I’m sad to report that songwriter and musician Denny Laine, of The Moody Blues and Wings fame, has died at the age of 79.
Denny succumbed to interstitial lung disease from which he had been suffering for a while. His health took a turn for the worse earlier this year and his wife Elizabeth Hines was by his side when he died.
Denny was the only member of Wings to stay the course during the 1970s and appeared on every album, co-writing songs such as ‘No Words’ (from Band on the Run) and ‘Mull of Kintyre’, still the biggest selling non-charity single in the UK.
His own compositions also made appearances on Wings records, including ‘Time to Hide’ from 1976’s Wings at the Speed of Sound and ‘Again and Again and Again’ from 1979’s Back to the Egg. Denny appeared on Paul’s Tug of War and Pipes of Peace solo albums in the early 1980s, before the pair fell out, although in later years they patched it up and were photographed together at a UB40 concert in the 1990s.
Rest in Peace, Denny Laine. Leave your condolences and thoughts via the comments.
Back in 2004, UK broadcaster Sean Rowley fronted a CD release called Guilty Pleasures which featured a collection of 70s tunes which were supposedly shameful to love, such as The Alessi Brothers’ ‘Oh Lori’, ‘January’ by Pilot or ‘Howzat’ by Sherbert.
The Guilty Pleasures concept really gained traction 20 years ago and indeed the phrase ‘Guilty Pleasures’ was leapt on by the media and the expression entered into the public domain. Sean started up a Guilty Pleasures club night with a monthly residency at KOKO in Camden Town, and he headlined stages at Glastonbury, Latitude, The Big Chill, Bestival and even the opening of the new Wembley Stadium as support to George Michael!
Guilty Pleasures 4CD set
Now, with the involvement of Rowley, the original 22-track CD has been expanded to a deluxe 4CD set with 70 songs (with red cover) and the ‘franchise’ appears on vinyl for the very first time courtesy of a 2LP vinyl package (with blue cover) featuring 29 songs.
Each of the editions comes with extensive track-by-track sleeve notes from Sean and the compilation’s release will be celebrated with a one-off launch party on 24 February next year at an appropriate venue: KOKO in Camden
Both 4CD and 2LP variants of Guilty Pleasures are released on 2 February 2024 via Demon Music. Amazon exclusive signed editions are limited to 1000 units (4CD) and 500 units (2LP vinyl) imited numbers come with prints signed by Sean Rowley.
Massive reduction in the USA for this Rush box set which features CD, LP, four seven-inch singles and a Blu-ray Audio disc with a Dolby Atmos & 5.1 surround mixes by Richard Chycki, the 2015 48kHz 24-bit stereo remaster, new animated visualisers and music videos for ‘Subdivisions’ and ‘Countdown’. NB: If you’re in the UK price for us goes up to $156!
Good reduction for the recent Yes Album super deluxe edition which features a new Dolby Atmos Mix of the 1971 album from Steven Wilson. His previous 5.1 mix and a hi-res stereo mix are also included on the blu-ray (but not the original mix of the album).
David Bowie/Brilliant Adventure 1992-2001 11CD box11CD box set
If you prefer the 5CD version of Revolver, then head to Amazon France where you can currently pick this up for £73 which represents a saving of over £20 on the UK price.
Neil Young/Time Fades Away clear vinyl LPClear vinyl LP
This 2017 Mono/Death Waltz Recording pressing of the soundtrack of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me was £40 originally, so this is a bargain. The label went back to the master tapes in the Warner Archives and had this recut to fit across two LPs as the score clocks in at 51 minutes. Features director-approved artwork and composer-approved audio, with sleeve notes from Mark Kermode. Everything about this is premium, including the die-cut and spot varnished sleeve and the ‘cherry pie’ coloured vinyl pressing. Works out at about $32 shipped to the USA (currently $51 on Amazon US).
Elton John/Madman Across The Water 3CD+blu-ray3CD+blu-ray super deluxe
Paul McCartney & Wings’ classic 1973 album Band on the Run will be reissued for its 50th anniversary in three physical editions, with two of them offering unheard early mixes without overdubs.
The album was an enormous critical and commercial success, topping the charts in both the UK and America and spawning multiple hit singles). Band on the Run became the yardstick from which all future Wings and McCartney albums would be measured (“his best album since Band on the Run” being an oft-heard refrain).
These so-called ‘Underdubbed Mixes’ are not newly created in the studio in 2023, rather they were prepared by engineer Geoff Emerick on 14 October 1973, less than two months before the release of the album. They are effectively unreleased rough mixes without any of the orchestral overdubs which were created by, in haste, by Tony Visconti (“I hardly slept for two days”, Tony recalls in his 2007 autobiography). Furthermore, the tracklisting for these ‘Underdubbed Mixes’ does not follow the sequencing on the original album, it mirrors the original analogue tapes discovered in the MPL archives.
The new 50th anniversary 2LP set of Band on the Run (click image to enlarge)
These unheard mixes will be paired with the US version of Band on the Run (which features the additional track ‘Helen Wheels’) for 2CD and 2LP editions.
The 2LP vinyl edition features a half-speed mastered version of the album along with the ‘Underdubbed Mixes’ edition housed in a “premium slipcase”. The set also includes two Linda McCartney Polaroid posters. The 2CD set offers the same audio content with a 2-sided foldout poster.
The third and final physical edition is a single LP edition of the US version of Band on the Run, half-speed mastered.
Band on the Run has also been newly mixed in Dolby Atmos by Giles Martin and Steve Orchard. Unfortunately, as with previous Wings albums mixed in Spatial Audio, there is no physical edition (call me, Scott Rodgers).
These new editions will be released on 2 February 2024 via MPL/UMe. The 2LP is D2C only, but the 2CD and half-speed should be widely available.
Neil Young’s latest studio album is “a trip into his music history”. The 13-track album is available on blu-ray in Atmos. Secure your copy via the SDE shop.
The cleverly named Extension is a 2LP set featuring extended mixes of every track on Kylie’s recent Tension album. Pressed on neon pink and green splatter clear double vinyl in a gatefold sleeve. There’s no CD version, which is annoying, but no doubt there’s some future deluxe edition planned that will address this omission.
Fiona Apple’s second album, When the Pawn... is reissued on vinyl. It was released in 1999 and includes tracks ‘Paper Bag’, ‘Fast As You Can’ and ‘I Know’. Her debut, Tidal, is also reissued as a 2LP set.
Wham!’s 1984 single ‘Last Christmas’ will be issued on coloured vinyl seven-inch and as a CD single, later this month.
The festive favourite famously peaked at number two in 1984 but finally got to number one just after Christmas in 2020. Over the years there have been various physical reissues including a white vinyl seven-inch in 2019 and a US-only bi-colour RSD 12-inch in 2014 (which featured an unreleased instrumental version).
As far as I can tell, there has never been a CD single of Last Christmas in the UK. The first CD single was a Japanese snap-pack in 1988 (which features the single version and Pudding Mix) and between 2004-2005 there were various editions released in Europe, including ‘Pock-iT’ 3-inch CD for Germany. These always had the same tracklisting, the single version and the Pudding Mix.
The ‘Last Christmas’ CD single for 2023 (click to enlarge)
Therefore the UK CD single is a relatively big deal and it offers four tracks: both versions of ‘Last Christmas’ along with the 5.30 Remix Edit and 6.34 full length Remix versions of ‘Everything She Wants’ (the single was a double A-side in the UK).
