This interview was taken from a video made by Alfreda Benge and
Brian Conlan,
Produced by WLTV productions - as a promotional tool for the album 'Shleep'.
This is the complete transcript of that interview.
| sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss My real feeling of lack of freedom comes from the fact that I have to be anything at all, specific... I get nearer and nearer towards happiness, or a feeling of being relaxed and free when I can lose myself in my environment. I mean, I get lost in listening to other people's music, or just hanging around Notting Hill Carnival, you forget who you are. That's one of the pleasures of it. But, in a simple way, if you get into a warm bath, where the temperature of your own blood matches that of the water around you, you sort of get that lovely feeling, of just sort of melting into the world. And that's really what I aspire towards - in the sense that it's the opposite - of those nations of artists, finding their own individualism, and kind of standing against the world: to me that's the ultimate nightmare. I want to get lost and diffused in the world, and that's my idea of freedom and happiness. |
In the past, so many of my records, really, have
been sketches for records that never really got |
The thing is that CD's, even of music that you like very much,
can get incredibly
boring. Because after about half an hour, you sort of feel you've got the hang of
it. And I particularly wanted to make sure that the songs on this record led to
lots of detours - that the journey was, in a way, full of surprises - that there
were still things happening 40 minutes into the tape which hadn't appeared
anywhere before hand.
LP's were very good, because you had two halves which needn't be
quite
symmetrical. Like the face - very organic. CD's just stretch on and on forever
into space - quite blank. So I've been thinking about the challenge of the CD quite
specifically - and I think you have to carve a path through it and try and make an
interesting journey - through blank space, of the silence.
Describing a CD or a piece of music as a landscape may seem a
rather corny image,
but it's a very useful one I got in fact, from Carla Bley, I think, when she was
describing what she wanted from a piece of music: she said she didn't want a piece
of music, where you just simply, for example, went out of your house, went out the
front door, went down a flat road, went round the corner, went to the shop, came
back down the same road and shut the front door behind you.
She wanted a piece of music where you went out the front door, turned left and
suddenly there's a massive pothole, and you fell forty feet into the ground, and had
to climb out on a ladder, and get through a burning house, and wade through a lake,
and then get somewhere. In other words, she wanted a real bit of adventure in her
music, and this involves surprising detours, so that even if you're specific about the
character of the song, it's more exciting to place them, juxtapose them in such a
way as to make an adventure out of the sequence of the songs.
In terms of making this journey through the songs, I was able to
do this because the
different songs actually come from quite different moments in my life. In other words,
'Shleep' wasn't written in one go. So that some of the songs were written for other
people's tunes, sometimes at a time when I was feeling very depressed and
disorientated; And other songs when I was feeling quite elated; Or I might be writing
tunes for some of Alfie's words - which were much more sort of escapist, euphoric
atmosphere in some way. And the simple fact that these songs are so different means
that the journey could be varied through the record.
I'm often quite happy to make records all on my own, but it's not
enough for me. If I
want a new sound, just to sort of hire a flute player, or something like that. If I hire
another musician, it's because I want the company. And specifically in the case of this
record - because it has the feeling of a journey to me. You get lonely, and at certain
points in your journey travelling companions can sort of join you. And I choose
musicians as much because I really enjoy their company in the studio for a couple
of afternoons, and the sound of that company on record.
I'm also very influenced by Duke Ellington's big band arrangements, very different
from other big bands, which was that everyone in his band would have a moment to
show who they were - where they could be themselves. They weren't just a trumpet
or a trombone, but they were distinct characters. That's what's made Ellington's music
so rich and alive. And I only choose musicians who I think will emerge, can emerge,
with their own character, while still going along with the tune in question.
I was very lucky in this case...
Brian Eno - synthesizer
| I was once asked about Brian : 'What's it like
working with one of the great cerebral intellects of modern culture?' . It made me laugh a bit, because what working with Brian is actually like being two children in a little play-pit. His pleasure in working the studio is so innocent and childlike - still - and that's really what's so enjoyable. He's so enthusiastic - he kind of bounces around from one piece of machinery to another, quite the opposite of me. I'm very intimidated by the machines, and he loves them and feels at home with all of them. And he came quite early on in the session, and it was a great help to me, and I think also it was very exciting for Jamie, the engineer, to have someone with that amount of knowledge, just showing what could be done in the studio.
The great thing that Paul Weller did when he came to
Evan Parker I've known a long time. I find his
audience
Annie Whitehead came in for one afternoon, and
stayed
He really was the main other musician along with me,
Phil Manzanera helped me even before I started by
The thing about making 'Shleep', was that thanks to
Phil |
|
© Alfreda Benge
