JOHNNY WARMAN

UK DISCOGRAPHY

Johnny Warman ought to be much more remembered than he is:
during the early 80s he released two albums heavily inspired by Peter Gabriel - he even used some of Peter's musicians.

1975 LP (+CD) BEARDED LADY: THE RISE AND FALL
  1. Rockstar
  2. Midnight Flight
  3. Lost in a Place
  4. Head-on Collision
  5. Floating on the Wind
  6. Warning
  7. UP in the Air
  8. The Riot
  9. Silver Box
  10. Thank You
  11. Kerb Crawler [live at Marquee Club, Germany - bonus track on CD] (UK CD 12 Jan 2004: Angel Air SJPCD 153)
http://www.angelair.force9.co.uk/sjpcd153.htm

Johnny Warman told me this behind-the-scene story 18 Feb 2004: "When we signed to Youngblood International in 1974 it was on the strength of the Demo we recorded called 'Rockstar'. They sat on it for a year without releasing it and subsequently we were out of a deal. They decided to release it in 1975 just after we returned from a short tour in Germany. We had written and recorded all the songs on the CD ourselves with the intention of getting a proper Record Deal and we were hailed as the New Humble Pie by Larry Yaskiel who was a top talent scout for Warner Brothers back then and we were going to be the first British Act signed to Private Stock Records. Sadly it all fell through."

Jan 1978 non-LP 7" Head On Collision

    Head On Collision 3.01//London's Burning 2.54/Mind Games 2.51 (Ring O' Records, 2017 112)
This is Ringo Starr's own label. Thanks to Brad Howard for info on this single.

1979 LP (+ CD) HOUR GLASS

  1. Twilight Zone 4.05
  2. Silver Towers 5.59
  3. It Ain't Funny 3.16
  4. Laughing Academy 5.17
  5. Street Angels 4.39//
  6. Tomorrow Babies 4.05
  7. Wonderland 3.20
  8. So Long 3.57
  9. The House Glass 4.51
  10. War of the Worlds 8.50 (LP: Ring O' Records)

    CD BONUS TRACKS:

  11. Head On Collision 3.01
  12. London's Burning 2.54
  13. Mind Games 2.51
  14. Silver Towers (live) 4.38
  15. Tomorrows Babies (live) 3.41
  16. Head on Collision (live) 3.07
  17. Suicide (live) 2.55
  18. It's Alright Boys 3.48 (UK CD 11 April 2005: Angel Air SJPCD 183)
All songs by Johnny Warman. Produced by Vic Coppersmith-Heaven. 14-18 previously unreleased. Johnny Warman originally planned to include one further unreleased track called 'Fast Cars/High Angles', but it was removed in favour of the live tracks.

1979 7" Tomorrow Babies

    Tomorrow Babies/Golden Lions 4.03 (RCA PB 5658)

5 Sep 1980 non-LP 7" [As "Three Minutes":] Automatic Kids

    Automatic Kids 3.23/Future Fun (live) 2.58 (Rocket, XPRES 40)
3 April 1981 7" Dance with Me
    Dance with Me 3.18/King Robot 2.59 (Rocket, XPRES 51)
5 June 1981 7" Screaming Jets
    Screaming Jets/American Machines 3.29 (Rocket, XPRES 56)
July 1981 LP (+ CD) WALKING INTO MIRRORS
  1. Walking into Mirrors 3.39
  2. Radio Active 3.41
  3. Searchlight 2.58
  4. Martian Summer 4.45
  5. Screaming Jets 5.25
  6. Three Minutes 4.04
  7. Dance with Me 3.18
  8. (S.O.S.) Sending out Signals 3.21
  9. Dancing Dolls 3.49
  10. Fantastic Light 6.18

    CD BONUS TRACKS:

  11. American Machines 3.29 [B-side Screaming Jets]
  12. Automatic Kids 3.23 [non-LP single as 'Three Minutes']
  13. King Robot 2.59 [B-side Dance with Me]
  14. Future Fun (live) 2.58 [B-side Automatic Kids]
  15. Here Come the Reds 2.35 [previously unreleased]
  16. Golden Lions 4.03 [B-side Tomorrow's Babies, 1979]
  17. Screaming Jets (video)
  18. Walking into Mirrors (video) (UK CD 7 Oct 2002: Angel Air SJPCD 127)
The CD contains a very nice booklet with lots of photos and comments from Johnny himself about the making of the album.

