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Phil Manzanera's generous hospitality gave me enough time in the
Gallery, his studio on St.Ann's Hill in Chertsey, to work with Jamie Johnson on this bunch
of songs, without having to keep a nervous eye on the clock while trying to make music.
And jamie's patience and musical intelligence meant I was able to relax and concentrate as
if at home. For someone for whom recording in studios produces near-panic, their
contributions were invaluable.
Also, I was really lucky that a few really classy musicians were
able to come along and blow some fresh wind into my sails: old friends like Annie
Whitehead, Evan Parker, Brian Eno and Phil Manzanera himself, and new friends like Gary
Azukx, Chucho Merchan and Paul Weller. I already had Chikako Sato on tape with Philip
Catherine for a project that Jo Bogaert began In Belgium.
A lot of the time, though, it was just me and Jamie beavering away, with Charles Rees
joining us for the mix to unravel the mysteries of the mixing chamber. I thank them all.
The Songs:
The songs are collaborations too: some the result of writing
words for other people's tunes, some written to Alfie's words, and in the case of 'Alien',
actually written with Alfie.
Apart from her souvenir snapshots of a visit to Madrid with her pa, Alfie's words arrived
in and around our old wooden dacha at Humberston Fitties. The Fitties are on the Humber
Estuary opposite Spurn Point, a vital resting place for migrant birds and home to many
others.
'September The Ninth', for example, was an unusually early day on which hundreds of
swallows gathered around our dacha and rested awhile before disappearing into the blue
yonder. It was a rare moment of pure awe for us. The imagery of 'Alien' comes, I think,
from empathising with the extra-terrestrial trajectory of the swift.
My own words mostly struggled onto paper from endless weeks of fevered insomnia, which
left me with an almost insatiable craving for the abyssal ooze of deep, deep sleep.
The Musicians:
Gary Adzukx, who
has sung with Phil Manzanera but now plays studio mostly (for spectacular club events),
was visiting the studio and showed me the African djembe drums, so I got him to play them
for us on 'Alien'. A natural.
I met Philip Catherine
in Brussels over two decades ago, when I briefly joined him
on stage during a party to mourn his last free nights before having to do national
service. Belgium has a unique guitar tradition (Django, Rene Thomas) of which Philip is a
stunning example.
Brian Eno has
helped me out often before, on record (Matching Mole, Little Red Record, Ruth Is Stranger
Than Richard), and also in other important ways. A 21st century virtuoso, I think.
Brian produced 'Heaps Of Sheeps', and decided a guitar was
needed. Jamie Johnson came up trumps. He's a real musician in his own right (plus he knows Orion
when he sees one), and made recording seem easy by taking care (with his clever pal
Charles Rees), of the difficult bits.
A helpful but non-judgmental engineer: (do you know how rare that is?)
Phil Manzanera, our
very own man in Havana, (from whose tune 'Frontera' I was once allowed to extract a
torrent of useful phrases in Castillian) gets a wonderful guitar sound. He's also full of
very useful ideas.
One of Phil's best ideas was to invite Chucho Merchan over to give us a
couple of bass lines. He wears little glittering chains as shoelaces: serious stuff. He
has ears like greased lightning, but doesn't make a big deal of it.
The last time I got Evan
Parker to enhance one of my little pieces was over
ten years ago (on Paul Haines' poem 'Cursty', for his 'Darn It' CD). Here on tenor
('September The Ninth'), as well as soprano saxophone. There is no more formidable
saxophonist playing today.
"How come you're up a tree, if you want to catch fish?"
is one of Chikako's wise sayings. Chikako Sato
has brought a touch of class and magic to the
out-of-the-way country town where I now live, breaking out of the classical mould to play
violin (and viola) with such diverse musicians as Grimbsby jazz pianist, Leo Solomon and
...well...me.
Hearing his wonderfully fresh recent trio work, it's worth
remembering that Paul Weller has negotiated over twenty years in the rock business and still comes up
smelling of roses! I've always loved his style and integrity from a distance, and his
intense vitality close-up came as an invigorating bonus. After all these years, I have
just half a dozen rock heroes, and Paul is one of these few.
Finally, I want to thank Annie Whitehead, for her
conscientiousness, musical acuity and singing trombone tone. It was remembering the way
she shadowed Ernest Mothle's bass line on Jerry Dammer's arrangement of 'Wind Of Change'
that convinced me that she was the ally I needed on, for example, 'Out Of Season'. Look
out for her own recordings like 'Naked' and 'This Is Rude'. Half the musicians on 'Shleep'
had already worked with Annie. Hear why.
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