The Golborne Variations an Album 28 Years In the Making
After 25 years the song is finally finished,it turns into an Opera.
Sometime last March I went into the Studio to Cut some tracks for the follow up album to my "New English Blues Volume I" album... I was laying the Foundations for the New English Blues Volumes II and III.
This was going to be an album that explored the corridor beyond the door left open by bands like Early Fleetwood Mac, Savoy Brown and Cream that had mutated blues into a new format ( which took the instruments and modes of the chicago blues and threw them into a pot that included Old English Music Jazz, Eastern Modes and Psychedelic pop) and made it into a new genre.
The first album had done well and I wanted to explore more, so I booked Jason Embertons Living room studios called Nick Cash, Nigel Bennett, Michael Giri, Guy Pratt and Chester Kamen. I did not have a clear idea what I was going to do... the way we worked at Living room was Jam and Rehearse from 10 till midday and then have a break and record from 1, I did however want to include a version of a song called Golborne Road. This was the re-working of a song initially entitled Room 105 recorded by a Group called "The Men Who Came in from the Cold" in the mid Eighties. Michael Giri was busy that day so he couldn't make it, Chester said he may be able to pop by in the afternoon and Guy was waiting for a plumber at home and would be down after that.. So we recorded a Few Tunes with Me on Bass Nigel on Guitar and Nick on Drums... This Trio Recording had been spectacularly successful when we recorded "Ain Gon be Yo Bitch No Mo" and "the Man" on NEB I.
At about 1.30 or two Guy made it down and apologized for being late and I moved over to guitar. So the Line up was Nigel (American Highway telecaster) and I (my Squire Strat) on Guitars and Guy playing a boutique Distressed Precision Style Bass.
I showed Guy the Basic mode we messed around and then we asked Jason to roll the digital and we jammed. The initial recording was about 9 minutes long and we were adding it to a bit of acoustic (Guitar and Mandola) recorded by Nigel and I earlier on.. I remember it was a Second take.. and it just flew by the piece moved like a horse it had its own momentum slowly at first then faster then it slowed down and then stopped and I signaled the tempo for the final piece and off it went like an express train....and in the style of some crazy russian Cossack dance got even faster until it finally crumbled on the floor. We tried to record a few numbers after that, but that was it we were exhausted... Chester turned up and took two passes at the Nine Minute Monster (on a Three Pick Up SG thru a Marshall Valve Combo) .. and we wrapped. and it would be another 14 months before the thing was finished.
I got the Stems from Jason and thenand took it to my studio to work on it further.. I was convinced there would be an acoustic intro based round the acoustic we had recorded at living room... this simple piece of music became an obsession over the next 9 months the rest of the New English Blues album went on the Back burner as I tried to Crack the Acoustic Variation of Golborne. Then Whist recording in France I added some sounds from this box called a Kaossillator.. this Acoustic Movement suddenly took a detour and was becoming electronic this was not planned and took me by surprise as I was heading further away from the 9 Minute Jam that I was tarting up. I had re-recorded the first movement 3 times and then abandoned each one... then new software arrived in the Post... The Korg Legacy Analogue collection... Hmmn lets have a play with this...I thought I'll just do use the chord structure from golborne and before I knew it... The 3rd movement instrumental was there.. Jennifer Pearl happened to be dropping by my Internet Pub (I think the Soundclick Site was down at the Time) and I sent her a bit of the song with the instructions can you just sing these 4 lines for me again and again... (I had helped her the week before by suggesting a Snowball USB mike for her recording set up. ) I sent her a clip of the tune with me singing "I keep a candle Burning for you n my heart" and she sent it back by MP3... and I cut it up and pasted it on the track... it sounded like Giorgio Moroder and Donna Summer and we were now so far off the original road map that we might as well be on the dark side of the moon. My Arabesque prog Opera was now a Gay anthem.
I now had a Nine minute jam a techno Track and a half electronic half acoustic track and an unusable very weak intro it didn't sound like an album to me.. The next thing I did was fire up Native instruments guitar rig and add 3 lead guitar tracks to Nigels and Chesters on the Final Part of the Jam... So I had no Fewer then 6 Lead guitar Tracks to mix... ah the melgomania of it all. this was getting out of control
it was then that I started breaking down the original 9 Minute Jam... listening to the Stems what impressed me was Guy and Nicks playing in the First Two Parts they sounded Great without the Guitars... Hmm I might have something here... I dialed up some strings on Logic and began laying down a slow version of the MS10 lead line from the Electro Version, the accordions and mandolins followed I found a descension on the bass, duplicated it added rhodes and from a messy jam there emerged a caravanserai of sound half Maurice Jarre half Carlos Santana and Half Good...
That was it I was away Editing Cutting and Pasting the 5th Movement became a Bass Solo with Sparse Drums and a Programmed Be-Bop Trumpet, then I called Guy I was excited the thing was sounding good... Guy I said I am half way through this thing and I was wondering If I could use our old Band Name. "The Children of 7" (we Had cut one record and done some recording as the Children of 7 in the early 80's) Guy said well I always thought of the Children as you me and Chris Payne... Chris had played on the original version of Room 105 and was the original singer of the Children of 7. So I though lets get him in to Sing on the thing... which is exactly what I did. The first movement was still a problem and the whole thing was a mess millions of file scattered over two computers on Logic Ableton and Reason it was that is until two things happened... David M. Allen got involved to produce the work. And I walked into a little guitar store in Brighton.
Ok Brighton first.. Whilst touring with the Members in Brighton I walked into a tiny Guitar shop (I was attracted by a a few tasty ukes in the window.) I played this Tenor Ukulele and it sounded good... I picked out the melody of Golborne and it sounded Great... the guitar started running away with the tune the same way the jam ran off like a racehorse when we first played it. That was it I had to buy the Uke I rushed back to London and recorded the vocal and guitar part for the first part (for the 5th Time) one one track..with a Rode Mike and I was in Business again... add a Spanish Twelve a low Piano and a Harp Glissando et Viola like a hors d'oeuvre the meal was simple classic and done...
Dave then took all the stems out of all the Programs and painstakingly reassembled them in Protools to Mix on his amazing Desk. (Dave's desk used to belong to uber producer Conny Plank and is known by those in the Know as THE Krautrock desk)
After Many Weeks of Mixing re-listening we finally had Finished the Album...
After the Preview of this album I became very depressed as I had been working so hard on it for so long a musical post natal depression that made me feel like giving up. It is difficult sometimes to explain to people the work and dedication that goes into projects like this.. I used to lie in Bed at night with it Racing round my head it possessed me for over a year.. I would jump out of bed in the middle of the night record vocals only to scrap them a month later, I would record Mandolins again and again and then scrap them hours of work were put in and then rejected...
This Album will be available in August on iTunes Worldwide.. At the Moment you can preview it here... and indeed buy your pre-release copy here.
The iTunes will be good but to really enjoy the Variations you Need to listen to all 24 minutes in one go, thats how I wrote it...
I would Like to Thank
Sheila My Wife for her patience and support
Nick Cash Drums,
Nigel Bennett and Chester Kamen Guitars
Guy Pratt, Bass Guitar,
Chris Payne and Jennifer Pearl, Vocals,
JC Carroll
July 2009 West Byfleet.