Inside The John Peel Sessions - Part 10
MY INTERESTS OUTSIDE BBC RADIO 1
During the mid to late 70s, I got interested in a number of areas outside my "day-job".
I was offered freelance work recording various singles and albums (including Starry Eyed at Rockfield studios in 1975), I recorded and produced a number of tv commercials and I took on some commercial radio work. Then I did two 6 month spells at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, composing music for BBC radio, tv and film productions - including the pilot programme of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
From 1974, a number of surround-sound (quadraphonic) test programmes were transmitted using Radio 2 vhf frequencies for the front pair, and Radio 3 for the back. I recorded and mixed the first 4-channel surround-sound audio programme ever broadcast, some items of which were tracks that I later performed myself on the John Peel show.
My appearances on the John Peel and Alan Freeman shows led to the offer of recording and publishing contracts from people like Bill Martin (then Billy Connolly's publisher and writer of Eurovision winner, Puppet on a String) and David Platz (controversial publisher of many early Rolling Stones hits), as well as Decca and Virgin Records. I was on the verge of signing the Virgin deal, when I received a call from an old friend and colleague from Glasgow called Pat Fairley.
Pat had played guitar & bass with The Marmalade (aka Dean Ford & the Gaylords during my Glasgow gigging days). He and Alec Scott (who I also knew as a club owner and promoter from Glasgow) were working with Yes' management at the time, and they engineered a meeting with Brian Lane, Yes' manager. They persuaded me that I would have a better chance of advancing my career if I re-recorded my album (I played and sang all the parts on original tapes which I had used to secure the offer from Virgin). Then, they promised to get me a better record deal than the one on offer from Virgin.
Yes were hot at the time, and Virgin were just starting out, so I decided to go with the bird in the bush - in the shape of a re-recorded album via Pat, Alec and Brian Lane. The album was re-recorded, featuring Tony Poole (gtr - Starry Eyed And Laughing), Iain Whitmore (bass - Starry Eyed And Laughing), Kim Turner (drums - Andy Fraser Band) and Francis Monkman (keyboards - Curved Air). I was very pleased with the results.
However, Yes' management never did negotiate the "improved" record deal they promised, all of the other offers vanished off the table, and it is crystal clear, with hindsight, that I should have taken the bird in the hand - as offered by Virgin Records.
About the same time, I recorded a few snippets of a Benjamin Britten opera called Paul Bunyan. It is set in the pioneering days of the US of A, and features a country singer providing some of the narration in between the main operatic events.
I was booked to do the country singer bits, featuring George Hamilton IV, first of all because it was considered "pop" music, and secondly, because the opera was due to be recorded and mixed in surround-sound - and I was seen to be a bit of an expert on that at the time.
The recording was a piece of cake - 1 voice + 1 guitar. Despite the ease of the task I had been asked to do, the producer was so impressed with the efficiency with which I recorded these bits that he asked me if I would like to remix the entire opera! I replied by telling him that I didn't read music. (All engineers working on "serious music" had to be able to read, and you normally wouldn't be let anywhere near a symphony orchestra if you couldn't). He replied by saying "That's ok. I'll read the music! You use your ears!"
To cut a long story short, I ended up recording and mixing a lot of surround sound classical music for Radio 3, including Rienzi - a Wagner opera - at the time, the most expensive radio production ever made. On the Paul Bunyan project, we ended up taking a portable surround-sound playback system out to Lord Benjamin Britten's house in Aldeburgh. He had suffered a stroke, and was not destined to live much longer. He and Peter Pears were charm itself, and were very pleased with the results. Then, Benjamin Britten bowled me over by asking me, a musical illiterate, what I thought of his opera. What is more, he seemed genuinely interested in my opinion - which is more than I can say for the likes of the Pop Group or The Clash.
By the way, the BBC in those days, used to refer to the kind of music played on Radio 3 as "serious music". I used to ask the guys who worked in those areas if they considered the kind of music played on Radio 1 to be "hilarious music"? I used to get some funny looks.
Some time later, I also had a spell in production at Radio 1, but found that a lot of the staffers were more interested in playing politics than producing and promoting music. So, I returned to doing sessions, and working in the management department - matching staff, resources and studios to programme requirements.
It was about this time that I got involved in a team set up to evaluate new technology, and to recommend what kind of mixing and recording equipment should be installed in the next generation of BBC recording studios. We evaluated Neve, Harrison, MCI and SSL. SSL won!
I did such a good job persuading the BBC to purchase SSL consoles that SSL's founder, Colin Sanders, asked me to head up his Sales & Marketing function. It wasn't a difficult decision. When I joined the BBC, I had met a lot of older hands who clearly did not like the popular music of the day, and were always cracking on about "the good old days". They never annoyed or upset me, but I thought it was all a bit sad. I had vowed then that I was never going to outstay my welcome, and would move on before things started to get nostalgic.
So, given the amount of crap flying around on the punk / new wave front, together with all the "king's new suit of clothes" merchants in the business who were jumping on the latest tawdry bandwagon, I decided to sling my hook and join SSL. During my first year in charge of SSL's Sales & Marketing, turnover went up over 300%. Much of this success was due to the very large orders being placed by the BBC, but, once again, the good old Beeb never seemed to get the credit it ought for encouraging the development of British technology.
As SSL supplied Virgin studios, it was through this radical career move that I got the opportunity to tell Richard Branson about my idea for a musical instrument that looked like a guitar, but played a synthesiser. The SynthAxe!
