CARE – LOVE CROWNS AND CRUCIFIES, THE LOST ALBUM BY IAN BROUDIE & PAUL SIMPSON

8th January 2026 Paul Browne

Care were an alternative pop outfit active in the early 1980s consisting of Ian Broudie (The Lightning Seeds) and Paul Simpson (Wild Swans, Teardrop Explodes) and responsible for some notable single releases. Now, February sees the release of the duo’s ‘lost’ album issued by Needle Mythology.

The pair were brought together late in 1982 by Ian and Paul’s mutual friend, Will Sergeant (Echo and The Bunnymen), when Paul was looking for someone to play guitar on a new song he had written. Ian obliged and asked him to return the favour by singing on one of his songs, ‘Tall Ships’. When Bunnymen manager and future KLF founder, Bill Drummond, heard the result, now retitled ‘My Boyish Days (Drink To Me)’, he secured the pair a deal with Arista.

Care would go on to release three acclaimed singles over the course of twelve months between 1983 and 1984, ‘My Boyish Days (Drink To Me)’, ‘Flaming Sword’ and ‘Whatever Possessed You’, before Simpson, still struggling to come to terms with the break-up of his previous band, The Wild Swans, decided not to continue along this new path.

Needle Mythology, the label founded by music writer, author and broadcaster Pete Paphides, is proud to announce the release of the much-mythologised ‘lost’ album by Care. Love Crowns and Crucifies marks the first vinyl release of the previously unheard songs gathered together on 1997’s Diamonds and Emeralds CD. Working closely with Simpson and with the approval of Ian Broudie, whose Tales Told was one of Needle Mythology’s first releases, the label has been given access to the original quarter-inch tapes, which covered everything that the pair recorded together.

Prior to the formation of Care, Ian and Paul had been mainstays in the Liverpool post-punk scene. Ian played alongside Holly Johnson, Jayne Casey, Budgie and Bill Drummond in Big In Japan before joining the Original Mirrors and producing early records by Echo and the Bunnymen, most notably Crocodiles and Porcupine. Paul had played with school friend and future Bunnyman Will Sergeant in Industrial Domestic and the founding line-up of The Teardrop Explodes, before going on to form The Wild Swans with assistance from two more Bunnymen.

The process of digitising the contents of all the original tapes unearthed a number of exciting finds, among them the yearning morning mist of ‘Colour and Sound’, a swashbuckling instrumental arrangement of ‘On The White Cloud’, a sizzling alternative take of ‘Diamonds And Emeralds’, the thrilling original demos of ‘Drink To Me (My Boyish Days)’ and ‘Flaming Sword’ (featuring the late Echo And The Bunnymen drummer Pete de Freitas) and ‘Nature Prayed Upon’, perhaps the song which most closely aligns Care to the moody lysergic leanings of their post-punk Mersey contemporaries.

Love Crowns and Crucifies has been newly mastered by Miles Showell at Abbey Road and personally approved by Ian Broudie and Paul Simpson. It will be released as a double-vinyl LP and a double-CD. Fans purchasing the LP of Love Crowns and Crucifies will be able to choose between one of two completely different sleeve designs. The ‘Paul’ version will come in an original design created in collaboration with artist James Gosling. The ‘Ian’ version comes in the fondly remembered ‘kites’ artwork created for ‘My Boyish Days (Drink To Me)’ by acclaimed graphic designer and video director Martyn Atkins.

Before the release of Love Crowns and Crucifies, fans will be able to purchase a seven-inch single featuring the original demo versions of ‘My Boyish Days (Drink To Me)’ and ‘Flaming Sword’. These will be exclusive to this format and available only via the official Needle Mythology store at Burning Shed.

LOVE CROWNS AND CRUCIFIES VINYL

SIDE A

On The White Cloud (Instrumental) 2.41

Flaming Sword 3.17

An Evening In The Ray 2.51

Whatever Possessed You 3.07

Love Crowns And Crucifies 2.43

Temper Temper 3.27

Colour And Sound 3.21

Besides Four 2.01

SIDE B

Besides One 2.06

My Boyish Days 4.01

Nature Prayed Upon 4.17

A Sad Day For England 4.32

Diamonds And Emeralds 3.18

White Cloud 3.35

Besides Three 1.58

SIDE C

Chandeliers 3.38

Caretaking 3.15

Soldiers And Sailors 2.48

Cymophane 4.33

Flaming Sword 12-inch version 4.05

Miséricorde 4.04

SIDE D

Such Is Life 3.31

My Boyish Days 12-inch version 6.06

What Kind Of World 3.41

Whatever Possessed You 12-inch version 4.32

Diamonds And Emeralds (Deadly Nightshade) 3.05

Besides Two 1.48

LOVE CROWNS AND CRUCIFIES CD

DISC 1

On The White Cloud (Full Instrumental) 3.34