The new seven-inch, which is pressed on green vinyl, features the standard single version of ‘Last Christmas’ on the A-side with the Remix Edit of ‘Everything She Wants’ on the flipside.
Both physical editions of ‘Last Christmas’ are described by the label as “very limited” and are released on 15 December 2023 via Sony Music.
The pre-order window Def Leppard’sDiamond Star Halos SDE-exclusive blu-ray audio – number 16 in the ongoing SDE Surround Series – closes tomorrow.
This physical product is the only way to own Steven Wilson’s Dolby Atmos Mix of the album from 2022 and it also contains an exclusive instrumental mix of the record. Along with the standard stereo version, the blu-ray features two rare bonus tracks, unreleased outside of Japan.
The Diamond Star Halos SDE-exclusive blu-ray will be released on 12 January 2024 via Mercury/UMR. Secure your copy by pre-ordering via the SDE shop using this link or the pre-order button, below.
Don’t miss out! This is your last chance to guarantee you get a copy. There may be some cancellation/contingency stock around the time of release, but this is not guaranteed (it didn’t happen with Duran Duran, for example).
TECHNICAL NOTES: This blu-ray audio requires a blu-ray player. Decoding the Dolby Atmos mix requires a Dolby Atmos-certified soundbar or a Dolby Atmos-compatible AV Receiver/Amp. The Dolby Atmos mix will ‘fold down’ to 5.1 or stereo if a Dolby Atmos decoder is not detected.
Tracklisting
Diamond Star HalosDef Leppard /
SDE Blu-ray Audio
Diamond Star Halos:| Steven Wilson Dolby Atmos Mix, Instrumental Stereo Mix (48/24) and Stereo Mix (48/24)
Take What You Want 4:14
Kick 3:42
Fire It Up 3:19
This Guitar (featuring Alison Krauss) 3:50
SOS Emergency 3:25
Liquid Dust 4:01
U Rok Mi 3:33
Goodbye for Good This Time 4:27
All We Need 4:46
Open Your Eyes 4:19
Gimme a Kiss 3:12
Angels (Can’t Help You Now) 4:57
Lifeless (featuring Alison Krauss) 4:19
Unbreakable 3:46
From Here to Eternity
Rare bonus tracks (stereo 48/24)
Angels (Can’t Help You Now) (Stripped Version) 4.57
In what must surely be some kind of record, The Rolling Stones will issue an expanded ‘live edition’ of their six-week old album Hackney Diamonds, in December.
The limited edition 2CD version includes the standard album on CD 1 paired with Live at Racket NYC on the second disc, which features the seven tracks the band performed at the launch event in New York on 19 October 2023 including debut live performances of ‘Angry’, ‘Bite My Head Off’, ‘Whole Wide World’ and ‘Sweet Sounds of Heaven’ (with Lady Gaga). The 24-page booklet includes photos from the performance by Kevin Mazur.
This Live Edition of Hackney Diamonds will be released on 15 December 2023, via Polydor.
A new 27CD Dead Or Alive box set called Still Spinnin’: The Singles Collection 1983-2021 collects all the band singles that were originally released on CBS Records along with independent releases in the post-Sony era.
The band chalked up nine top 40 singles over the years including the chart-topping ‘You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)’ which appears in this box set four times, thanks to its various re-releases (there’s 28 different remixes, in total!).
Still Spinnin’ contains 27 CDs (click image to enlarge)
Each CDs contain remixes, B-sides and live tracks associated with the original release and that means quite a lot of music (CD 15, ‘Baby Don’t Say Goodbye’ has 13 tracks).
The music is newly mastered and the CDs are packaged in replica mini-sleeves from across Dead Or Alive’s domestic and international releases.
Still Spinnin’: The Singles Collection 1983-2021 will be released on 16 February 2024 via Edsel.
Still Spinnin’ Singles Collection 1983-2021Dead Or Alive/
CD 1: Misty Circles
Misty Circles 3:48
Misty Circles [Instrumental] 3:44
Misty Circles [Dance Mix] 9:12
Misty Circles [Dub Mix] 6:14
Selfish Side 2:34
CD 2: What I Want
What I Want [Original 7″ Version] 3:44
The Stranger [Re-Recorded Version] 4:51
What I Want [Dance Mix] 6:14
What I Want [1984 7″ Remix] 3:50
What I Want [1984 Dance Mix] 5:53
CD 3: I’d Do Anything
I’d Do Anything 4:04
Anything [Dub] 4:26
I’d Do Anything [Megamix] 5:24
Misty Circles [7″ Version] 3:48
What I Want [Original 7″ Version] 3:42
CD 4: That’s the Way (I Like It)
That’s the Way (I Like It) 3:08
Do It 3:55
That’s the Way (I Like It) [Extended Version] 6:00
Keep That Body Strong (That’s the Way) 3:41
CD 5: You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) 3:19
Misty Circles 3:48
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [Murder Mix] 8:03
Misty Circles [Extended Version] 9:12
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [Performance Mix] 7:27
Mighty Mix (Pt. 1): Wish You Were Here/What I Want/Do It/Misty Circles 7:48
Mighty Mix (Pt. 2): Absolutely Nothing/Sit on It/You Make Me Wanna/That’s the Way (I Like It) 8:18
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [Big Ben Mix] 3:41
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [Buzzing Bees Mix] 10:12
CD 6: Lover Come Back To Me
Lover Come Back to Me 3:08
Far Too Hard 4:33
Lover Come Back to Me [Extended Version] 5:27
Lover Come Back to Me [7″ Bonus Mix] 3:23
Lover Come Back to Me [Extended Remix] 5:47
Lover Come Back to Me [Instrumental] 4:45
CD 7: In Too Deep
In Too Deep 3:50
I’d Do Anything 4:03
In Too Deep [‘Off Yer Mong’ Mix] 6:19
I’d Do Anything [12″ Version] 5:25
You Make Me Wanna 2:55
In Too Deep [Instrumental] 4:12
CD 8: My Heart Goes Bang (Get Me to the Doctor)
My Heart Goes Bang (Get Me to the Doctor) 3:13
Big Daddy of the Rhythm [Live] 3:29
My Heart Goes Bang (Get Me to the Doctor) 7:18
Cake and Eat It [Live at Hammersmith Odeon] 5:37
In Too Deep [Live at Hammersmith Odeon] 4:38
My Heart Goes Bang (Get Me to the Doctor) [American ‘Wipe-Out’ Mix] 6:46
My Heart Goes Bang [Instrumental Version] 4:33
CD 9: Brand New Lover
Brand New Lover 3:37
In Too Deep [Live] 4:37
Brand New Lover [The Dust Monkey’s Love Bubble Club Mix] 9:05
Brand New Lover [Instrumental] 4:18
Brand New Lover [Up Ducky Mix] 6:29
Cake and Eat It [Live at Hammersmith Odeon] 5:37
CD 10:
Something in My House [7″ Remix] 3:50
DJ Hit That Button 3:27
Something in My House [Mortevicar Mix] 6:59
Something in My House [Flamenco Version] 4:22
Something in My House [U.S. Wipe-Out Mix Part 2] 7:22
Something in My House [House Instrumental] 5:25
Something in My House [Naughty XXX Mix] 7:00
Brand New Lover 3:37
In Too Deep [Live at Hammersmith Odeon] 4:35
CD 11: Hooked on Love
Hooked on Love [Edit] 3:36
Hooked on Love [La Vie en Rose Mix] 3:54
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [Recorded Live at the Golden Suspender] 6:56
Hooked on Love [The Big Revolver Mix] 8:25
Something in My House [U.S. Wipe-Out Mix Part 2] 7:21
Hooked on Love [Remix] 4:30
Something in My House 3:51
DJ Hit That Button 3:28
Hooked on Love [Instrumental] 5:04
CD 12: I’ll Save You All My Kisses
I’ll Save You All My Kisses [Remixed-7″ Version] 3:30.
