CV recalls:
Not all of the record was cut in SA…….a number of songs were recorded in a studio (Intimate) in Wapping and perhaps the fondest of my memories was putting down ‘If You’re All Done Dying’…..a song I was nervous of introducing because it was so slight musically, relying heavily on the use of detuning the E string and a certain picking style that reminded me of Lindsey Buckingham (and that man can pick!!!!!)…..and a dark look at the battle of Gallipoli which had just featured so prominently in a novel by Louis de Bernieres I had been reading (‘Birds without Wings’…..extraordinary saga……the description of Gallipoli reminded me very much of Victor Hugo’s masterful 100 page depiction of the battle of Waterloo).
New rhythm section and all round cool guys Liam Brady and Simon Edwards are fortunately not so easily put off and set to with Calum to begin to create a battlefield of sound for my waywardly poetic lyrics to career around in……..and wow,we got it in take two! Some piano and backing vocals were added later on but that was it (God I love it when a plan comes together!).Thanks gentlemen!
Following the energy ‘Signal Black Spot’ was recorded as quickly. Written following the gunning down of James Taylor (an acquaintance of mine but best buddy of my south african brother in law – news cameraman and film maker Simon Stanford) by the police somewhere down in the Transkei (I think) in highly suspicious circumstances. It remains difficult for me to listen to: James was a lovely guy,troubled but JUST back on track and feeling positive about the future…….I remain angry that his killers walk free somewhere. I guess a mid life album HAD to look at mortality hard…….but I hadn’t expected it to be so personal!Before I knew it I was hearing of the death of another new old friend Robert Palmer. Knowing something of his love of life and how he liked to live it I wasn’t ENTIRELY surprised to hear of his demise from heart attack but I was still astonished……..I thought he was made of the same stuff as Keith Richards and that we’d have to nail the coffin lid down!!Saddened but sadly not inspired…… the song ‘Cher Robert’ is unlikely to see the light of day because it’s really not good enough and a guy like Robert you never short change…………..I still raise a glass each year on the anniversary of his death.Mistakes……… I’ve made a few………but i’ll never understand why I left off ‘The Unforgiven’ and put ‘Are you having a Wonderful Life’ on there!!!! It’s an atmospheric piece of paranoia played in a west african six rhythm (thank you Barry) and with my acoustic plugged into a tiny amp….maybe a Pignose i don’t remember……what an experience to be in SA in a studio that size that was so cheap (exchange rate at the time was favourable and the gear,becoming unfashionable over there, was EXACTLY what i wanted to use : classic stuff.