Blue Sky Diaries - Part 1
January 22, 2001
As I disembarked the plane at East Midlands’ Airport on January 22nd I was the most reluctant recording artists in all of England, to paraphrase CS Lewis for my own devices. For sure I was more of a believer having been over to do some demos in December but I still had this lingering fear that I was about to walk into a place that would prove the most embarrassing of my life. Steve Stockman recording an album was just way beyond my very imagining. I can remember having local Belfast singer Kristyn Lennox on my radio show the Sunday before I went over to do those demos and telling her I like Kristyn used to pose in front of the mirror but the difference was " I wasn’t going to make an album". That’s how far removed from my thinking such an idea was.
Arriving at Blue Sky Studios which is situated near enough Derby city centre to be able to do a CD shop when your spoken word is not being used in the studio – quite a lot to be truthful – Sam Hill my song writing partner was already there. It is always good to see Sam. We have been mates for some twelve years as a result of my desire to watch Peter Case at Greenbelt, Sam getting the support and my then girlfriend, now wife Janice having gone to Sam’s church in Preston. Sam started dabbling with using me lyrics on one of my least favourite rhymes Are You Free To Wear Flares and then we moved on to writing together. Amsterdam and Masquerade were co writes that appeared on Sam’s Masquerade ep. About a year ago we thought of starting to write again and some how it evolved into this weave and tapestry of songs and poetry and here we are recording an album.
Blue Sky is a gorgeous place. Roomy and bright with wooden floors and leather furniture. It is an old terrace house where they have built the studio inside the house and have offices up stairs and a song writing room at the top of the house. Neil Costello is studio owner and engineer, Phil Baggeley is songwriter, producer and Ken Fryer is administrator (like Barbie dolls, every musician needs a Ken!). The three are Gold Records who have some considerable success using Adrain Plass’s poetry on their albums City of Gold and Shipwrecks and Islands which have sold rather nicely thank you very much.
What we have been intending to do with the poetry is slightly different than how it is mostly used. Whereas on most occasions it is read over a swathe of music, we use it like a song structure. I guess it is Cockburnesque in that was. What I was fascinated to know was what they were going to do around the poem/songs musically. I soon met Dave Clifton who was going to be putting down some guitar. Dave has played with Tanita Tikarem, Julia Fordham and Mary Coughlan among others. Accomplished!
While we waited for keyboard player Mark Edwards, Sam and I went up to the songwriting room to hear some new stuff Sam had been working on and to see if we could conjure something ourselves. Sam has a brand new tune which I think is fabulous and perfect for the project. With the great lines:
"You don’t think we’re close no you don’t see
But nothing has changed here with me"
Isn’t that so profoundly gospel truthed. We feel far from God, yet he never moves away from us.
Sam has another lovely song called Wonderful which I think would be able to fit in after The World Has More Than Seven Wonders, demoed in December but it is decided that Wonderful is not for this project. Sam and I also let our imaginations run with some freeform ideas for my sermon stories becoming little raps to music, especially the idea of doing the Prodigal Son in free form. These ideas would never go very far but are interesting thoughts to keep on a back burner for live gigs. Live gigs. Do you hear me. I just cannot get my head around this.
We headed back down to meet Mark Edwards. Mark is best known in Christian circles for remixing Delirious songs and I have expected a Littlehampton trendy but on the outside the man is very ordinary. What he does with his keyboards, computers and boxes of CDs and vinyl has to be heard to be believed. He has also worked with one my heroes Roddy Frame from Aztec Camera and maybe it was being overwhelmed but I managed to call him Phil and Mike in the first ten minutes. The guy must have guessed I was a stupid Irishman who had never been in a studio before and seemed thick enough to support Manchester City!
Anyway it was the off to work with Sam playing the guys his new number and it was into a jamming session around that song to analyse chords and let Mark begin to weave his magic with keyboards and programming. It is fascinating to hear a song that is but 12 hours old becoming a complete recorded work and for me this experience would change my listening habits forever. I was the guy who heard only words until Iain Archer pointed out great bass lines and guitar playing. After today and this week I’d hear everything differently as IO learn to work out how songs are pieced together in the studio.
On this track, Dave Clifton was dabbling his fingers on his fret board to conjure some moody and haunting atmospheric beauty. This for me was a crucial stage. I worried how we might proceed musically. I am keen to keep the whole thing a little left field. Clifton has encouraged me. This is interesting, intriguing and beautiful.
What I learn early on is that these guys are simply quality players. It’s as though whatever way the project goes they are more than able to move with it. They are quality players and have played the real world with some acclaim. Tonight we learn how Mark appeared on the same Jules Holland show as Leonard Cohen. Now imagine sharing a meal with a man like that.
Back