And the rest, as they say, wasn't exactly history. Such is life! I had a good time in the process.
During the mid to late 70s, I got interested in a number of areas outside my "day-job".
I was offered freelance work recording various singles and albums (including Starry Eyed at Rockfield studios in 1975), I recorded and produced a number of tv commercials and I took on some commercial radio work. Then I did two 6 month spells at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, composing music for BBC radio, tv and film productions - including the pilot programme of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
From 1974, a number of surround-sound (quadraphonic) test programmes were transmitted using Radio 2 vhf frequencies for the front pair, and Radio 3 for the back. I recorded and mixed the first 4-channel surround-sound audio programme ever broadcast, some items of which were tracks that I later performed myself on the John Peel show.
My appearances on the John Peel and Alan Freeman shows led to the offer of recording and publishing contracts from people like Bill Martin (then Billy Connolly's publisher and writer of Eurovision winner, Puppet on a String) and David Platz (controversial publisher of many early Rolling Stones hits), as well as Decca and Virgin Records. I was on the verge of signing the Virgin deal, when I received a call from an old friend and colleague from Glasgow called Pat Fairley.
Pat had played guitar & bass with The Marmalade (aka Dean Ford & the Gaylords during my Glasgow gigging days). He and Alec Scott (who I also knew as a club owner and promoter from Glasgow) were working with Yes' management at the time, and they engineered a meeting with Brian Lane, Yes' manager. They persuaded me that I would have a better chance of advancing my career if I re-recorded my album (I played and sang all the parts on original tapes which I had used to secure the offer from Virgin). Then, they promised to get me a better record deal than the one on offer from Virgin.
Yes were hot at the time, and Virgin were just starting out, so I decided to go with the bird in the bush - in the shape of a re-recorded album via Pat, Alec and Brian Lane. The album was re-recorded, featuring Tony Poole (gtr - Starry Eyed And Laughing), Iain Whitmore (bass - Starry Eyed And Laughing), Kim Turner (drums - Andy Fraser Band) and Francis Monkman (keyboards - Curved Air). I was very pleased with the results.
However, Yes' management never did negotiate the "improved" record deal they promised, all of the other offers vanished off the table, and it is crystal clear, with hindsight, that I should have taken the bird in the hand - as offered by Virgin Records.
About the same time, I recorded a few snippets of a Benjamin Britten opera called Paul Bunyan. It is set in the pioneering days of the US of A, and features a country singer providing some of the narration in between the main operatic events.
I was booked to do the country singer bits, featuring George Hamilton IV, first of all because it was considered "pop" music, and secondly, because the opera was due to be recorded and mixed in surround-sound - and I was seen to be a bit of an expert on that at the time.
The recording was a piece of cake - 1 voice + 1 guitar. Despite the ease of the task I had been asked to do, the producer was so impressed with the efficiency with which I recorded these bits that he asked me if I would like to remix the entire opera! I replied by telling him that I didn't read music. (All engineers working on "serious music" had to be able to read, and you normally wouldn't be let anywhere near a symphony orchestra if you couldn't). He replied by saying "That's ok. I'll read the music! You use your ears!"
To cut a long story short, I ended up recording and mixing a lot of surround sound classical music for Radio 3, including Rienzi - a Wagner opera - at the time, the most expensive radio production ever made. On the Paul Bunyan project, we ended up taking a portable surround-sound playback system out to Lord Benjamin Britten's house in Aldeburgh. He had suffered a stroke, and was not destined to live much longer. He and Peter Pears were charm itself, and were very pleased with the results. Then, Benjamin Britten bowled me over by asking me, a musical illiterate, what I thought of his opera. What is more, he seemed genuinely interested in my opinion - which is more than I can say for the likes of the Pop Group or The Clash.
By the way, the BBC in those days, used to refer to the kind of music played on Radio 3 as "serious music". I used to ask the guys who worked in those areas if they considered the kind of music played on Radio 1 to be "hilarious music"? I used to get some funny looks.
Some time later, I also had a spell in production at Radio 1, but found that a lot of the staffers were more interested in playing politics than producing and promoting music. So, I returned to doing sessions, and working in the management department - matching staff, resources and studios to programme requirements.
It was about this time that I got involved in a team set up to evaluate new technology, and to recommend what kind of mixing and recording equipment should be installed in the next generation of BBC recording studios. We evaluated Neve, Harrison, MCI and SSL. SSL won!
I did such a good job persuading the BBC to purchase SSL consoles that SSL's founder, Colin Sanders, asked me to head up his Sales & Marketing function. It wasn't a difficult decision. When I joined the BBC, I had met a lot of older hands who clearly did not like the popular music of the day, and were always cracking on about "the good old days". They never annoyed or upset me, but I thought it was all a bit sad. I had vowed then that I was never going to outstay my welcome, and would move on before things started to get nostalgic.
So, given the amount of crap flying around on the punk / new wave front, together with all the "king's new suit of clothes" merchants in the business who were jumping on the latest tawdry bandwagon, I decided to sling my hook and join SSL. During my first year in charge of SSL's Sales & Marketing, turnover went up over 300%. Much of this success was due to the very large orders being placed by the BBC, but, once again, the good old Beeb never seemed to get the credit it ought for encouraging the development of British technology.
As SSL supplied Virgin studios, it was through this radical career move that I got the opportunity to tell Richard Branson about my idea for a musical instrument that looked like a guitar, but played a synthesiser. The SynthAxe!
And the rest, as they say, wasn't exactly history. Such is life! I had a good time in the process.