01 City with a broken heart 3.27

02 Navigators 3.25

03 Piazza Grande 3.43

04 Het Kafe 2.11

05 Living on the other side 3.36

06 Some other time 3.21

07 Second-class hotel 4.47

08 Shady ladies 3.11

09 Voices in the night 3.10

10 Under the ice 4.17

11 This time 3.50

12 A simple question 1.54

The following three songs appear only on the CD

13 Old songs 3.00

14 The Ladies gave me Roses 2.42

15 You never really knew me 3.03

Total running time: 50.41

SECOND-CLASS HOTEL

Brambus 1989 04-2 (Lp & CD.)

Harmonic intuition but also autobiographical stories. Paul Cowlan's compositions rescue from despair - and point out the way to healing hope. 

Prinz. Germany

'Living the Life' met the need for a 'live' album but, as such, it was necessarily one-sided and still left a lot of material unrepresented, including many newly-written songs, so I was eager to get back into the studio again as soon as possible to, redress the balance and fill in some of the gaps. CD technology was just coming onto the market, so we produced this one as both Lp and CD, with three extra songs on the CD.

For some reason this album seems to have an autumnal feel. Perhaps it's a touch more melancholy than some of the others, treating themes such as the (then) divided city of Berlin; mediæval map-makers; the Lago Maggiore in the rain; missed chances in a Dutch café; the lonely badlands of soul-work; life visualized as a hotel of doubtful quality; ladies of the night; midnight meditations; the precarious fate of the whale on planet earth, (meanwhile, whale songs are recorded on a golden disc, loaded into a spacecraft and rocketed out to whoever, or whatever, might be waiting beyond the borders of this solar system); hopeful resolutions; simple questions; old songs, roses and snow; a remembered early encounter with the pangs a broken heart. 

In a hotel like this things aren't always quite what they seem. But behind every 'tightly sealed door' there's always an open window. Rain, mist, golden skies and falling leaves. Enjoy the views.

'Mother and father were at the reception

with a name and a key, the first day I arrived.

“We’ve booked you into the second-class hotel.

Now it’s up to you to survive.”'

From: Second-Class Hotel