Editing Cardiacs (section)

==== ''Big Ship'', ''A Little Man and a House'' & ''On Land and in the Sea'' ====
[[File:Cardiacs live at Reading Rock Festival 1986 5 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Cardiacs in 1986 performing at Reading Festival]]
Cardiacs played the [[Reading Festival]] on 24 August 1986, releasing the very rough audio footage as the ''[[Rude Bootleg]]'' album.<ref name="roughguide" /> On 27 January 1987,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Belcher |first=David |date=17 January 1987 |title=Instant arrest by the Cardiacs |page=8 |work=[[The Glasgow Herald]] |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XqNAAAAAIBAJ&dq=%22Cardiacs%22&pg=PA8&article_id=5539,3225514 |access-date=19 January 2023 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> Cardiacs released the mini-album ''[[Big Ship (Cardiacs album)|Big Ship]]'', the first studio release by the sextet, to mixed reviews.<ref>{{cite book |last=Benac |first=Eric |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3i47zgEACAAJ |title=The Cardiacs: Every Album, Every Song |date=27 August 2021 |publisher=Sonicbond Publishing |isbn=978-1-78952-131-3 |series=On Track |page=42}}</ref> The title track would prove to be one of their most enduring anthems.

[[File:Cardiacs incest headline.png|thumb|alt= A tabloid headline reading "In their bizarre world of music ... anything goes – even INCEST / 'WE'RE BROTHER AND SISTER' / Why this picture will rock the world of pop..."|Headline in the ''Sunday Sport'' (falsely) accusing Tim and Sarah Smith of incest|left]]
In March 1987, the British tabloid newspaper ''[[Sunday Sport]]'' ran a story claiming to be an exposé and revealing the supposedly [[incest]]uous relationship between Tim Smith and Sarah Smith, in which the couple were portrayed as brother and sister. The headline ran, "In their bizarre world of music... anything goes – even incest."<ref name="sundaysport">[http://www.cardiacs.org/exhibits/documents/docs_sundaysport.html "We're Brother and Sister"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101122151709/http://www.cardiacs.org/exhibits/documents/docs_sundaysport.html|date=22 November 2010}} – article in ''[[Sunday Sport]]'' 1 March 1987 (archived @ Cardiacs Museum website)</ref> (The article ultimately debunked the story by including a corrective quote from Tim Smith's mother). Band manager Mark Walmesley is thought to have started the whole rumour to gain some publicity for the band, predating the superficially similar strategy later employed by [[the White Stripes]] twelve years later.<ref name="quietusheartattack" />

On 17 April, the band's music video for "Tarred and Feathered" (from the ''Big Ship'' mini-album) was broadcast on [[Channel 4]]'s groundbreaking music show ''[[The Tube (1982 TV series)|The Tube]]'', giving Cardiacs their first exposure on national television. Later in the year, Cardiacs released a 12-inch single called "[[There's Too Many Irons in the Fire]]". In October, a live-in-the-studio session was recorded and broadcast by BBC Radio Leeds, followed in December by a similar session on [[BBC Radio 1]] for Janice Long's ''Night Track'' show.

In 1988, Cardiacs released their debut studio album proper, ''[[A Little Man and a House and the Whole World Window]]''.<ref name="roughguide" /> The single from the album, "[[Is This the Life?]]", saw brief chart success due to exposure on mainstream radio, and garnered the attention of a wider audience when it entered the Independent Top 10 in the UK.<ref name="quietusheartattack" /> The band followed up this burst of success with another single, a cover of [[the Kinks]]' "[[Susannah's Still Alive]]" with a video directed by Steve Payne. [[Strange Fruit Records]] also released a 12-inch vinyl EP of the band's [[BBC Radio 1]] session from the previous year, under the title ''Night Tracks (The Janice Long Session)''. By this time, Cardiacs concerts were drawing hundreds of audience members and they were well on their way to becoming a hit underground band. On 15 May, the band played a concert at the Paradiso in Amsterdam, which was recorded for later release as ''[[Cardiacs Live]]''.

Later in the year, Cardiacs recorded tracks for what would become their fifth studio album, ''[[On Land and in the Sea]]'' which was released in 1989.<ref name="roughguide" /> The album successfully consolidated the intricate style and unusual songwriting vision of ''[[A Little Man and a House and the Whole World Window|A Little Man and a House...]]'', but the stable lineup which the band had enjoyed for four years was now beginning to weaken.