Secrets of Soho (2006)

by Tim Arnold

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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Comes in a limited edition jewel case with gloss 16 page lyric booklet.

Includes unlimited streaming of Secrets of Soho (2006) via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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Full Digital Discography

51

releases

Get all 51 Tim Arnold releases available on Bandcamp and save 40%.

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Numb (feat. Sarah Kershaw), Walking Through Walls (2004), Éclaire-moi (Send More Light), Send More Light (Ambient Glow Remix by Richard Norris), Send More Light (Aeolian Mix), Send More Light (Dark Light Mix), Alúmbranos (Send More Light), Send More Light (Live at Isle Of Wight Festival), and 43 more. , and , .

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1.	Inside Out 04:30	buy track
2.	Marina 04:57	buy track
3.	Jimmy Dodger 03:14	buy track
4.	England's Getting Colder 03:44	buy track
5.	Life In A Day 03:54	buy track
6.	Actress 03:46	buy track
7.	Deal The Deck 04:02	buy track
8.	The Colony 04:13	buy track
9.	The Girl On The Door 04:23	buy track
10.	Tisbury Court 04:36	buy track
11.	Killing Pain 04:18	buy track

about

“Like all the best heart-flayed-open records, it’s a delicate yet powerful affair. String quartets lifting from the grooves like a flock of pigeons rising over Soho Square.”
Mark Beaumont, NME

“This solo album is a picturesque trawl through a thousand lost nights, with Life In A Day being particularly and poignantly lovely.”
Q Magazine

Secrets of Soho was the first proper album I made in London after moving back from the monastery in Thailand. I had long wanted to make an album about the turbulent times I had experienced in the area, along with my observations of the Soho sex industry. Working for the Maltese had been an eye opener and there were many stories I had collected about the working girls in Soho who had become friends of mine. I worked in that world before I signed to Sony, and after I was dropped. I often worked for the Maltese as an errand boy. Many of the ladies who worked in Soho treated me like a younger brother. I had great affection for them all, one in particular who became immortalised in the song Marina.

The songs became an account of everything from struggling with addiction (Killing Pain), Jimmy Dodger), to resuscitating a woman who had overdosed (Deal The Deck) and watching the goings on of the clip joints (The Girl On The Door).

The concept for the album only became concrete when I decided on the title (suggested to me by my friend and long standing production manager Nim Arnold). I recorded the album in the famous Colony Room club. The manager of the club – Michael Wojas, gave me the keys on a weekend when the club was closed and said I could move in with my studio and record for three days as long as I was out by Monday morning. I took all my equipment and a sleeping bag and did exactly that. I set up a recording area directly under a huge Francis Bacon painting that was hanging on the wall and began laying the tracks down.

It’s definitely the most DIY album I have made. Only the string overdubs and double bass were recorded back at my flat on Brewer Street. The artwork was very important to me and included photographs all of my family and extended family during their Soho heyday. Like many of my albums, I got to present it live in a way that I was happy with – once. This was at the old Raymond Revue Bar in Walkers Court (at the time known as The Soho Revue Bar) with an incredible ensemble of musicians and the actor Ben Miller who portrayed me in a surreal way of presenting two versions of myself.

I rarely perform any of the songs from Secrets of Soho live today, except for Marina which has become a favourite among my loyal band of followers. It is probably still my favourite single song of my own that I love to perform live.

credits

released June 19, 2006

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about

Tim Arnold London, UK

Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, film-maker and social activist – Tim Arnold is a maverick artist whose work stretches the boundaries of the imagination and defies genre and category. In recognition of Tim’s constant change of musical direction, Iggy Pop compared Tim to David Bowie during their collaboration on the film 'Blood Orange'. ... more

Recommendations

shows

May 9

Anthony Minghella Theatre, Quay Arts

Newport (Isle of Wight), UK
May 17

The Florrie

Liverpool, UK
May 29

Chapel Arts

Bath, UK
Jun 4

Cockpit Theatre

London, UK
Jun 20

Isle of Wight Festival

Newport, UK

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