A Glass Of Champagne
La Cumbia
Give Me Shakespeare
One Drink Too Many
Blame It On The Soft Spot
The Old Nickelodeon Sound
Mack The Knife
The Secretary
Stay The Night
Traffic Jam
Panama
Vera From Veracruz
La Bamba Medley
Girls Girls Girls
Pop Muzik - Ghostbusters Medley
Champagne Reprise

Liner Notes - written by Rich Wilson in May 2002:

The lengthy history of SAILOR begins with a bizarre tale from France. Allegedly, one Monsieur Faux, the owner and manager of a Paris club called "Le Matelot" decided in the late 1940's that it was necessary for the house band to appear wearing the barg of sailors. Le Matelot is said to have been destroyed by fire in 1970, causing the two remaining house-band member Phil Pickett and Georg Kajanus to travel to London and, after meeting with Grant Serpell and Henry Marsh, forming the band SAILOR. And Although that story can be put in the realms of fantasy along with Leprechauns and dragons, it at least sets the backgrounds for one of the more innovative and interesting live acts to grace the country's stages over the last three decades.
Central to the stage show was the now famous 'Nickelodeon' - a bizarre instrument that consisted of two upright pianos, organs, synthesisers, and glockenspiels that were all assembled inside a sizeable timber box and held together by a random smattering of nails, wood glue and doorbell mechanism. Naturally, this created quite a stir, with the members of SAILOR perched around this insane musical creation, hammering away and played their own side of the machine, all within the stage set of a harbour town replete with street lamps and palm trees. Given this, you'd be forgiven for thinking that their first live performance may have been hidden away from view in some back street pub, where they could at least ease themselves into their novel method of performing. Yet this was not to be, as television producer Johnny Stewart had been impressed by their freshness at a recent Epic Records showcase. Finding himself needing a sudden replacement for a live "In Concert" broadcast on the BBC, in front of a bemused audience and even more confused and astounded cameramen. "I've never been so terrified in my whole life," recalls Kajanus now, adding "It's the sort of thing sane people wouldn't ever consider." Well quite.
Quickly gained influential friends within the industy due to their totally unique approach, support slots with Steve Harley and Kiki Dee followed, before they released their eponymous debut album in 1974. Despite huge success in Holland, the band were keen to agument these sales in the UK, and returned to tour extensively and release their most recognisable single in "A Glass Of Champagne" which hit the UK number one position, and the popular album, "Trouble".
The success of the single, coupled with their live reputation ensured that SAILOR became a popular act on the burgeoning live circuit of the time, as Grant Serpell recalls: "We regularly found ourselves mobbed by hundreds of fans before and after concerts, with only one panic stricken roadie to keep them at bay."
Indeed, one incident has gone down into SAILOR folklore as Grant remembers. "After one gig, on one of the occasions that Phil's wife, Ann, came to see us perform, a jealous fan even bit her on the arm!"
As you might also imagine, given it's somewhat slapdash construction, the Nickelodeon often had "technical problems", the major flaw is that only one person could repair it should it malfunction - Georg Kajanus. A fact that caused no end of problems if it went haywire during a gig. Fortunately, Henry Marsh was more than capable of entertaining the crowd with lengthy and humorous tales while the rest of the band set about the errant machine with screwdrivers and pliers.
A somewhat disappointing US tour followed, in which their manager, Steve O'Rourke (who was keen to break SAILOR into the lucrative American market) had placed them in support to inappropriate acts such as Tommy Bolin and Vanilla Fudge. There was also the famous occasion when, as support to country and western act Charlie Daniels, at which our hapless heroes walked to a sea of booing Stetsons in San Diego! The result was an early return to the UK, but they had already written enough material for their third album "The Third Step". Despite not selling as many copies as its' predecessor, the band still maintained their cult following and regularly sold out venues and made numerous TV appearances.
By 1977, Phil Pickett had decided to leave the band (later going on to great success in the Eighties as part of Culture Club, co-writing with Boy George 'Karma Chameleon') and he played no part in their next album "Checkpoint". Although he returned in time for their "final" concert in 1978, their form of entertainment, like many other artists of the day, had been roughly pushed aside by the brashness of punk.
Twelve years after the Nickelodeon had been prematurely laid to rest, a German promoter, Rainer Haas, contacted Phil to ask whether he could get the band together again to play to new audiences across Germany. It was an offer they could not refuse and they decided to dust down the Nickelodeon and hit the road. The full reunion performance occurred in Bad Segeberg, Germany on the 18th May 1991, when the band opened the town's open-air festival. Encouraged by their generous reception, a lengthy tour followed in 1994 accompanied by the release of a "Greatest Hits" compilation.
By 1995, Kajanus had decided to vacate his position within the band to develop other projects, and was replaced by the gifted and versatile Peter Lincoln. The recording that you hold in your hand now is taken from that era, and although devout fans may be disappointed by the absence of Kajanus, there can be no doubting the band's technical ability and a new youthful vigour. Apart from their recognisable classics in "A Glass Of Champagne" and "Girls Girls Girls", the inclusion of the standard "Mack The Knife" plus a curious mixing of "Pop Muzik" and the theme from the movie "Ghostbusters" adds a surprising edge to their performance.
Their standing as an accomplished SAILOR line-up was augmented by the release of the "Legacy" album, which comprised of four new tracks and the re-recorded and contemporary versions of 12 songs drawn from their history.
By the end of the 1990's, Henry Marsh left the band to pursue his interest in musical theatre, after co-composing with Phil their first musical score, 'Casper', which successfully debuted at the London's Shaftesbury Theatre in 2000. At this point the band line-up became relatively unstable and fluid, with Marsh being replaced by Anthony England, until England himself departed to be succeeded by Rob Alderton.
In 2002 the band SAILOR are continuing to perform and surprise audiences with their live antics. And there's even a new Nickelodeon taking centre stage which has been created by the band's "live technician" Graham Naylor, aided by SAILOR's keenest and youngest member, Rob "Baby Spice" Alderton.
It's been a long journey, but in a time often over-run by musical blandness, SAILOR remain intriguing.

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