A Mozart for the modern day. Cannot understand why anyone would dislike Cardiacs. I can listen to any album from beginning to end, without skipping a track. No other band I can say that about.

I've actually heard it before, it's way more obvious in the version that's at the end of Fairy Mary Mag. You can actually also hear someone singing along with the main melody really quietly on the left channel and sniffing as if they've got a cold. So many layers of sound even when it's not even in Odd Even. I can't imagine how much stuff is hidden in the rest of the album.

I’ve spent almost my entire adult life listening to Cardiacs, saw them live in the 1980s maybe 50 or 60 times, and marvel at the glittery wonder of their music as much as anyone. I guess I knew that their music was built like this inside, so I’m really unsurprised that this was in there. But I’m still fucking dazzled by the beauty here. It’s like Bach and Conlon Nancarrow had a baby that eclipsed them both.

The man REALLY was a genius.

I love Tim and Zappa equally. But one thing Zappa did, taking his lead from some 20th-century composers, is write weird stuff as the meat in a sandwich of normal stuff (think the middle section of Wet T-Shirt Nite, though there are many other examples). His idea was that this is the only way to get commercially spoon-fed people to listen to the weird stuff. Tim is different and maybe some of this is cultural. Tim put his weird stuff and his "just tunes, innit?" on exactly the same level. Think of the jumpscares in Spinney. Why? Well, I think Tim was mocking the archetypical C&W cadence leading back into the verse. But somebody who would keep those realms separate would never do such a thing. So it's totally normal and natural for Tim to take a mutated, mode-defeating, pseudo-baroque filigree (with an obbligato!) into the middle of a dead-straight (if harmonically delicious) pop tune like Odd Even. It's not cynical. It's not showing off, saying this is what I _really_ do and I need this other stuff so you idiots will get it. It's as much an organic outgrowth as anything else in the tune (could you imagine Odd Even without it?). And that's a sign of artistic integrity as much as it is of musical genius. Sure, Tim was okay with editing out that tritone-inflecting howl and string quartet in the single version of Manhoo. Hey, you have to do what you have to do to get on the radio. But likewise, I can't imagine Jon's magnificent Manhoo without Tim's string writing in the middle there.

Amazing. I think we will be be finding little details like this in his work for many years. Always good to see another Reaper user!

I saw one interview with Jon Poole some time ago and he basically says this: Tim gave him this part and asked him to write a solo for it. He mentioned that Tim played some piano on this part, so I always thought that this background piano was Tim's playing. Also, I think there's much more stuff happening there beyond what you've managed to have transcribed so far. Jon Poole's solo was originally performed on a guitar and I think I can actually hear clean guitar tone behind the harpsichord synth that Tim probably dubbed on afterwards. I also tried transcribing this solo but as far as I remember, it came out sounding a bit different from what you did. Gotta dig it up and compare 'em. Thanks for the analysis!

Absolutely love this sort of thing

his brothers bass playing does so much to carry these crazy melodies

This makes this section even more impressive how much they managed to cram into an already harmonically dense part without it being overwhelming. Tim hid all sorts of nice "ear candy" moments all over this record.

Now when I listen this second "hidden" melody stands out to me clear as day!

Absolutely Incredible. Thank you Dave, I don’t think I would have ever noticed otherwise.

MY MIND IS BLOWN!

what has been heard cannot be unheard..... :)

Unreal , nice breakdown , that's a lot of work trying to uncover the mad musical genius put into that track !! Great Work !!

Yeah this is pretty nuts. Thank you so much for bringing it to light!

Well done brother!! Though an important point has to be made: you might have preferred break down this very same compositional moment ripping it off from the outro to Fairy Mary Mag, rather than from the original track where it actually belongs. To be precise, more than an outro, I would definite it a "bridging ghost track" which is quite a sensational technique Cardiacs adopts now and then throughout the album, if you pay well attention, and punctually presenting excerpts from other songs living in the same album, isolating picked parts of the production. And to be complete a list of the songs where this happens: Dog Like Sparky (Track 3) + Manhoo (Track 9) combined together used to bridge Dog Like Sparky (itself) (Track 3) and Fiery Gun Hand (track 4) Odd Even (track 13) used to bridge Fairy Mary Mag (track 6) and Belleye (track 7) Dog Like Sparky (again!) (Track 3) used to bridge Bellyeye (Track 7) and A Horse's Tail (Track 8) Extra: Foundling (Track 22) and Fiery Gun Hand (Track 4) echoing in Quite as a Mouse (track 17) Hearing the isolated track in Fairy Mary Mag, you'll hear there are additional layering going on, including a secondary melody sticking tight and harmonizing the main line and another piano coming from the left speaker as well as Tim's lovely voice humming sparsely the notes and the rhythm. =')

Yes!

Good detective work I've heard all sorts of treasures in the cardiacs art work and it's all musical genius, people always say "why are the cardiacs not more popular they're amazin" well the reason is us fans are lucky enough to have the ears to unlock and enjoy this music some people aren't as fortunate.

Lovely!

Love it

3:00 that's "Hope Day"! hearing that made me cry a little

Is it possible it's another John Poole guitar line but done with varispeed? It sounds like that kind of timbre and resonance to me when it's all in there originally. But definitely never heard it before no.. That's really bizarre

Cardiacs are weird.. odd even. I love it!

when you think you have a melody worked out... now I have to learn to sing along with this bit

i love cardiacs bro

OMG!

He left us a bottomless treasure chest to explore...

Brain. Blown.

more than likely tim improvised that as an overdub and went "yeah, yeah that sounds like when the bike goes down the road and looks around and the wheels tell me off" and kept it in.

I feel like mye life is a lie after watching this video. Like how have I not heard this melody before?????

I did a cover of this bit and I DID sit and painstakingly transcribe this ‘hidden’ piano melody aside from the bass and main melody. But there’s an elusive parallel harmony to the main melody which is less obvious than the hidden piano but maybe I’m imagining it. Every other cover of Odd Even sounds slightly different. I have no idea what’s ‘right’ and what isn’t.

That counterpoint is panned out quite far, so if you split stereo to mono and invert one of the two you almost get it out solo.

Holy shit. Yeah, no that's legitimately brainmelting.

I can't help but wonder if it's an "Easter egg" or the foundation upon which he built the song.

Initially, I thought that you were merely hearing residual harmonics. Now however, I'm not sure!

I know there are a lot of extremely talented people in prog but is there anyone who would come up with something as wildly complex and subtle as this? (I'm not an expert)

I wasn't aware that was supposed to be hidden.

Thank you so much for this video. Did you make a sheet music notation of this motif with the counterpoint melody? If so, would it be possible for me to receive a pdf?

#doughelvering needs to react to #cardiacs

that single line isnt from the Clangers is it?

And how did you voice that glorious wet fart of a tritone cluster on the last note? Tim said he loved that when Jon showed it to him ;)