Lover Come Back (To Me) 3:09
I’ll Save You All My Kisses [The Sonia Mezumbda Memorial Mix] 5:19
I Wanna Be a Toy 3:59
I’ll Save You All My Kisses [The Long Wet Sloppy Kiss Mix] 7:10
Whirlpool 4:19
Nowhere to Nowhere 2:35
CD 13: Turn Around and Count 2 Ten
Turn Around and Count 2 Ten [7″ Version] 4:51
Something in My House [Short House Instrumental -Instru-Mental Mix] 3:30
Turn Around and Count 2 Ten [The Pearl & Dean “I Love” – BPM Mix] 8:36
Something in My House [Instru-Mental 12″ Mix] 5:24
Turn Around and Count 2 Ten [The Pearl and Dean “I Had a Disco Dream” Mix] 7:15
Then There Was You 3:43
Come Inside 4:28
Turn Around and Count 2 Ten [Instru-Mental Mix] 3:00
CD 14: Come Home with Me Baby
Come Home with Me Baby [7″ Version] 3:52
I’ll Save You All My Kisses 3:30
Come Home with Me Baby [12″ Version] 6:21
I Want You [7″ Mix] 4:03
Come Home with Me Baby [The Deadhouse Dub] 6:26
Come Home with Me Baby [The Deadhouse Dub 7″ Edit] 3:31
Come Home with Me Baby [Instru-Mental Mix] 3:33
CD 15: Baby Don’t Say Goodbye
Baby Don’t Say Goodbye [Edited House Version] 4:03
Baby Don’t Say Goodbye [Edited Pop Version] 4:01
Baby Don’t Say Goodbye [12″ House Version] 6:09
Baby Don’t Say Goodbye [Pop Version] 4:17
Baby Don’t Say Goodbye [Extended Mix] 6:46
Mini Megamix: Come Home with Me Baby/Stop Kicking My Heart Around/Give It Back (That Love Is Mine) 2:54
Baby Don’t Say Goodbye [The Powerful Club Twelve] 5:48
Baby Don’t Say Goodbye [Club Mix] 8:33
Baby Don’t Say Goodbye [Instrumental] 4:51
Baby Don’t Say Goodbye [Cheer’s Vocal] 7:09
Baby Don’t Say Goodbye [Danny’s Dub] 3:32
Baby Don’t Say Goodbye [Radio Edit] 4:29
Nude Mega Mix: Come Home (With Me Baby)/Stop Kicking My Heart Around/Give It Back That Love Is Mine/Baby Don’t Say Goodbye/ Turn Around and Count 2 Ten/I Don’t Wanna Be Your Boyfriend [Unreleased] 8:43
CD 16: Your Sweetness (Is Your Weakness)
Your Sweetness (Is Your Weakness) 5:51
Blue Christmas 3:57
Your Sweetness (Is Your Weakness) [Instrumental] 5:50
CD 17: Been Gone 2 Long
Been Gone 2 Long 5:48
Live in Nagoya, Japan 29 November 1990: Turn Around and
Count 2 Ten/Blue Christmas/Your Sweetness 11:05
Beats 2 Long 2:55
CD 18: Unhappy Birthday
Unhappy Birthday [Radio Edit] 5:09
Total Stranger [Remix] 7:07
Unhappy Birthday [Ninja Billy Mix] 7:33
Unhappy Birthday [Japanese 7″ Mix] 6:04
Unhappy Birthday [Rockin’ Instrumental] 4:45
CD 19: Rebel Rebel
Rebel Rebel 4:05
Rebel Rebel [Extended 12″ Mix] 6:29
Rebel Rebel (The Hole Mix) 6:38
Rebel Rebel [The Safe Hands Remix] 5:18
The Right Stuff 4:05
CD 20: You Spin Me Round (’96 Remix)
You Spin Me Round (’96 Remix – Sugar Pumpers Radio Mix) 3:41
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [’96 Remix – Sugar Pumpers Extended Mix] 5:14
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [’96 Remix -Sugar Pumpers Pumpin’ Mix] 7:09
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [’96 Remix -The Yummi Mix] 3:27
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [’96 Remix -The Yummi 4Am Mix] 6:00
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [’96 Remix -The Vicious Mix] 8:14
International Thing [International 7″ Edit] 3:47
International Thing [Nu-Nrg 7″ Remix] 4:20
International Thing 6:59
International Thing [Nu-Nrg 12″ Remix] 6:59
CD 21: Sex Drive
Sex Drive [Radio Edit] 4:24
Sex Drive [Album Version] 5:15
Sex Drive [Sugar Pumpers Extended Mix] 5:56
Sex Drive [Peewee’s Radio Mix] 4:10
Sex Drive [Scream Driven Edit] 3:56
Sex Drive [Peewee’s Remix] 5:56
Sex Drive [Scream Driven Mix] 7:01
Sex Drive [Peewee’s Extended Remix] 9:35
Sex Drive [Album Radio Edit/Original Radio Edit] 2:54
Sex Drive [Dead or Alive Original Mix] 6:38
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [Tyme Vs Hoops Mix] 6:48
What I Want 5:25
Come Home (With Me Baby) [12″ Version] 6:2
Your Sweetness [Live in Nagoya, Japan] 2:36
CD 22: You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [400 HZ – Kleopatra Edit Remix] 3:21
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [Jail House Club Edit Remix] 4:19
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [400 HZ – Kleopatra Remix] 6:46
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [Jail House Club Remix] 4:36
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [400 HZ – Marc Antoine Remix] 7:03
You Spin Me Round [Time Vs. Hoops Club Mix] 6:48
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [Edouard’s Mix] 4:07
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [Kalk’s Underground Mix] 5:19
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [Blue Sky Mix] 4:02
CD 23: Hit and Run Lover
Hit and Run Lover [Radio Version] 3:40
Hit and Run Lover 4:42
Hit and Run Lover [Hit Remix] 4:4
Hit and Run Lover [Instrumental] 4:42
Hit and Run Lover [Acapella] 4:09
Turn Around and Count 2 Ten 2000 [Radio Edit] 4:02
CD 24: You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [Metro 7″ Edit] 3:47
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [Metro 12″ Extended Mix] 6:57
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [Punx Soundcheck Vs Princess Julia Remix] 5:49
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [Mark Moore & Mr Motion Remix] 6:20
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [D-Bop Club Mix] 7:15
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [Alternative Metro 7″ Edit] 4:25
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) [Original 7″ Mix] 3:16
Isn’t It a Pity 4:44
CD 25: Even Better Than the Real Thing
Even Better Than the Real Thing 4:26
Pop Life 4:16
Why’s It So Hard 4:50 Released As a Single in 2007
CD 26: Tonight
Tonight… 4:02
Tonight… [Extended Version] 6:03
Tonight… [Instrumental Version] 4:02
Tonight… [Extended Instrumental Version] 6:01
CD 27: Hurt Me (Did You Have to Hurt Me)
Hurt Me (Did You Have to Hurt Me) 4:28
Hurt Me (Did You Have to Hurt Me) [Extended Version] 6:54
Hurt Me (Did You Have to Hurt Me) [Instrumental Version] 4:28
Hurt Me (Did You Have to Hurt Me) [Extended Instrumental Version] 6:50
The Pogues’ lead singer and songwriter Shane MacGowan has died, his family have announced.
