Scop by Big Big Train

Scop is a companion EP release to the re-issued Bard album.

Scop – the Old English word for ‘bard’ – consists of five demos from the Bard recording sessions plus The Sundial. This last song was originally written and demoed in 2001 but has been newly recorded by three members of the band’s current line-up - Alberto Bravin (lead vocals), Gregory Spawton (guitars, keyboards, bass) and Nick D’Virgilio (drums) - and mixed by Rob Aubrey, the band’s longstanding engineer who has also completely re-mixed Bard.

Four of the five Scop demos – The Last English King, Her Words, This Isn’t Rocket Science and Blacksmithing – are being released for the first time, while the demo of British Racing Green has previously only been available to members of the band’s Passengers Club.

All four demos on Scop feature the band’s first singer Martin Read on lead vocals, while the Bard studio versions of The Last English King and Blacksmithing were sung by keyboardist Tony Müller. Her Words does not feature on Bard, while This Isn’t Rocket Science went on to become a section of the song For Winter on the Bard album. Finally, British Racing Green did not emerge until the band’s 2010 Far Skies Deep Time E.P. and was sung by the late David Longdon.

“Re-visiting the Bard era after so many years has been fascinating,” comments Andy Poole, the band’s former bassist and Bard’s producer. “With the release of Scop, the picture of that period is now complete. While the demos of The Last English King, Blacksmithing and This Isn’t Rocket Science show some of the technical limitations we were working under at the time, it’s interesting to hear the songs at an earlier stage before they evolved into the final studio versions. Many years later, The Last English King has really come into its own as a live song and has therefore been included on the re-issue of Bard.

“When we were finalising Bard back in 2002, Her Words didn’t make the cut for reasons lost to the mists of time,” Andy continues. “British Racing Green had been written for the band’s previous album, English Boy Wonders, but was demoed for Bard. Back then I found it just too depressing. Subsequently of course David completely transformed the song with his brilliant arrangement and production ideas.”

“With Big Big Train my outlook is to celebrate the past, live in the present and look to the future,” says BBT's lead vocalist Alberto Bravin. “On this occasion and as a break from working on our next studio album, it was fun to help to dig back into the ancient past and create a new recording of The Sundial.”

Tracklist

1.	The Last English King (demo)	5:26

2.	Her Words (demo)	3:48

3.	Blacksmithing (demo)	3:22

4.	This Isn't Rocket Science (demo)	5:24

5.	British Racing Green (demo)	4:02

6.	The Sundial	4:48

Credits

released March 21, 2025

Scop was recorded and mixed by Andy Poole except for The Sundial which was recorded by Rob Aubrey and Andy Poole and mixed by Rob Aubrey. Scop was mastered by Rob Aubrey.

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