{"product_id":"rose-mcdowall-cut-with-the-cake-knife-remastered-with-bonus-tracks","title":"ROSE MCDOWALL - Cut With The Cake Knife (Remastered with bonus tracks)","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan style=\"color: #ff0000;\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCD - Night School Records has remastered \u003cem\u003eCut With The Cake Knife\u003c\/em\u003e and presents the album with a reimagined artwork that more closely recreates the original hand-made CD produced by McDowall.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecorded in the aftermath of \u003cstrong\u003eStrawberry Switchblade\u003c\/strong\u003e's break up, the original \"\u003cem\u003eSunflower Demos\u003c\/em\u003e\" included songs intended for the unrealised 2nd album. These songs posit an alternative future where \u003cstrong\u003eMcDowall\u003c\/strong\u003e pursued a Pop career instead of becoming an underground icon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRose McDowall\u003c\/strong\u003e's \u003cem\u003eCut With The Cake Knife\u003c\/em\u003e was originally reissued in 2015 by \u003cstrong\u003eNight School Records\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eSacred Bones\u003c\/strong\u003e. Since then, Rose McDowall and her previous band Strawberry Switchblade have only grown in cult status. Following a discovery by a generation of young, disaffected kids on social media of \u003cstrong\u003eStrawberry Switchblade\u003c\/strong\u003e and McDowall's succeeding band \u003cstrong\u003eSorrow\u003c\/strong\u003e, Night School Records has remastered \u003cem\u003eCut With The Cake Knife\u003c\/em\u003e and presents the album with a reimagined artwork that more closely recreates the original hand-made CD produced by McDowall.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCut The With The Cake Knife\u003c\/em\u003e was recorded by Rose McDowall in 1988\/89 following the break up of her group Strawberry Switchblade. Produced with the aid of several musicians in several studios, the album features songs written for the fabled second Strawberry Switchblade album. More importantly perhaps it showcases the honest, direct and life-affirming songs of one of the greatest unsung songwriters of the modern pop era at a tumultuous time in her career.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTibet opens the set and could be one of the best pop songs you’ve never heard. The innate sadness of the songs’ content – the loss of a friendship, impending sorrow – is heightened to heart-melting level by McDowall’s pop nous and melodic sensibility. Choruses and hooks are everywhere on \u003cem\u003eCake Knife\u003c\/em\u003e, from the outsider take on stadium 80s pop in \u003cem\u003eWings Of Heaven\u003c\/em\u003e to the spiraling, ecstatic \u003cem\u003eSo Vicious\u003c\/em\u003e, a glorious anthem that highlights the human fragility in McDowall’s vocal performance, an instrument that has never lost the naïve purity it first exemplified in Strawberry Switchblade’s early 80s recordings. The centerpiece of the album, the title-track, is the greatest Switchblade pop chart hit that never was. Like the veiled melancholy of her former group’s hits, \u003cem\u003eCut With The Cake Knife\u003c\/em\u003e hints at a darkness beneath the gloss, a darkness that saw McDowall delve into more esoteric territory with her subsequent recordings and collaborations. \u003cem\u003eCut With The Cake Knife\u003c\/em\u003e serves as the bridge between the pop music McDowall had been making with her friends \u003cstrong\u003eJill Bryson\u003c\/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eLawrence\u003c\/strong\u003e from \u003cstrong\u003eFelt\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003ePrimal Scream\u003c\/strong\u003e to what became a more extreme, deep sound informed by neo-folk and post industrial music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRose McDowall’s role in the canon has always been one of an outsider. Beginning in Glasgow’s East End in the avant proto-noise group \u003cstrong\u003eThe Poems\u003c\/strong\u003e, achieving fame briefly in the 80s and then disappearing into counter-cultural folklore, the emphasis in the internet-age has been skewed towards her image and cultural significance. Unseen to many, her solo work, her groups \u003cstrong\u003eSorrow\u003c\/strong\u003e and \u003cstrong\u003eSpell\u003c\/strong\u003e and her collaborations with a whole host of underground luminaries have still touched lives. As McDowall elucidates: “They're real sad songs, about real life. I've had people come up to me to say I'd connected with them and helped them. I remember a gig in America when we made a whole room cry. It was bizarre. A couple at the front of the stage started crying and then these two boys beside and suddenly everyone was crying. And I thought, \"that's power.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNight School’s issue of \u003cem\u003eCut With The Cake Knife\u003c\/em\u003e includes unpublished photographs, extensive sleeve notes from Rose McDowall and 2 bonus tracks culled from the bootleg 7” “\u003cem\u003eDon’t Fear The Reaper\u003c\/em\u003e.” \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"In McDowall’s world, cake and chaos go hand in hand. She’s the witch at the door of the gingerbread house, beckoning you inside.\" - \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003ePitchfork\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"One wonders what would have happened had these delirious songs made it to mainstream radio airplay. The exquisite nature of this slices of dappled pop genius is a joy to behold.\" - \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Quietus\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOriginally reissued 2015\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eFor Fans Of:\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e Strawberry Switchblade,  Current 93 etc.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Dear Life Records","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":57445007524185,"sku":"SDZ-30052","price":14.99,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0588\/3455\/0945\/files\/Rose_McDowall_-_Cut_With_The_Cake_Knife_-_2026_Reissue.jpg?v=1772630349","url":"https:\/\/spindizzyrecords.com\/products\/rose-mcdowall-cut-with-the-cake-knife-remastered-with-bonus-tracks","provider":"Spindizzy Dublin","version":"1.0","type":"link"}