sounds like "Hippy Hoorah" will be on the album after all...yeah! Hopefully I'll be able to do a short interview with Bill when the album gets closer to release. Also, the shows in England are still on for next month. If any of you attend, please send me a review!
6 July 1997
Broadway
Bill has written and demoed over 50 new songs since Jolie was released in 1991. But due to record company hassels and haggling over publishing deals, future release of these songs remains unclear. In addition to writing new songs, Bill has been producing some French artists.
In 1995, Bill put together an actual band called "Beatitude". In addition to Bill, the band featured Tim Bradshaw (guitars, squeeze box), Paul Barlow (drums) and Tuppy Rutter (bass). They performed about a dozen shows and released a 3-track 7" single. The A side of the single is "Baby in Brylcreem", with the AA side containing "19 Summers" and "Melody Said". Check the Beatitude entry under singles for Windows .WAV samples. (This info is from Tora's Beatitude bio).
(The following info comes courtesy of Rob de Wet, a fellow who taught with Bill in Stoke on Trent, England)
Great news! Richard Rogers of NCompass Music recently e-mailed me the following:
Came back from a business trip yesterday to find a package from Richard which contained an update on the album plus a cassette with three new Bill tracks!
Here's an update on things, including two UK shows in July. Richard Rogers writes:
Two things. First, Kingsley Sage of Stoat Records sent me some information relating to the new NCompass compilation "The Great Lawnmower Conspiracy". His band Jumbo has the first slot on the album with their song "Diva". Bill has the number two slot with "Melody Said". You can get more info on the album by checking out the Stoat Records web site.
The Ncompass web site is up and functioning, and there is some more info on Bill's new album. Still no firm track listing, but it is bound to contain a few of the following:
(You Meet) Every Loser In London
For The Good Of The People
Frank Sinatra (I'm in love with everyone you screwed)
Hippy Hoorah (on French release only)
Live a Little Longer
Melody Said (new version)
Satin Green
Suddenly Last Summer
Susan's Soho Parties
Terry Toy
The Tipton Slasher