A statement read: “It is with the deepest sorrow and heaviset of hearts that we annouce the passing of Shane MacGowan. Shane died peacefully at 3am this morning (30 November, 2023) with his wife Victoria and family by his side.Prayers and the last rites were read which gave comfort to his family. He is survived by his wife Victoria, his sister Siobhan and his father Maurice, family and a large circle of friends.Further details will be announced shortly but the family ask for privacy at this time”.
The Pogues released seven albums between 1984 and 1996 before MacGowan formed The Popes who were active for most of the 1990s. The Pogues reunited in 2001 and toured on and off for over a decade. Shane will be best remembered by the public at large for The Pogues’ 1987 single with Kirsty MacColl, ‘Fairy Tale of New York’.
Jonathan Cornell on the new Steven Wilson Dolby Atmos mix of Who’s Next
The long-awaited 10CD+Blu-ray super deluxe edition of The Who’s 1971 opus finally arrived in September 2023, featuring new 5.1 and Dolby Atmos mixes from in-demand surround sound mixer Steven Wilson. This comprehensive reissue undoubtedly delivered the final word on that period of the band, including dozens of previously-unheard studio and live recordings from 1970-72 across a massive eleven-disc box set (read Alexis Petridis’ review on SDE).
This set was among my most-anticipated releases of the year not only because of Steven Wilson’s involvement, but also for personal reasons: Who’s Next was among my Dad’s, and thus my own, all-time favourite classic rock records. He’d once described to me in detail the experience of first listening to the album on LP way back in 1971, on a friend’s pair of JBL L100 Century speakers with the built-in tone controls ‘cranked to eleven’.
My Dad had been interested in surround music since the early-1970s (our stereo setup includes both a working SQ decoder and CD-4 demodulator, two very obscure pieces of gear required to properly play back quadraphonic vinyl) and always lamented that Who’s Next was never reissued in a multichannel format. The album did not receive a quad mix during the 1970s, and – despite Pete Townshend expressing interest in creating a 5.1 version in around 2004, as he had done so successfully with Tommy – it was passed over again during the early 2000s heyday of the SACD and DVD-Audio formats.
I couldn’t have imagined that my Dad would unexpectedly pass away from a stroke on 2 September, at the age of 68 – a mere two weeks before the box set and Atmos mix would be released. So listening to this fantastic reimagining of a classic for the first time was a strangely bittersweet experience, knowing I’ll never get to share it with him or hear his thoughts on it.
Though Who’s Next isn’t as layered as other albums from this era that Steven Wilson has remixed in 5.1 surround or Dolby Atmos, I think he’s made the most of the original multitrack recordings to craft an exciting new immersive experience. The Atmos mix is chock full of newfound detail, yet also respectful to the iconic original Glyn Johns production.
I was somewhat skeptical at how impressive ‘Baba O’Riley’ could be in surround sound given the limited source, but the Atmos mix of this song works remarkably well. The iconic opening organ line swirls all around and above just as I’d hoped, while Roger Daltrey’s lead vocal is almost completely isolated in the center speaker. ‘Bargain’ is unfortunately presented as an up-mix from the stereo master due to the loss of the original multitrack, but it does sound appropriately ‘big’ and fills out the room nicely.
“Love Ain’t For Keeping” again features Daltrey in the centre channel, with the acoustic guitars almost entirely isolated in the side speakers and background vocals placed primarily in the rear heights. Despite being recorded to a single mono track for this song, Moon’s drums sound absolutely thunderous coming from the front stage.
I imagined Wilson would do something fun with the horn parts in ‘My Wife’ and I’m not disappointed: they come screaming from the rear surround speakers, while Townshend’s guitar swells swirl all around the height channels. Another one of the most exciting passages in the album would have to be the ending of ‘The Song Is Over’, with the big drum rolls crashing all around the room.
Moving into what originally constituted side two, ‘Getting In Tune’ kicks off with the piano in the side right speaker and then electric guitar appearing directly behind the listener’s head. The backing vocals wildly swing between the rear height speakers. ‘Going Mobile’ again makes heavy use of the side speakers for acoustic guitars, with the ARP synthesizer filling up the rear surrounds and crazy wah-wah guitar isolated in the rear left height speaker.
The one track that didn’t quite stick the landing for me was perhaps my favourite on the record, ‘Behind Blue Eyes’. The cathedral-like ambience at the beginning is perfect, but the vocal harmonies–now relocated to the rear height speakers–seem much louder and drier than in the original stereo. Nitpicks aside, there are definitely some fantastic moments in that great song, such as when Townshend’s harmonies on specific lines (“I blame you” and “can show through”) pop up in the front heights, directly above Daltrey’s lead in the centre channel. Unlike the rest of the album tracks, ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’ was captured using a 16-track recorder, making the scope for the new immersive experience that much greater. Keith Moon’s ferocious drums thunder across the front soundstage, while Townshend’s acoustic guitar emanates primarily from the left side surround. Backing vocals again pop out of the rear heights, and the handclaps bouncing all around during the first instrumental break (just before “I move myself and my family aside”) perfectly adds to the mania of the song.
For those who haven’t yet made the leap to Dolby Atmos, fear not as the DTS-HD 5.1 mix also makes for a fabulous listening experience. Note that this is not a ‘fold-down’ of the Atmos presentation, but rather a completely unique mix intended specifically for six speakers. Many of the elements that appear isolated in the side surround speakers – such as the acoustic guitars in ‘Love Ain’t For Keeping’ – instead hover in the ‘phantom’ spaces between the front & rear channels in the 5.1 mix. Another interesting difference is in ‘Baba O’Riley’ where the Atmos mix had the electric guitar coming from above and fiddle in the rear surrounds, the 5.1 version instead positions the guitar in the back speakers and fiddle in the centre channel. I could try to eloquently conclude my thoughts on this fabulous new immersive remix of an album I’ve long loved, but Steven Wilson himself sums it up best in his short essay included in the box set’s liner notes:
For me, the economy inherent in the recording process of Who’s Next actually makes for a really engaging surround experience. You can hear the space between all the instruments, every gesture in the music. Even the sound of the room they were recording in. Both compositionally and performance-wise nothing on Who’s Next is superfluous or wasted, everything counts. It’s almost a cliche with surround sound to say that it’s like you’re in the studio with the band, but that really is the way it feels on these iconic recordings. You can almost reach out and touch the music.”
Steven Wilson, August 2022
As far as surround sound mixes of classic albums go, it simply doesn’t get much better than this. Was the Blu-Ray worth the high price of admission? For me, the answer is a resounding “yes.” I only wish that my Dad was still here to enjoy it with me.
