*** THE VINYL release of this album is now SOLD OUT***
***CDs still AVAILABLE***
Originally released by All My Eye and Betty Martin Music in 1999
Recorded Autumn / Winter 1998 at rat infested 'Sparrow Wars' New Forest England
Mixed at Apollo 8 Surrey
Produced by Tim Smith
Mastered by Richard Kilner
All Titles Tim Smith
PONY appears on ATE MUSIC courtesy of All My Eye and Betty Martin Music and The Alphabet Business Concern
Remastered for this 2026 re-release by Jesse Cutts with the venerable Mr Chris Binns
Artwork redesign & assembly by the honourable Mr Michael Chapman
Included on this remaster are the extra tracks Curfew, Home and Secret from the 1999 EP HAZEL
PONY is an album about love
Tim Smith's SPRATLEYS have been performing songs from PONY and from the forthcoming album BLOOM live since 2016
SPRATLEYS will be appearing LIVE in SEPTEMBER 2026
11th Sept. THE GARAGE London
12th Sept. AMBERS Manchester
13th Sept. BRUDENELL SOCIAL CLUB Leeds
Tickets available here:
LONDON
www.thegarage.london/gigs/spratleys-panixphere-the-garage-london-tickets-2026/
MANCHESTER
www.fatsoma.com/e/w3e8v4q3/spratleys-manchester-amber-s
LEEDS
www.brudenellsocialclub.co.uk/whats-on/spratleys/
Current band are;
Jesse Cutts ~ Bass
Benjamin Reed ~ Drums
Adrien Rodes ~ Keyboards
Etienne Rodes ~ Guitar
Jo Spratley ~ Voice / Percussion
Much loved, esteemed and garlanded compadres;
Damo Waters ~ Drums 2016 - 2019
Stephen Gilchrist ~ Drums 2024
released May 1, 2026
Tim Smith's SPRATLEYS are now part of the ATE MUSIC family
If you haven't yet done so visit:
atemusic.bandcamp.com
***A word from TIM SMITH outta them SPRATLEYS JAPS in 2018***
'Do you remember me?
Of course you do.
You gotta go and watch my fave group play and hear them play my fave tunes ever. So be there. Or be one of them round things wot won’t go in the square holes'
Tim
xxx
Tim Smith to Marc Riley (BBC 6 MUSIC) on the eve of the sold out SPRATLEYS JAPS show at The Garage London, Highbury Islington 21st December 2018
PONY TESTIMONIALS and TALES from them who KNOW...
‘… In 1997 Tim Smith did me a cassette of some songs he’d been working on. Some were to be CARDIACS songs and others were to end up on the SPRATLEYS JAPS album PONY... I was immediately taken with PONY which seemed to soar with this magnificent, sparkling beauty that made me wonder if Tim and Jo had stumbled on something that perhaps Tim had been 'searching for’ as far back as when he turned a corner and came up with Dirty Boy for the Cardiacs Sing To God album. I know for a fact that PONY was the work he was most proud of to date...'
Jon Poole
‘...It was a Saturday night on the cusp of a new century. Really, it was the early hours of a Sunday morning on the sands of Carlyon Bay in Cornwall. Either way, something was in the air, we were at a festival called Eclipse. Tim asked me into his tent and pressed play on a little cassette player. A blaster, if you will. It was a few recently mixed tunes from what would later become PONY. I knew him and Jo had been up to some mischief but, by all the stars, I didn’t know just how potent that stink would be. It was intoxicating. 'Good God!' I managed in some disbelief as the delirious swirl of FANNY receded into the background ambience of djembe and didgeridoo. 'That’s got to be best chorus you’ve ever written'.Tim looked at me as if this was the response he’d hoped for. Or expected. That night we met the Juddering Arsonist. He told us no-one can own fire. I still think it’s Tim’s best chorus and I still don’t know what the words are…’
Kavus Torabi
’...The PONY album is an undiscovered gem in the Tim Smith catalogue. I couldn’t believe it had flown under my own radar when I discovered it some years after its release. It is as rich and rewarding as anything Tim ever did. As broad in scope and inhabiting the same world we know and love. This is one of my all-time favourite records. It never ages, its impact never dulls and its colour never fades...’
Mike Vennart
And the last word goes to TIM...
To the Kidz of The Pond on FaceBook 2017...
'... Hey Assholes, it’s Tim Smith here. That’s right. That one. Just sticking my putrid head above the parapet of beautiful pop. Right. SPRATLEYS JAPS. I’m not sure how many people have heard this band but it was a groovy little outfit I got together a couple of decades back. There came from it an album which was and still is my favourite tunes full of mischief…See them live and witness something you will never forget. They completely knocked my block off...’
