Easy Pieces Limited 180gm vinyl LP pressing. Lloyd Cole & The Commotions – Cole, Blair Cowan, Lawrence Donegan, Neil Clark, and Stephen Irvine – were formed in Glasgow in 1982, where Buxton-born singer-songwriter Cole was studying Philosophy and English at the University of Glasgow. Their sound swam against the tide of shiny 80s synthesizers, offering intense, melodic, guitar-based pop, topped with droll words packed with literary references. Given just how loved the debut album “Rattlesnakes” was, it would have been hard for whatever followed to be received as warmly – yet “Easy Pieces” made a good first of it. It sold twice as many copies in its first two weeks as “Rattlesnakes” had to date, giving the group a Top 5 chart placing on its release in November 1985. Recorded with 80s super-producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley, its first two singles, the brooding, gospel-influenced “Brand New Friend” and the forever-jaunty “Lost Weekend,” reached the UK Top 20.
