Working alone for the main part, in a tiny attic space at Air Studios, Stephen found himself writing songs that helped him explore his complex relationship to success and to the death of his father some years previously. Retreat into his own childhood helped him remember who he was and yielded deeply moving memorials to simpler times. 

 

When Robbie Williams - who, in multi-instrumentalist Claire Worrall - shared a mutual friend with Stephen – heard Family Coach he was sufficiently moved to cover the song and commenced a writing partnership with Stephen that would ultimately result in 2005’s multi-platinum Intensive Care album. Claire appearance on Looking was her first as a member of The Lilac Time. The dramatic impact of her arrival can be heard in her exquisite harmonies on Nursery Walls, the title track – and, indeed, every subsequent Lilac Time album, her availability considerably enhanced by the fact that she and Stephen would end up marrying each other. Completing this line-up of The Lilac Time are Melvin Duffy (slide guitar) and the returning Nick Duffy, who contributes two beautiful instrumentals, The Spirit Moves and Broken Cloud.

 

CD edition featuring contemporaneous B-sides and demos. Remastered at Abbey Road by Miles Showell.