C O A B Discography

Third LP: The Beat Conductor     Release Date: 26th September 2005

Singles:

Track List:

Songwriter: Chris Sakes

Background to LP

The overall feedback from Me, You & Jesus 2 gave the two band members a lot to think about. Most people were impressed that from out of nothing came these great songs that had structure and cohesion but more importantly had a groove too! It was a major improvement on the 1^st LP.

Chris however, did not want to sit on his laurels (or his hardys). There were enough songs in his own collection to put out a 3^rd LP straight away but already he began finding more samples to work with and found sounds from other sources and had loads of new ideas.

The major change here was that Holly was now gainfully employed in a full-time position at a London gym and was much happier creating mixes for the several classes she ran there than actually creating new songs for the band. It was left to Chris to carry on the good name, which was now another problem.

Christ On A Bike as a moniker was used as a starting vehicle for creating a file sharing scam. Now, however, the band name was becoming a little more than a joke, to some people it was a little near the knuckle, blasphemous even. Perhaps another change was needed.

Chris had decided that the band name would be shortened to the acronym of C O A B on future releases but that Christ On A Bike would still feature on the covers somewhere.

Chris worked heavily on new songs during January and February, which added to the huge number left in his song library, although these were not outtakes from the 2^nd LP.

Of those that had been left off the previous LP, Das Loop and French Girl Talking were the only survivors in the running to appear on the 3^rd LP, now provisionally entitled C O A B 3.

The first two new songs to be produced were The Sun Is Shining Bright and Things On His Mind. The latter was later extended by a further minute to place it as the final song on the 3^rd LP, whilst the former was looked upon as the potential 1^st single.

March 2005 was a particularly prolific month for Chris. There were 13 songs recorded in this time and already an early version of C O A B 3 was formulating in his mind.

In April the first draft 3^rd LP was put together. At this point it featured the two Xmas songs which the band had intended to release in December but the artwork and CD production were not ready in time so the idea was abandoned.

In fact, this was no bad thing, as Chris refined the two songs with Holly’s help and then produced an additional song in the same vein, all with mainly orchestral instruments layered over a smooth backbeat and of course the proverbial Christmas bells and horns.

These three songs would form the backbone of another stab at a Xmas single this time, in an EP format with a more esoteric version of French Girl Talking, known obviously as French Girl Talking Too! This time C O A B would have a full Xmas EP ready, set to be rolled out after the new LP.

During April and May 2005 Chris added more songs mainly of the dance/pop variety and it now seemed that there were easily enough songs to spill over into further singles that would not have to be included on the LP. This was great news because emulating the success of the 2^nd LP, with it's bouncy four singles, seemed an unenviable task but now the band had more than enough songs to put out up to eight or nine singles.

Soon some of the potential songs slated for the C O A B 3 were being replaced by newer tunes, which Chris was much more excited about.

Dropped at this time was the electronic instrumental Six Satellites whilst three new songs were added to increase the LP to 14 tracks. These were; the drum n bass tune One-Two, the ethnic soundscape of Voices In The Wilderness and the trance-like chant of Welcome To Babylon.

Several of the earlier recordings were now re-mixed or re-produced which gave Chris the idea of putting out more than the usual number of singles that are taken from LPs particularly since there were four new songs which definitely had dancefloor or pop single potential.

Around the beginning of June 2005 a third and final draft LP was created with three of these new songs added purely as a try-out to see how they might fit on a 17 song CD. These were Nekkid, Everybody Put Their Hands Up and NY-LON 2. However it was agreed to stick to the first 14 songs instead.

NY-LON 2 was held back mainly because it was felt it would make a great single and there had already been too many LP tracks lined up as singles. It is now set to be the main song on the seventh single with the possibility that it will feature on the 4^th LP in a different version (there are currently three versions of this track). Whilst Everybody.. will feature on the 4th single and Nekkid on the 5th.

To read more about the singles from this and other LPs go to    the Singles sections.