Johnny told me this about the previously unreleased CD bonus track 'Here Come the Reds' (17 Jan 2004): "This was recorded on the same session as Automatic Kids and King Robot with the musicians Jeff Rich on drums and Rhino Edwards on bass just prior to them becoming the engine room for Status Quo. The lyrics still make me smile "Check out your pal? Could be the next Chairman Mao" and "Look at your Mum" "Cos she might be one" and especially one that I still love "It's A bomb A nation" Magic stuff .... It did not make a single though according to the Record Company but we loved playing it live and it is still one of Rhino's favorites."

13 Nov 1981 7" Three Minutes

    Three Minutes (single remix)/Jon Glass 2.48 (Rocket, XPRES 67)
Johnny told me this about this single and its B-side 'Jon Glass' (17 Jan 2004): " I do have a few of them still. It is a White Sleeve with Black Writing on it. It was released on Rocket XPRES 67 and features Hugh Padgham on Fire Extinguisher. It is a classic and Jerry Marotta was beside himself with laughter when he heard it. Jon Glass is the funniest lyric I ever wrote, about a Stranger from the Planet Venus." He added 18 Feb 2004: "Jon Glass did not appear on the Walking Into Mirrors album purely because of not enough space on the vinyl. It will be appearing on the CD 'From the Jungle to the New Horizons' along with six or seven unreleased tracks."

5 Nov 1982 7" Dream, Dream, Dream

    Dream, Dream, Dream 3.53/Satellites 3.13 (Rocket, XPRES 89)
Dec? 1982 LP (+ CD) FROM THE JUNGLE TO THE NEW HORIZONS
  1. From the Jungles to the New Horizons 7.49
  2. Spirit in the Sky 3.36
  3. Looking Back (to See If Someone's Looking Back at Me) 3.58
  4. China's Moving (West) 6.04
  5. I Love My Planet 4.30
  6. (United) The State of America 5.22
  7. Flying out of Windows 4.17
  8. Dream, Dream, Dream 3.53
  9. Y.C. 1.21

    CD BONUS TRACKS:

  10. Satellite 3.13 [B-side Dream, Dream, Dream]
  11. I Wonder What Makes Us Normal? 3.27 [previously unreleased]
  12. Jon Glass 2.48 [B-side Three Minutes - from the previous LP]
  13. All the World 3.46 [previously unreleased]
  14. Zoo 5.16 [previously unreleased]
  15. Explorer 8 (The Watcher) 3.32 [previously unreleased]
  16. The World Came Down 3.04 [previously unreleased]
  17. Into the Void 3.35 [previously unreleased] (UK CD 14 June 2004: Angel Air SJPCD 170)
Johnny Warman told me this 18 Feb 2004 about the extra tracks: "'Zoo' features me, Jerry Marotta and Tony Levin plus a chorus of birds and the sound is 'Monster', 'All the World' is Jerry on massive rolling Tom Toms and me on super flanged guitar... once again a very Big Sound and 21 years before White Stripes?? That is more a reference to just drums and guitar, as opposed to Jerry wearing a dress! or even being related to me? I remastered it the other day and it sounds fantastic. I am very proud of it."

5 Oct 1984 7" Here Comes the Beat Patrol

    Here Comes the Beat Patrol/Don't Call Me (EMI/RAK, RAK 376)

Oct 1992 CD RINGO STARR: TIME TAKES TIME

Thanks to Ari-Pekka Sihvonen for the information.

On Oct 26th 2000 Mick Frost sent me these photos. He told me: "Johnny Warman has been working in and around London for a few years in a band called '4 Bills and a Ben' (a reference to a childrens' T.V. show from the 1960`s, BILL and BEN, the flower-pot Men). When a friend of mine (Peter) got married a few years ago, 4 Bills played at his reception, as a thank you to Peter for being their sound engineer on gigs around London. The bass-man and drummer are currently members of Status Quo and play with Johnny when their touring commitments allow. To the best of my knowledge, the other members of 4 Bills are top quality session musicians of whom I have no Information."

Copyright (c) 1996-08-28 Jonas Wårstad.

Last update 2005-04-15.

www.themodsband.com (Johnny's new band)

Johnny Warman's new project '4 Bills and a Ben' (page # 1)

'4 Bills and a Ben' (page # 2)

www.feenstra.co.uk / www.statusquo.co.uk/bills.htm / www.rhinosite.co.uk (more info on 4 Bills and a Ben)

A Warman fan site

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