CD 2: PETE TOWNSHEND’S LIFE HOUSE DEMOS 1970 – 1971 – PART 1
Teenage Wasteland (Demo)*
Too Much (Demo) *
Going Mobile (Demo)*
There’s A Fortune in Those Hills (Demo)*
Love Ain’t For Keeping (Demo)*
Bargain (Demo)*
Greyhound Girl (Demo)*
Mary (Alternate Mix) (Demo)**
Behind Blue Eyes (Demo)*
Time Is Passing (Demo)*
Finally, Over (Demo)**
Baba O’Riley (Original Demo)**
* Previously released with new remix
** Previously unreleased tracks
CD 3: PETE TOWNSHEND’S LIFE HOUSE DEMOS 1970 – 1971 – PART 2
Pure And Easy (Home Studio Mix) (Demo)*
Getting In Tune (Alternate Mix) (Demo)**
Nothing Is Everything (Let’s See Action) (Demo)*
Won’t Get Fooled Again (Demo)*
Baba O’Riley (Demo)*
Song Is Over (2021 Remix) (Demo)**
Pure And Easy (Olympic Studios Mix) (Demo)**
Mary (Original Mix) (Demo)*
Baba O’Riley (First Editing Demo)**
Song Is Over (Original Demo)*
* Previously released with new remix
** Previously unreleased tracks
CD 4: RECORD PLANT, NYC SESSIONS MARCH 1971
Don’t Do It (aka Baby Don’t You Do It) [Take 2, Unedited, March 16, 1971]**
Won’t Get Fooled Again [Take 13, March 16, 1971]*
Behind Blue Eyes (Version 1) [Take 15, March 16, 1971]**
Love Ain’t For Keeping [Take 14, March 17, 1971]*
The Note (aka Pure and Easy) [Take 21, March 17, 1971]*
I’m In Tune (aka Getting in Tune) [Take 6, March 18, 1971*
Behind Blue Eyes (Version 2) [Take 10, March 18, 1971}*
* Previously released with new remix
** Previously unreleased tracks
CD 5: OLYMPIC SOUND STUDIOS, LONDON SESSIONS 1970-72
Pure And Easy*
I Don’t Know Myself [B-side with Unreleased Count-in]
Time Is Passing [Stereo Mix]**
Too Much of Anything [Original 1971 Vocal]**
Naked Eye [1971 Remake]**
Bargain (Early Mix)**
Love Ain’t For Keeping (Unedited Mix)**
My Wife (Unedited Mix)**
Getting In Tune (Take 1 with Jam)**
Going Mobile (Alternate Mix)**
Song Is Over (Backing Track) [with Nicky Hopkins]**
When I Was a Boy**
Let’s See Action (Unedited Mix)**
Relay (Unedited Mix) [Alternate Vocal]**
Put The Money Down [Remix with Original Vocal]*
Join Together [Unedited Remix]**
* Previously released with new remix
** Previously unreleased tracks
CD 6: SINGLES & SESSIONS 1970-72
The Seeker (Original Single Mix)
Here For More [Original Single Mix]
Heaven And Hell [New Stereo Mix]**
Water [Eel Pie Sound Studio – New Unedited Mix]**
I Don’t Know Myself [Eel Pie Sound Studio – New Unedited Mix]**
Naked Eye [Eel Pie Sound Studio – New Unedited Mix]**
Postcard [Eel Pie Sound Studio – Original 1970 Mix]**
Now I’m A Farmer [Eel Pie Sound Studio – New Remix]**
The Seeker (Unedited Version)**
Water (IBC Version)**
I Don’t Know Myself (IBC Version)**
Let’s See Action (Original Single Mix)
When I Was a Boy (Original Single Mix)
Join Together (Original Single Mix)
Relay (Original Single Mix)
Waspman (Original Single Mix)
Long Live Rock (Original Olympic Mix)
* Previously released with new remix
** Previously unreleased tracks
CD 7: LIVE AT THE YOUNG VIC, LONDON – APRIL 26, 1971
Love Ain’t for Keeping*
Pure And Easy*
Young Man Blues*
Time Is Passing*
Behind Blue Eyes*
I Don’t Even Know Myself*
Too Much of Anything*
Getting In Tune*
Bargain*
* Previously released with new remix
** Previously unreleased tracks
CD 8: LIVE AT THE YOUNG VIC, LONDON – APRIL 26, 1971
Pinball Wizard**
See Me, Feel Me**
Baby Don’t You Do It*
Water*
My Generation*
(I’m A) Road Runner*
Naked Eye*
Bony Moronie*
Won’t Get Fooled Again*
* Previously released with new remix
** Previously unreleased tracks
CD 9: LIVE AT THE CIVIC AUDITORIUM, SAN FRANCISCO – DECEMBER 12, 1971
Introduction**
I Can’t Explain*
Substitute*
Summertime Blues**
My Wife*
Baba O’Riley**
Behind Blue Eyes*
Bargain*
Won’t Get Fooled Again**
Baby Don’t You Do It*
Magic Bus**
* Previously released with new remix
** Previously unreleased tracks
CD 10: LIVE AT THE CIVIC AUDITORIUM, SAN FRANCISCO – DECEMBER 12, 1971
Introduction To Tommy**
Overture**
Amazing Journey**
Sparks**
Pinball Wizard**
See Me Feel Me**
My Generation**
Naked Eye*
Going Down*
* Previously released with new remix
** Previously unreleased tracks
Blu-ray Audio
Steven Wilson Atmos Mix (48kHz 24-bit)**
Steven Wilson 5.1 Mix (96kHz 24-bit)**
Steven Wilson Stereo Mix (96kHz 24-bit)*
Original 1971 Stereo Mix (96kHz 24-bit)
Baba O’Riley
Bargain
Love Ain’t For Keeping
My Wife
The Song Is Over
Getting In Tune
Going Mobile
Behind Blue Eyes
Won’t Get Fooled Again
Bonus Tracks: Steven Wilson Atmos Mix (48kHz 24-bit) & Steven Wilson 5.1 Mix (96kHz 24-bit), Steven Wilson Stereo Mix (96kHz 24-bit)*
The soundtrack to Robert Wise’s film version of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s The Sound of Musicis being reissued across multiple formats, with a super deluxe edition offering “every musical element” from the film and a Dolby Atmos Mix.
The musical features classics such as as ‘My Favourite Things’, ‘Do-Re-Mi’, ‘The Sound of Music’ and ‘Edelweiss’ and Robert Wise walked away with Best Picture and Best Director Oscars (being director and co-producer) at the 1966 Academy Awards.
The new reissue is led by a 4CD+blu-ray super deluxe which features over 40 previously unreleased tracks, including 11 never-before-heard alternate takes and instrumentals of each song for that singalong-a-Sound-of-Music experience. The blu-rays capacity allows it to deliver the full score in hi-res stereo audio and well as a Dolby Atmos Mix of the 16-track original soundtrack.
The 4CD+blu-ray super deluxe of The Sound of Music
The box set edition also features new, in-depth sleeve notes by the writer, and Robert Wise associate Mike Matessino, who also remixed and remastered the album from the original multi-track tapes. In his detailed essay, which delves deep into the making of the film and all of its music, Matessino writes, “You will hear what you’ve heard before, famous songs with the mellifluous tones of Dame Julie Andrews leading the way, but the experience has been transformed beyond what the 1965 soundtrack album offered—with extensions to the songs, a brilliantly arranged underscore, and even some segments not used in the completed version of the film.”
2CD deluxe and 3LP vinyl editions include the film’s full score. The Sound of Music will be reissued on 1 December 2023 via Craft Recordings.
Rhino’s latest releases to feature archival quadrophonic mixes are now available on Amazon in the USA having previously been D2C (direct-to-consumer) only.
These new ‘Quadio’ titles are a quartet of albums originally released within a year of each other. They are America’s George Martin-produced Holiday (1974), Gordon Lightfoot’sSundown (1974), Charlie Mingus’Mingus Moves (1973) and The Spinners’ fourth album Spinners (1973).
All four of the albums are pressed on blu-ray audio and feature 24/194 four channel (4.0) audio as well as 24/192 stereo. They come in those ‘super’ jewel cases that SACDs used to be presented in.
