Oil & Gold

Oil & Gold
Studio album by Shriekback
Released	1985
Recorded	unknown
Genre	Pop rock New Romantic
Length	44:15
Label	Island
Producer	Barry Andrews
Shriekback chronology
Jam Science (1984) Oil & Gold (1985) Big Night Music (1986)

Oil & Gold, the third full-length Shriekback album, is widely considered the band's highest moment. Released in 1985 on Island Records after the failure of 1984's Jam Science on Arista Records, Oil & Gold saw the band metamorphose from contemplative to rocking. The addition of Martyn Barker on drums and Lu Edmonds on guitar gives many of the songs an almost punk rock feeling.

In many ways, Oil & Gold is the bridge between the old trio of Barry Andrews, Carl Marsh, and Dave Allen, and the new vehicle for Andrews alone. Longtime singer Marsh left the band halfway through the recording, leaving Andrews to take over the vocals. Still, the album's highlights, including the three opening songs, sung by Marsh, and the minor hit, "Nemesis", became the band's signature sound.

The two songs "This Big Hush" and "Coelocanth" were featured in Michael Mann's 1986 film Manhunter and "Faded Flowers" was featured in Band of the Hand. The song "Everything That Rises Must Converge" refers to the short story of that name by Flannery O'Connor. The song "Nemesis" is about the hypothetical star orbiting the Sun^{[citation needed]}.

Track listing

1. "Malaria" – 4:29
2. "Everything That Rises Must Converge" – 4:03
3. "Fish Below the Ice" – 4:24
4. "This Big Hush" – 6:11
5. "Faded Flowers" – 3:44
6. "Nemesis" – 3:43
7. "Only Thing That Shines" – 4:23
8. "Health and Knowledge and Wealth and Power" – 4:44
9. "Hammerheads" – 4:17
10. "Coelocanth" – 4:13

Personnel

• Barry Andrews - keyboards, synthesizers, vocals
• Carl Marsh - guitars, vocals
• Dave Allen - bass
• Martyn Barker - drums
• Lu Edmonds - guitar
• Hans Zimmer - engineering/complicated shaker on "This Big Hush"