A Fortune Of Innocence: The Lilac Time

"Gonna see the river man
Gonna tell him all I can
About the plan
For lilac time" ~ Nick Drake, "River Man"

It was the day before the day before...1987. A foggy ruin of time, as the bard once sang, a year of pure psycho that unleashed the Loonie, "Black Monday" on the stock market, the third (!) re-election of Margaret Thatcher, Guns n' Roses' Appetite for Destruction and The Lilac Time's elegant debut. I'd just crawled out from the technoblast of Luv-a-Fair and Graceland that made up Vancouver's club scene and I was desperate to come down, chill out...

....with some fine English pop. Stephen "Tin Tin" Duffy was in a similar mood after spending the early part of the decade in Duran Duran and pursuing his own solo career with singles like "Kiss Me"...



The time was right to put aside the eyeliner, pick up a banjo, meditate on love...and start a new band.

The Lilac Time is a bucolic slice of Albion folk rock, soulful and seductive at the same time. Standout tracks include the poptimistic "Return to Yesterday" and "Together," the gauzy "And The Ship Sails On" and the coy sexuality of "Love Becomes a Savage." A forgotten classic that evokes Nick Drake dancing out on the tiles...