''Out for the Count'' is the third album by

Show of Hands Show of Hands is an English acoustic roots/ folk duo formed in 1986 by singer-songwriter Steve Knightley (guitars, mandolin, mandocello, cuatro) and composer and multi-instrumentalist Phil Beer (vocals, guitars, violin, viola, mandolin, mando ...

. The album follows

Phil Beer Phil Beer (born 12 May 1953 in Exminster, Devon, England) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and one half of English acoustic roots duo Show of Hands. Biography Beer first began to play fiddle, guitar, and mandolin whils ...

's departure from

The Albion Band The Albion Band, also known as The Albion Country Band, The Albion Dance Band, and The Albion Christmas Band, were a British folk rock band, originally brought together and led by musician Ashley Hutchings. Generally considered one of the mo ...

in 1990, allowing Show of Hands to become a full-time partnership. Recorded straight to Digital Audio Tape in The Old Court,

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

, in 1991, the duo released the album later on in the year on cassette, becoming the final of their cassette-only releases. The album was released to a positive reception from concert goers, but as with the duo's previous releases, it did not bring the bang attention from any publications. The duo followed the release with their first CD release, ''

Show of Hands Live ''Live'' (also known as ''Live '92'' and ''Show of Hands Live'') is the first live album by English acoustic roots duo Show of Hands. After the duo had recorded three studio albums on cassette from 1987–1991, the last of these being '' Out fo ...

'' (1992). By 1995, ''Out for the Count'' and the duo's first two albums were out of print, so the duo released the compilation album ''Backlog 1987–1991'' (1995) containing material from the three albums, including five songs from ''Out for the Count''. It is the only Show of Hands album to not have any of its songs featured on '' Roots: The Best of Show of Hands'', however several of their albums that do have a song featured were re-recorded for the compilation.

Background and recording

, a

-based folk duo of Steve Knightley and

, formed in 1986. Nonetheless, having known each other since 1972, they had performed before hand, including when Knightley contributed to Beer's first live album with

Paul Downes Paul Downes is an English folk guitarist, singer and composer. He has appeared on eight albums with bands, three highly acclaimed solo albums and has over 150 session credits. He has toured every concert venue, theatre and festival in Britain, p ...

, '' Live in Concept'' (1980), and Beer's role in Knightley's pub rock bands of the 1980s, Short Stories, The Cheats and Total Strangers, when members of those bands could not appear. This is in addition to the duo and Downe's early 1980s band Arizona Smoke Revue. Beer joined

in 1984, this halting collaborations between the two for a while. Nonetheless, Beer found some free time in 1987 and suggested to Knightley they form a duo. The duo recorded their first two albums, ''

'' (1987) and ''

Tall Ships A tall ship is a large, traditionally- rigged sailing vessel. Popular modern tall ship rigs include topsail schooners, brigantines, brigs and barques. "Tall ship" can also be defined more specifically by an organization, such as for a race or ...

'' (1990) in small home studios, and sold them only as cassette releases at the duo's concerts. In 1990, Beer left The Albion Band, allowing Show of Hands to become a full-time musical partnership. The duo set to recording their third album very shortly afterwards. They traveled to The Old Court,

, in 1991 to record their third album "by the fire" there. Titled ''Out for the Count'', each of its songs was recorded straight to Digital Audio Tape (DAT) without any overdubs or other studio work, presenting a basic "live" sound. The songs were mostly written by Knightley. "Limbo" is a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of a Jimmy Cliff song.

Release and legacy

The album was self-released by the duo in 1991. As with the duo's previous two albums, it was released on

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in th ...

, and only sold at the duo's concerts. Being much a low-key release, it was not reviewed by any local publications, but attenders to the concerts greeted the release with praise. Following its release, the duo recorded their first CD studio album and live album, ''

'', on 8 June 1992 in

Bridport Bridport is a market town in Dorset, England, inland from the English Channel near the confluence of the River Brit and its tributary the Asker. Its origins are Saxon and it has a long history as a rope-making centre. On the coast and wit ...

. That same year, they also formed the Anglo-Chilean band Alianza who released one album. ''Out for the Count'' turned out to be the duo's final cassette release. By 1995, neither ''Out for the Count'' or the duo's first two albums were available any longer, having gone out of print. ''Show of Hands Live'' had effectively become their debut album, with it being the earliest album still acknowledged by the duo. To make sure music from the first three albums was still available to fans, they released the compilation album ''Backlog 1987–1991'' (1995) on their own label

Hands on Music A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each "han ...

. The compilation contains what the duo considered to be the best songs from their first three albums. Five songs from ''Out for the Count'' feature on the compilation album, namely "The Tramp Stamp/Chasing The Jack", "Limbo", "The Leaving Blues", "Walking in the Rain" and "Pleasures of the Town/Seneca Two-Step". Beer would re-record "Limbo" for his solo album ''

Rhythm Methodist ''Rhythm Methodist'' (typeset as ''RHYThM METhODIST'' on the 2005 version) is the fourth studio album by Phil Beer (sixth including the Phil Beer Band studio albums). Recorded at Riverside Studio whilst on a break from Show of Hands, the album is ...

'' (2005), his version being described as being closer to

The Neville Brothers The Neville Brothers were an American R&B/soul/funk group, formed in 1976 in New Orleans, Louisiana. History The group notion started in 1976, when the four brothers of the Neville family, Art (1937–2019), Charles (1938–2018), Aaron (b. 1 ...

' interpretation of the song.''Rhythm Methodist'' liner notes.

Track listing

#"Berlin" #"Limbo" #"Walking in the Rain" #"Tramp Stamp / Chasing the Jack" #"Leaving Blues" #"Winter Has Gone" #"Positively 4th Street" #"Pleasures of the Town" / "Seneca Two Step" #"Poorman" #"Mess Of Blues"

Personnel

* Steve Knightley (vocals, guitar) *

(guitar, fiddles, vocals)

References

{{Authority control Show of Hands albums 1991 albums Self-released albums