Back From The Grave - Brief Historical Note
From the time period of the end of the album MidTown, 1990, until 1997, Stephen Burns did not record any songs: he lived in the south of France and roamed around the country (the song “Catalans” being written during that time).
Returning to the US, Burns worked in the everyday accounting business. In August 1995 Burns suffered an unusual heart ailment leading to a major heart attack, normally the type that simply kills. It took Burns six months to recover and during that time he turned his attention to recording songs again.
In late 1996 he entered the old TMI studios (formerly owned by Steve Cropper of Otis Redding/Stax fame) and put down about ten or twelve songs by himself. After that, a three piece group of was put together and Burns added noted keyboardist/producer Jim Dickinson (Rolling Stones/Dylan/Big Star/Mud Boy and The Neutrons) on two songs.
The album was originally to be called “Signs and Symbols”. Burns was looking to shed the banner of The Scruffs (now realized as impossible—Stephen Burns is The Scruffs) and wanted to work under the name “Messenger 45” (at this point the name is not worth explaining.)
Later, one song in particular, “Back From The Grave” (written after Burns’ near death experience in that San Francisco hospital) struck Alex Chilton as one of the better tunes on the CD. Burns kept that in mind and, as the debut of the Scruffs new online home [here] became a reality, Burns moved to re-release that collection of material from 1997 under the band name of The Scruffs and redesign the cover and re-sequence the album.
Still included on the new “Back From The Grave” are the stunning “Wild Skies” featuring Jim Dickinson on piano and also “Back From The Grave”. “You Gotta Let Him Go”, “Cloudy Moon” and “Abiqui” are great songs which are indicative of the future Scruff recordings that Burns would begin after moving to New Orleans and subsequently living in Glasgow, Scotland beginning with “Love, The Scruffs” in 2000.