Field of Glass

Field Of Glass
Field Of Glass
EP by The Triffids
Released	February 1985
Recorded	BBC Studio 5, Maida Vale, London; November 6, 1984
Genre	Rock / Folk rock
Label	Hot Records
Producer	Mark Radcliffe
The Triffids chronology

Field Of Glass by The Triffids was released as a 12" extended play in 1985.^[1] All three tracks were generally recorded live at BBC Studio 5, Maida Vale, London. The EP was produced by Mark Radcliffe,^[1] engineered by Mike Robinson, engineered by Owen Davies and remixed by Nick Cook at Townhouse 3.^[2]

Details

The first two songs, "Bright Lights, Big City" and "Monkey On My Back", deal directly with David McComb’s drug abuse^{[citation needed]} and are infused with bitterness and desperation. The song which gave its name to the EP tells the tale of a loner who has some unrequited love issues with a rich girl who's just finished school. He pleads with her to ride with him on a baking hot summer's night and she goes along. Driven mad by the intolerable heat and by her rejection he murders her. This song was originally two songs – "Field of Glass" and "Pleasure Slide".

McComb later said, "When we got to London I think we sort of felt we had to make a kind of statement. We recorded the Field of Glass EP just when we got there, which is still I guess the most aggressive and violent record that we had done. It gave us heaps of confidence."^[3]

"Evil" Graham Lee noted the EP was, "a psychodrama from beginning to end, with a ferocious, partly improvised maelstrom of a sound to match the tortured, twisted and sometimes very funny lyrics. Nothing The Triffids had done to this point could have prepared listeners for the onslaught of Field Of Glass."^[4]

Track listing

All tracks written by David McComb.^[5]

"Bright Lights, Big City"
"Monkey on My Back"
"Field of Glass"

Personnel

The Triffids

Credited to:^[1]

David McComb – vocals, guitar
Robert McComb – guitar, percussion, vocals
Alsy MacDonald – drums, vocals
Martyn Casey (aka Daubney Carshott) – bass
Jill Birt – keyboard

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c Holmgren, Magnus; Skjefte, Morten; Warnqvist, Stefan; Simonetti, Vince. "The Triffids". Passagen.se. Australian Rock Database (Magnus Holmgren). Archived from the original on 28 July 2002. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
^ "Listings for Field Of Glass". Discogs. Retrieved 2007-12-20.
^ Tracee Hutchison (1992). Your Name's On The Door. Sydney: ABC Enterprises. p. 87. ISBN 0-7333-0115-0.
^ Alex Denney. "A Beautiful Waste: in search of The Triffids". Drowned in Sound. Archived from the original on 2018-07-29. Retrieved 2018-07-29.
^ "Australasian Performing Right Association". APRA. Archived from the original on 2008-05-05. Retrieved 2007-12-19.