The ‘Quadio’ initiative started back in 2016 with a Chicago box set, which was later followed by a Doobie Brothers box is 2020. Rhino have recently rebooted it for some individual releases, which is most welcome. Four other titles were issued earlier this year including Black Sabbath and Alice Cooper.
The four titles listed above are released on 8 December 2024. There doesn’t appear to be any UK availability at this point.
Forty five years ago, in February and March 1978, Bob Dylan played his now historic first concert tour of Japan, which included eight shows at the Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo. Two of the gigs from that venue – February 28 and March 1 – were recorded on 24-channel, multi-track analogue tape and 22 performances were released as Bob Dylan at Budokan, a 2LP set which was originally intended for Japan only, but was issued globally in April 1979, due to widespread demand.
This month, Columbia Records and Legacy Recordings have released Bob Dylan – The Complete Budokan 1978 – it’s the first time any of the complete performances from that year’s world tour have been officially available.
Newly remixed and remastered from the original recordings, the collection comes in three physical formats – a deluxe 4CD box set, which has 58 tracks, 36 of which are previously unreleased; 8LP (Japan only) and a 2LP version, featuring 16 previously unreleased tracks from the box set. The master tapes were discovered in 2007 – they’d been stored in a vault in a factory in Shizuoka, Japan, for nearly three decades, wrapped thoroughly in a plastic bag to protect them from moisture.
Mercifully, the tapes were immaculately preserved – in his liner notes, Tetsuya Shiroki, co-producer of the box set, says it “felt like uncovering the Holy Grail”. Interestingly, the tapes were kept under wraps for another 15 years before the project finally got the go-ahead in 2022.
Commenting on the new mix, chief engineer, Tom Suzuki, says the intention was to make it crisper and clearer than the original 1978 release, and you can’t argue with him on that – it sounds great, adding a new depth and clarity to the performances. Dylan is accompanied on stage by a 12-piece band – nine musicians and three female backing singers.
The box set also includes facsimile memorabilia, such as concert tickets, pamphlets, posters and flyers, as well as a 60-page, full-colour photo book, with previously unpublished pictures. Watch the SDEtv unboxing video for a look at this presentation.
For the new version, the engineers wanted to reproduce the sound the Japanese audience would’ve heard in the concert hall – nothing has been removed or altered in any way, says Shiroki. So, on the first night of the tour, before a reggae-tinged ‘Shelter From The Storm’, we hear the hum of the amps, and the audience laughing, as Dylan struggles with tuning up, and then tells the crowd: “I’ve got a temperamental guitar”.
At the time it was released, Bob Dylan at Budokan polarised fans and critics – the New York Times called it “a challenging listen, but a rewarding one,” and writing for Rolling Stone, Janet Maslin, criticised Dylan’s “sanctimonious, Las Vegas-style bastardization of ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’, adding, “Can it really be that Bob Dylan had to go all the way to Budokan, to Japan, to find an audience with a short memory, a crowd that didn’t think he had anything to prove? In any case, the jig is up: he’s given up trying to outdo himself and begun something new.”
Ouch! Despite some of the discouraging reviews, the record still went platinum in the U.S and peaked at number 4 in the UK. The 1978 world tour, which saw Dylan play to two million fans across 114 shows, found the singer-songwriter at a crossroads.
It was an unsettling period in his personal life and career – his marriage to his first wife, Sara Lownds, had ended in a divorce the year before, and he was also smarting from the failure of his film Renaldo and Clara. On top of that, he hadn’t released an album since 1976’s Desire – Street Legal was recorded and would be released in June 1978 – and he hadn’t performed live since the end of the Rolling Thunder Revue in May 1976.
Dylan has always confounded his fans as well as delighted them, and, on that note, the first CD in the box set opens with the surprising rendition of the first song he played at Budokan on February 28 1978 – a slick and funky instrumental version of ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.’
It’s an odd listen, as at times it wanders dangerously close to sounding like a hotel bar band – there’s a MOR sax break – but it’s powered by some great bass playing from Rob Stoner, and saved by an epic electric guitar solo, colourful country violin and dobro.
We’re in more familiar and agreeable territory with the next track from that night’s set – ‘Repossession Blues’, which is Dylan’s take on a song by Memphis rockabilly act Roland Janes and has some superb honking sax and killer riffing from lead guitarist Billy Cross.
There’s a sprightly reworking of ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ with Steve Douglas on flute (he played sax as part of Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound crew) and a neat organ solo from Alan Pasqua, while a truly lovely, impassioned rendition of ‘I Threw It All Away’ adds female gospel backing vocals and sax.
The slow, tender and soulful version of ‘Girl From The North Country’ is stunning, ‘To Ramona’ is heartfelt and moving, and the vitriolic ‘Ballad Of A Thin Man’ is a dramatic showstopper, but it’s not all good… ‘Maggie’s Farm’ gets a full-on, ‘70s power-rock overhaul, with howling guitar and even some dubious disco stylings, and no one needs a cod-reggae reworking of ‘Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.’
One of the highlights of the 1 March Budokan concert – on CDs 3 and 4 – is a magnificent, warm and organ-soaked ‘The Man In Me’ with a sax solo – it was only the sixth time the song had been played live.
The Complete Budokan 1978 may at times be “Dylan going Vegas,” – Maslin was right, the version of ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’ is very cabaret – but to be able to hear two these two full performances from 1978 is a wonderful thing. Dylan is in fine form vocally and from the playful band introductions he sounds like he’s enjoying himself.
There are some genuinely brilliant, fascinating and radical reinterpretations, which, thanks to the impressive remixing and remastering, sound superb, even if some of the versions might be too MOR and Vegas-like for some listeners to handle, Dylanologists and diehard fans will be delighted that what happened at those two full concerts in Budokan didn’t stay in that vault in Japan.
Review by Sean Hannam for SDE. The Complete Budokan 1978 is out now.
With PWL Extended: Big Hits and Surprises just released, SDE caught up with hitmaker and music entrepreneur Pete Waterman to discuss his time writing and recording singles and albums for numerous acts and running a small business that grew exponentially towards the end of the 1980s. “I regret not selling Kylie to EMI” he tells Paul Sinclair in this revealing interview…
SDE: Did you have any involvement with selecting the tracks on PWL Extended: Big Hits and Surprises or are you just helping out with the promotion?
Pete Waterman: I left this to BMG. I think sometimes I’m too close to this stuff. And it’s interesting to step back and let other people curate and see what their choices are. I find these sorts of things really, really interesting from a collector’s point of view. Sometimes they pick stuff and I can’t even remember that we did it! We were flat out and you tend to forget exactly what you were doing.
Some of the selections are full blown, “written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman” and then you have things like The Blow Monkeys, which just had Phil Harding mixing it.
The Blow Monkeys is of particular interest, because I was actually involved with Phil on that one. So, Jack Stevens, who was the A&R guy at RCA, as it was then, he asked me to do this for him. In those early days, when Phil had only just come over from working at The Marquee, I’m trying to get him established as a mix engineer and as a mixer; it was still very much the case that we had fingers in all the pies, because that Blow Monkeys track is very early. [released in Feb 86]
The other interesting thing about this particular compilation is the PWL branding. Over the years, there’s obviously been lots of “Best of Stock Aitken Waterman” type compilations but it’s quite interesting to it rebranded as PWL, and I guess you must be quite happy about that?
