Nikki Sudden Waiting on Egypt (1982)
This week started with the death of Nikki Sudden. I have 23 different CDs of his various albums and collections. So you can say I'm a bit of a fan without fear of contradiction. I'm listening to the Swell Maps as I type (Vertical Slum from A Trip To Marineville) and no doubt I'll partake of his work solo, with the Jacobites and with Birthday Party guitarist Rowland S. Howard in the near future. I had brief and distant dealings with Nikki Sudden a few years ago. I wanted to buy some of his back catalogue, so I e-mailed his website and soon heard back from the man himself. There was some back and forth in the following days about how I might pay him. In the meanwhile, the albums in question arrived in a padded envelope that judging by the accretion of postmarks on it had already travelled between Spain, Germany and Taiwan. Yes, Nikki Sudden was the sort of guy who would mail $100 worth of CDs to a total stranger on 24 hours notice. He was either very trusting or totally disorganized. I did manage to pay him - to be more precise, he asked that I send the funds via PayPal to Secretly Canadian supremo Chris Swanson. Swanson was responsible for seeing a large chunk of Sudden's catalogue back into print, and I'm grateful for it. The man born Adrian Nicholas Godfrey a little less than 50 years ago will never be a household name, but he'll always be remembered by me for carrying the torch for rock'n'roll when too many others had dropped it. Rest in peace, Nikki Sudden.
Much respect for your Nikki Sudden trib. I used to live in Leamington Spa, where he & Epic were from. Their names were still talked of in tones of hushed reverence by those in the know, which was sadly not too many. Thanks for remembering.
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