He then brings the recording over to me, where on my machine we add overdubs – including lots of CAT synth, and in the case of “Everybody Has a Dream” the contents of the kitchen sink .

[3]The Servants played their final gig around the time of the recording, on 21 August 1991 at the Rock Garden, London WC2.

In Mojo, Kieron Tyler said “It’s a sound and style that has to be heard, from a unique band that merits an instant reappraisal.”[6] In Record Collector magazine, Tim Peacock said the album had “an undernourished, if endearing demo-like quality” which showed “Westlake at his nervy, playful best.”[7] At PopMatters, Matthew Fiander called Small Time “the darker counterpart” to Disinterest.

[8] Tim Sendra at AllMusic noted the album’s “wonderfully literate and off-kilter songcraft.”[9] Small Time is David Westlake’s favourite Servants record: “I like the way of thinking expressed in the songs.

How ‘Everybody Has A Dream’ answers the complaint ‘All you get is nowhere,’ by reasoning ‘Where is there to get?’”[4] Luke Haines describes the songs on Small Time as “looser, more mysterious, strange and beautiful, [.