Extremely happy, because lots has changed over the years, obviously, and things move on, but the logo and the company has always remained with us. It’s Pete Waterman Limited, and if it’s got my brand on it, you know that I’ve approved of it. The Stock Aitken Waterman brand is Stock Aitken Waterman, but PWL is the record company and we’ve always treated it differently.
PWL was such a multi-faceted empire, really, at its peak and there were so many different elements to it. Obviously, the record label aspect came a little bit later on…
And we never wanted it…
That’s right… But how did you manage to keep track of the business side of things, because there was so much going on, wasn’t there? It must have been a bit of a challenge?
Yeah, but it’s like that famous saying, “if you want something done, ask a busy man”, you know, and also, if you’re as immersed as we were in it, you become brilliant at it. I was literally living this; seven days a week, certainly 16 to 18 hours every day. I was focused on what was going on, whether it would be PWL or Mike [Stock] and Matt [Aitken], or whether it be the other mix engineers, or [late night British Dance Music Granada TV programme] The Hitman and Her… My whole life was surrounded at that point, by music. And I had a great team around me, whether it be in the studio, in the offices, or at Granada; we had a great team. So they made it easy because they’re giving you solutions, not problems. Every time you make a record, you make a problem. “How do I get this on the radio?” “How do I get this on TV?” So you know there’s a problem, but what you’re looking for is solutions.
Every time you make a record, you make a problem
Pete Waterman
Your passion for music is well documented, but the business side of it, managing and motivating people… Where did you learn all those skills?
As a DJ, through Mecca. In those days, you weren’t the DJ that people think of today. I mean, you ran the ‘kids sessions’, as they were called, which meant people up to up to 18 years old. You did everything, you cleaned the floor, you checked the coats, you changed the toilet rolls in the toilets, you changed the towels – you were in charge! You hired the security staff and said, who came in and didn’t come in. At the end of the night, you went to the door to see the receipts of how many people had come in and the reason for that was you either reached your bonus, or you didn’t. And if you didn’t regularly, then you got pulled into the manager’s office and were asked “What are you playing? You’re not entertaining the crowd”. And we all go through that period; as a DJ, you can’t always be be on it. Sometimes you do back the wrong horse. For example, when Motown left Detroit to go to LA that gave me a real problem. Because I could play any Motown record when they were in Detroit. When they went to LA, and they started making records like The Temptations’ ‘Papa was a Rollin’ Stone’, I couldn’t play that record. I couldn’t play James Brown. My audience just didn’t want that heavy funk. They were used to that Northern Soul, R&B, uptempo boy-and-girl stuff. So the first thing you do as a DJ, is you revert to oldies… I’ll just take a couple of oldies in. And it works, but it only works for certain time because, after a while, the old has become boring, because they’ve heard him that too many times. And it’s at that point, you think, Oh, my God, I’ve got to do something quick here. I’ve gone from 1200 to 1300 kids on a night down to 400 and I’m still falling. And any minute now the manager’s going to come to me and I’m going to lose my job. So then you focus on the music. You really do, and you think, what am I missing here? So that’s where my training came from; watching the crowd, watching what worked and what didn’t work.
When you started to become successful in the mid-80s, you didn’t leave all that behind. You were working in a record shop, you had a radio show, you were in the clubs doing The Hitman and Her and all that. So you recognised that it was important to stay in touch with what was going on.
Oh yeah. I think it’s true to say and in hindsight, I probably kept the brand alive for years longer than anybody would have normally done, because I stayed with the roots. We didn’t get into [working with] American artists. Recently, I was talking to one of my contemporaries at the time, and they were paying producers $100,000 per track. Well, we were charging £500 a track! So it would have been very tempting, if somebody said, I’ll pay you guys $200,000 per track – come to the States. You think “We’ve made it”. But then, to me, you’ve completely changed what you’re doing. I’d had that experience with Rick Astley, and I was never gonna have that experience again.
I was gonna ask you about that because, I don’t think it’s a nuance that the man on the street really recognises; they just think all these all these records were ‘Stock Aitken Waterman’ but of course, Rick was signed to RCA, wasn’t he? So he had that relationship with a major record label, who were unrelenting in terms of making him do all that promotion and that seemed to be a big factor with him burning out and not being very happy. And you didn’t have much control over that because they’re the label…
Rick, Astley was a development deal. Very, very, very unusual in the record industry. They gave us £30,000 pounds to develop this artist, because I believed in him that much. I knew he needed time to grow and I didn’t want to just make a single; I wanted him to learn the studio business and feel comfortable. Now, no other company would have given me 30,000 quid. So you’ve got to hand it to RCA, they gave me the money in blind faith. I mean, I could have walked off with that £30,000 and never ever delivered an artist. After six or seven months they’re asking “what’s going on?”, because we still haven’t played them anything. So we bought them down into reception, and we literally did put a speaker and a microphone in the middle of reception. Julian and Peter came down from the RCA and Rick sang live ‘Ain’t Too Proud to Beg’ to a backing track. Everybody’s jaw dropped because they’d never seen anything like that before. You know, they were used to going into a rehearsal room and seeing a professional outfit. But you know, he was a tea boy, it was like “Rick just pop out here, will you? Just sing this song for these two geezers that have come down from the record company!”. But he did, and we still talk about it to this day. You would never do that to an artist now, but that’s how comfortable it all was. I don’t think either we, nor Rick, understood the treadmill that you then go on once you’ve got that hit. But the thing was, I realised [originally] in America, that Rick and ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ was never going to be a hit, because he wasn’t a priority artist for RCA. Bill Tanner in Miami, who was the big DJ on the biggest station in America, he told me exactly why this would not be in America. He said to me “Pete, this is wonderful record, it’s number one on my station but it’s not going to be here in America”. “Why?” “Because it’s on RCA”. And had I not called Germany, because I knew the guy who ran the whole Bertelsmann Empire at that point, Monti Lüftner, things might have been very different, because I actually tried to get the record back for America. But he said “whatever you want, you’ve got”. So they were trying to get Patrick Swayze to number one with Dirty Dancing [‘She’s Like The Wind’] and they were pissed off that Rick Astley got there with ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’. I mean, they wouldn’t even allow us into the RCA building!
One of the songs on this compilation is Princess and ‘Say I’m Your Number One’, which is a brilliant, early track. But that was put out on Supreme Records, a label set up to release that song. What was the difference between doing that with Supreme and then what later became PWL because you were dipping a toe into the independent side of things with Princess, weren’t you?
Yeah. As I said earlier, we never want to be a record company, we just wanted to be producers and writers. So Nick East had done a fantastic job for us, with Hazell Dean and Divine. He was a promotion guy, who had got no money. So I went to him and said “Right, it’s time to set up your own record company”… “I haven’t got any money”… “Don’ t worry about the money. I’ve got a record. It’s Princess ‘Say I’m Your Number One’, I’ll put the money up, you form your record company”, which he did, and that was Surpreme. So that’s literally how that came about. So we gave him the record, rather than paying him, and he took it on his own label and took the profit off of that.
You could have done that yourself, but you just didn’t want to do that. You weren’t interested in getting into it?
No, because I wanted to keep it at arm’s length at this point. I had to go and borrow money to press the record for for Nick, because Nick didn’t have any money. Luckily I had a bank manager who had ears! He heard the record and said “how much do you need? You got it”. I walked away with £25,000 but with no security. I paid it back in about a month, but that was how we operated in those days.
One of the things I read, I think it might have been in Phil Harding’s book [‘PWL: From the Factory Floor’], was that you turned down the Pet Shop Boys, and ‘West End Girls’. Tell me the story about that?
