Treasure Island

Nikki Sudden has been working on the songs found on Treasure Island since finishing his last proper album 1998’s Red Brocade. With a short list of around 40 numbers to choose from (many of which had been demoed in Bavaria and Berlin), Sudden and his band The Last Bandits (John Clifford Barry on bass and Stephane Doucerain on drums) assembled themselves for initial sessions in mid-2002. This motley group of expatriates who’d exiled themselves to Germany set up shop at John Rivers’ WSRS studio in Leamington Spa, England, a home away from home where Sudden has recorded a vast majority of his work during his extensive 30-year career – which spans his pioneering early work as a founder of the Swell Maps (who released two critically acclaimed & highly influential full-lengths and a slew of singles), his albums with the revered Jacobites, over a dozen solo albums and the dark masterpiece Kiss You Kidnapped Charabanc, his 1987 collaboration with Rowland S. Howard. Treasure Island is a stunning achievement, boasting Sudden’s best songwriting in twenty years.

“In true pirate tradition [Treasure Island] nails its colours firmly to the mast. Sure, there’s a powerful Stones influence on “House of Cards”, but it’s Mick Taylor himself guesting on guitar; and if elsewhere there’s an enthusiastic nod in the direction of The Faces, well, yep, that’s Ian McLagan on keyboards. BJ Cole and ex-Waterboy Anthony Thistlewaite show up on pedal steel and sax, and there’s even a female choir. Despite the star guests, it’s always Nikki’s album – one part Bolan swagger to two parts Keith Richards riffs – and it’s one of his best.” – Mojo The album boasts incredible guest performances from rock & roll hall of famers Ian McLagan (the Small Faces, the Faces, Billy Bragg) and Mick Taylor (the Rolling Stones, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers), as well as Terry Miles (Bernard Butler), Dave Kusworth (Jacobites), and Anthony Thistlethwaite (the Waterboys).