This was the final of 4 albums from Nutshell though a Best of compilation was released in 1981. Ken Scott (Archivist: Vintage Vinyl Jesus Music) described the band as “at their best, as an English version of the American Christian folk group 2nd Chapter of Acts”. I find that a little condescending (though I don’t know if it was meant to be) as the band had some real talent. The album has that late 70’s Jesus music feel and on a couple of tracks I can feel a bit of soul. There is some really good guitar work especially on “Thief In The Night”. This is not a Rock & Roll album and would be classified as Easy Listening but I think it’s pretty good. After this album the band changed their name to ” Network 3″ and released a couple 7″ singles. Several members of the band went on to have successful solo careers and Paul Field in particular also had a successful songwriting career including many songs for Cliff Richard.
Tracklist
1 – Better Take Another Look – 3:41
2 – Empty Page – 5:06
3 – Looking For Love – 3:25
4 – Goin’ Nowhere – 3:53
5 – Redeemed – 3:43
6 – First Stone – 3:25
7 – Night Flight – 4:18
8 – Without Love – 3:32
9 – Hard To Say Goodnight – 3:49
10 – Thief In The Night – 3:55
Credits
Arranged By [Brass Arrangements] – Chris Mercer
Bass – John Gustafson
Brass – Gonzales Brass
Design, Art Direction – Tony Neeves
Drums – Mike Giles*
Electric Guitar – Dave (Diesel) Martin, Kevin Peek
Engineer – Roger T. Wake
Percussion – Morris Pert
Photography By – Dawson Strange
Piano, Keyboards – Rod Edwards
Producer, Arranged By – Jon Miller (4), Rod Edwards, Roger Hand
Vocals – Annie McCaig
Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Piano – Paul Field
Vocals, Arranged By [Vocal Arrangements] – Mo McCafferty
Companies, etc.
Phonographic Copyright (p) – Word (Uk) Ltd.
Copyright (c) – Word (Uk) Ltd.
Copyright (c) – Word Music (UK)
Printed By – Garrod & Lofthouse
Recorded At – Redan Recorders
Pressed By – CBS Pressing Plant, Aston Clinton
Nutshell were indeed quite whimsical and folksy at times, but Network 3 was an attempt to up the tempo to match the new sounds. Mo & Annie wore bright shiney boiler suits, as was the trend, and Paul had a snazzy red jacket. They was not bad to be honest, but they only lasted for about a year. I think Cliff wanted EMI to package them but it faltered and there wasn’t even an album in the end, so Paul went fully solo. I worked extensively with him on various theatre projects in later years, and his song-writing skills were extraordinary, and indeed still are. There was a night at Greenbelt ’81, when Writz Stev Rowles and Willy Williams were on stage spinning discs between acts (The bleach boys), Steve Fairnie and Bev Sage were compereing, and U2 came on for a surprise set, followed by a 3 hour extravaganza with Cliff, Newtork 3 and Garth Hewitt. As I watched it, Andy Piercy and Sheila Walsh were in front of me. Extraordinary time. Even Larry was there somewhere.