Description
hipgnosis album cover artwork!
NO DICE 1977 emka productions EMI
EMC3198 Textured sleeve, inner.
No Dice No Dice
Label: EMI EMC 3198, EMI OC 062 60 006
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: UK
Released: 1977
Style: Hard Rock, Classic Rock
Tracklist:
A1 Why Sugar 3:51
A2 Happy In The Skoolyard 4:24
A3 You Can’t Help Yourself 2:55
Written-By Dave Martin*
A4 People That Make The Music 5:01
Alto Saxophone Jimmy Jewell
A5 Fooling 3:25
A6 So Why I 2:55
B1 Murder In The Rain 5:42
B2 Silly Girl 3:36 Harmonica S.T.E.V.I.E. Smith*
B3 Counting On A Good Sign 4:36
B4 Down And Dry 4:03
B5 Shadows 5:11
- Total length: 45:39
PLEASE NOTE: The British version of the debut which contains eleven tracks, six of which are not found on the U.S. issue (Capitol).
Arranged By [Strings], Conductor [Strings] Harry Robinson
Backing Vocals Dice-Section!
Bass Gary Strange
Design Geoff Halpin
Drums Chris Wyles
Engineer, Mixed By Phill Brown
Guitar Dave Martin*
Keyboards Dave Moore
Vocals [Singer] Roger Ferris
Written-By Gary Strange (tracks: A1, A2, A4 to B5)
Sleeve:
All titles published by Dynamic Cat Music Ltd
Recorded at Olympic, Abbey Road, Basing Street Studios and on location.
Labels:
1977 Emka Productions
An Emka Production
The story of the band:
˝In 1975, from the ashes of a band you’ve never heard of (March Hare), Gary Strange and Dzal Martin added Roger Ferris and Chris Wyles to themselves and formed No Dice, a blues/rock band in Stones/Faces style, but with room to manoeuvre into more adventurous musical seas if the urge took them. After some demos and one single release ‘I Need Someone’ on DJM records, they sat out a not very beneficial contract.˝
˝When finally released they signed with Pink Floyd’s management company Emka Productions whose considerable influence – and the band’s talent – nabbed them a deal with EMI/Capitol records.˝
˝After some club gigs and an opening stint for UFO, they lock themselves away in Abbey Road and Island studios ‘til all hours making ‘No Dice’ their imaginatively titled debut album, produced by Steve Smith and engineered by Phill Brown. Tours supporting Eddie and the Hotrods, the Tom Robinson Band, a Reading festival appearance and a lengthy jaunt round Europe with Status Quo, all lead up to a 10-week tour of America. Support slots with Foghat, REO Speedwagon, Judas Priest, Rainbow, Eddie Money, Black Oak Arkansas & Cheap Trick, ensure the band are playing from 400 to 20,000 seat halls and stadiums. Loadsa fun.˝
Murder in the rain, One of my favourite tracks from this album, Great vocals from Roger Ferris.
No Dice have to be the most under rated band I’ve ever come across.
I believe Chris Wyles also played with Shakin’ Stevens, and was replaced by another drummer who played with Ruthless Blues.
Gary Strange and Roger Ferris went on to form Shooting Party – a complete change of musical genre, more like Erasure – in the PWL stable. They produced some highly rated “Club” music, but as with No Dice they never got the credit or recognition they really deserved.
“Murder In The Rain”, is a story which pinpoints the difference between madness and reality treating the subject as a board game where the listener becomes the murderer!
Unusual enough to have been a hit single it’s heard by few who would have to find the album and seems a long way off the single EMI chose of “Why Sugar”, which was closer to the sound of the Faces
The production is by Robert Wace, the first manager of the Kinks.
Sometime in 78/79 No Dice were playing Barbarellas in Birmingham. I called the venue in the afternoon to confirm they were still on, and who should answer the phone but Roger Ferris! He asked me to come backstage before the gig, which I did, met the band (and Steve Gibbons who gave me a fag (Embassy) ) and a good time was had by all. Happy days…
The Old Grey Whistle Test … The Old Grey Whistle Test (sometimes abbreviated to Whistle Test or OGWT) was a British television music show and NO DICE played 2 songs there live, opening the set with the first song in side A. “Why Sugar”. They also played “People That Make The Music”, the 4th song on this LP which is probably the weakest track on the album.
Unbelievably the reformed in 2012! Here is the film of the amazing re-union gig of No Dice at Dingwalls in 2012 containing the songs Down and Dry (from this LP), If You Had Nothing, You Can’t Help Yourself (from this LP)
Another band covers a No Dice song live; the song that opens this LP:
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