Songs From The Long Land by Paul Needs

Paul has a strong sense of his time in history, returning to his teenage years with his memories of the beach and fairground in his town in the powerful and anthemic "Where Were You The Day They Burned Miami Down?"

Although he features and performs as a strong guitar player and singer these days, Paul still considers his 'main' instrument to be the bass, and some delightful playing can be heard on his self-produced work, as well as on archive recordings of his old band of the 80's, "The Reactions".

SONGS FROM THE LONG LAND

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"It was another lifetime.

"The children, taught their letters and Bible, would march from the schoolroom and straight to work.

"It might be in the mines, the steel and tinplate works or foundries, or in shops, cinemas - maybe the docks. The coal and steel would go out, and bananas, iron ore and other goods would arrive.

"Every summer, the miners from the south Wales valleys would arrive by charabanc, coach and train, and head straight for the sea.

"The Sea! A week of clean water, sunlight and the taste and smell of the fairground, the cockles* and laver bread**, the salt air. And then, back to their holes in the ground, their foundries and furnaces, their dark and dusty towns and the dangerous blackness in their vision, hearts and lungs.

"It is easy to paint such a picture, but these folk were real, their lives and loves real, their hopes and dreams - all real. In their hearts were songs. Songs from the Long Land."

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Having made his first TV appearance on BBC TV when he was 11, Paul has been a professional musician and performer for more than 25 years, having had his own material played on BBC radio and even at a wedding in the USA.

Paul was born and raised in the same area of the United Kingdom as Tom Jones, The Stereophonics, Manic Street Preachers and Bonnie Tyler, and indeed the same town as acting giants Richard Burton and Anthony Hopkins - Port Talbot.

Having grown up in an industrial town - his father having worked as both miner and furnace-man, and his mother having done wartime work in a munitions factory - Paul is most aware of the sharp end of life.

Conscious of the rich heritage of his country, he comments and celebrates it through his songs.

Needs has now taken his views on topics as disparate as the decline of Aberavon Beach as a resort to the Industrial Revolution in his beloved south Wales, and assembled them into this collection of songs - all exclusively written and performed by himself, and recorded at his own studio.

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Quotes on album track "Don't Want To Love You"

Refreshing

AHHHH-like a tall glass of cold lemonade on a hot summer day-there are good songwriters left in the

world!- unclepetey

East Islip, New York

The hook is good the singers voice is cool. Mix well yea sounds good. Lyrics are very refreshing an

good.- stevepsycho

Van Nuys, California

Good effort I like it, kinda John Lennon like.

John L. comes out in vocals. - ISBFAN

Hammond, Louisiana

This is allright,i love this style...a good band, good lyrics,and yes the mix is good...i like it a

lot!- Dansety Hilversum,

Noord Holland, Netherlands

Nice stuff. I think the song is pretty strong overall, i typically go for more complex songs

lyrically, but this isn't bad. the mix is pretty good as well. - mercStars,

Brooklyn, New York

Big sound in the intro, sounds a bit country-ish, a little bit of twang in there. Just a hint of Neil

Young. Good instrumental hook under the pre-chorus or start of the chorus. - MilesAway

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Bass is cool i like the bowie like chord progression and vocals. mix is good nothing overpowering the

killer vox. I dont wanna love you. Everyone can relate I like it and the marching part in chorus is

cool. - bukiboo

Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Charming.

Rolling Stones meet's the Smiths, with Davey Jones singing lead. Bitter-sweet and touchingly retro.

With all that in mind, it's a catchy tune. Stumbling Mowtown beat. I enjoy the sound quality...

warmly low-fi. Charming. - inspi Kansas City, Missouri

Some quotes about the single: "Where were you the day they burned Miami down?" Free download at www.paulneeds.com

Killer intro.....WOW! darn near blew my speakers up,but it would have been worth it,nice power. Procarm, from Conshohocken, Pennsylvania

Just got the CD over the weekend Paul. It's really good! The first track is catchy and reminds me of Jason and the Scortchers! You rock! - Bill Jehle, USA

I wanted to dance. The song was good musically, I would have enjoyed hearing you live at a venue. Your arrangement kept me interested. The guitar and drums sounded really talented. Vamby, Upstate, New York

Here's something special!

This is terrific! The song opens (and ends) with a nostalgic montage of fairground sounds and then hits you right beween the eyes with an amazing wall of hard rock guitars, so much more powerful than they would be without that intro. The singer has a voice that reminds me very strongly of Al Stewart and the lyrics made me laugh out loud - very funny questions asked of the listener. - The Farmers Wife, London, England, United Kingdom

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Paul Needs Recording Credits:

The Reactions

The Joys of Aural Sex

In One Era and Out of the Other

The Reactions/Steps - "Anthology" - due for release via Rialto on March 1 2005. Completely remastered/engineered by acclaimed remaster engineer Andrew Sandoval, who's credits include [among others]remastering the following artists: The Beach Boys, Love, The Monkees, The Band, Elvis Costello, Love, Beau Brummels. Paul played bass and backing vocals on several tracks, and one of his own original songs, "Let You Go", is included on this double CD.

Pete Watkins CD

"Madness in My Method"

(played bass/box on two or three tracks recorded with The Reactions)

Solo projects

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Did you ever see a man?

That was Now

Songs from the Long Land

Production Credits

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No. 9 Blast EP

More facts about Paul

Favourite songwriter: Pete Townshend

Favourite colour: Blue

Favourite quote: "However, a fart has no nose"

Next project: Several band projects just starting up. He also wants to write an overblown, pretentious and thoroughly un-insightful rock tribute to Holst's "The Planets". 'Music from Uranus' is the only song underway at present... His fiancé, Beth, thinks the song's a heap of sh!te and that he's a bag of gas...

Current state of mind: "Too many years, too few teeth".

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* - A shellfish popular in south Wales, UK

** - Laverbread is a food made from boiling a particular species of seaweed for many hours. Served with fried bacon, having been thoroughly re-heated in the fat in which the bacon was cooked. Wonderful. Inspirational. Black/dark green - clean your teeth afterwards before smiling...

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