I didn’t turn the Pet Shop Boys down, I turned [the group’s manager] Tom Watkins down. Tom Watkins is the only guy that’s ever ripped me off in the business and I always said, I wouldn’t work with Tom. It’s ironic that Tom Watkins, at the end, pinched Phil [Harding] and Ian [Curnow] off me. But I’m quite a moral guy when somebody rips me off. You think “that’s once, you don’t rip me off twice”. I do regret it [to an extent] because I love Neil and I love the Pet Shop Boys. And God, do I wish I’d produced ‘It’s a Sin’ but that’s just history. But I didn’t turn down the Pet Shop Boys, I just couldn’t work with with Tom Watkins.
One of the things people will be hoping for, maybe with future iterations of this compilation, is some unreleased gems or rarities. Whether that will happen or not is another matter, but there’s lots of interesting things you’ve done, which haven’t seen the light of day and one of them was a remix of Elton John’s ‘Wrap Her Up’.
Oh, you know about that? [laughs] Wow. I forgot all about that.
It must have been disappointing to have done that, and then see it get rejected from the label, management or someone?
Well, I think, again, we are talking very early here. And the snobbery was unbelievable in those early years, and it wasn’t a shock to us, to be honest. I think people saw us as challenging; we were changing the norm and I think that we definitely saw this and people would say that you can’t work with these guys, because they’re dangerous to us as a label; they’re taking business away from us. Actually, I used to see George Michael [who sings on ‘Wrap Her Up’] most Friday nights in Haringey, in the clubs; we tested some early 12-inches in the same gay clubs that he was in, testing is his mixes, but I guess it’s incredible now to think we were renegades! It’s like the we were the Antichrist. “For Christ’s sake don’t call Stock Aitken Waterman!”
The snobbery was unbelievable in those early years… “For Christ’s sake don’t call Stock Aitken Waterman!”
Pete Waterman
But who would have commissioned that? Because it’s weird that it got commissioned but then never got released [there was a white label]. You think if someone’s commissioning it, then they’ve had had the okay to do it, but I guess not….
I think we had a particular sound, a really unique sound at that point. And if you then put Elton John and George Michael into that unique sound, maybe the artists or the management go “Whoa, wait a minute… it’s no longer Elton John and George Michael, it’s Elton John, George Michael and Stock Aitken Waterman, and that’s we’re not going to allow that”.
Wet Wet Wet’s ‘Sweet Little Mystery’ was another example, I think
Yeah, at this point, the management particularly, were getting very worried that we would dominate the artist. That happened to us when we worked with Judas Priest. Bill Curbishley [the band’s manager] was the first guy to openly admit to the problem. You know, it was the biggest hit we never had. I remember playing it to Jonathan King and he went nuts and personally called Bill Curbishley and CBS, and told them they had to release it, that it would be number one all over the world. And Bill Curbishley said, yeah, but it kills Judas Priest… We’re not going to sell belt buckles, and beer mugs with a band that’s number one in the pop charts. So that was a lesson… you go “got it”, but it’s still sad because the whole of the Judas Priest session was amazing. It was a different world for us, a different world.
But all these years later, is that ever likely to see the light of day? Have people mellowed? Do they think “it doesn’t really matter anymore”?
Paul, I don’t know. I do think it is slightly sad that you can’t make up your own mind, whether it’s the best ever Stock Aitken Waterman record, or not. It’s a different world now, but you know, they’ve still got their fans, and they don’t want to let their fans down. They’re doing the same as we’re doing, issuing unreleased stuff and whatever, so you’d have to ask them, really. I still play it to people and go “Look what happened when you put Stock Aitken Waterman with a rock band!” You’ve got an enormous rock anthem.
With Judas Priest it was the biggest hit we never had
Pete Waterman
What did it actually sound like? Did you take all the all the musicians off and replace them with drum machines and sequencers? What did you actually do?
I think it was the most interesting session we did because you are with a well established band, who are all fantastic players. We recorded it in Paris in this enormous recording studio with all the drums mic’d up and we thought “Wow, this is rock and roll!”. We didn’t take any instruments, because they had everything. A Linndrum machine, for a click track, is probably all we took, but when we’re in there, and we’re teaching Rob [Halford] and the guys how to play the songs, it just became a mutual love-in. It was like “You guys are amazing”… “No, youguys are amazing!” Matt’s rock tendencies came out and one of the guys said, “God, you’re an amazing guitarist”. So it was like, we were playing with them. Yes, we added electronic keyboards, but that was after we’d recorded them as a live band. I remember sitting down and saying “I’ve got this idea, we’re gonna record a Stylistics song” [‘You Are Everything’]. Well, you could have heard a cockroach fart, it was silent. There’s these big hairy geezers with tight trousers and bulging bollocks and here am I suggesting a Stylistics song? But they got it straight away and Rob was brilliant. I think we did it in about two takes.
That’s very interesting. I was thinking it would sound like typical Stock Aitken Waterman production.
No, we became Judas Priest! [laughs]. They became Stock Aitken Waterman and were all interested in the technology but we weren’t interested, we wanted to get the guitars out! The whole thing got reversed.
Oh, well, we can keep our fingers crossed that it might surface one day, officially.
Yeah, absolutely.
Only this very small snatch of Judas Priest’s work with SAW has ever surfaced
You recorded Paul McCartney’s vocal contribution to ‘Let It Be’, the Ferry Aid single. Was there ever any conversations about working on other songs or an album, with Paul?
Indirectly. [long pause]. You can’t really work with your heroes. McCartney, to Mike, me and Matt was [another] stratosphere. So you are in awe, no matter what they do. You’re in awe. And so, when we did work with him, he was absolutely brilliant. He’s lovely to work with, but he wasn’t used to being produced. And we soon realised that. And I was the one that had to go in as the old Beatles fan and say “That’s great. Let’s go home”. And he’d be like “No, I can do it better”. “No, no. Let’s go home”. But the lovely side was that Linda and I became really good friends. So Linda used to ring me up because Paul would say, “I’ve got to talk to Pete Waterman because I’ve got to change that vocal”. And she’d say, “Pete’s the producer, it’s fine”.
Why was he unhappy about his vocal?
He was out of tune. He’d got emotional, and he’d gone slightly out of tune. But to me, it’s the part that makes the record, because you’ve got McCartney cracking up with emotion. But he’s a perfectionist, which is brilliant. So there we are, as fans, hearing Paul McCartney as he was in the 60s, it’s like, “Wow, this is Paul McCartney”. But he [wants to be] modern. He’s trying to make better records than Band on the Run, although you ain’t going top Band on the Run! So here’s this amazing guy but we’ve caught on tape this little bit of an historic moment of Paul McCartney. And Linda and the family recognise it straightaway. He was still calling us when it had been number one for four weeks, saying he could do it better! So, yes, there was this period where Linda said to Paul, you need you need to work with these guys because they’re fresh and they will task you to do things differently. But I don’t think we could have ever produced Paul McCartney, because we’re too big as fans.
Paul McCartney was absolutely brilliant to work with… but he wasn’t used to being produced
Pete Waterman
Let’s talk about the 12-inch mix, because obviously PWL Extended: Big Hits and Surprises is a collection of 12-inch mixes. At the beginning, the mixes were all about clubs and engaging with a club audience, but did that change over time and it became more about selling product and selling multiple 12-inch singles every time you released a song?
I think if you go back to the early days with Agents Aren’t Aeroplanes and The Blow Monkeys, we were the 12-inch kings. [At that point] we were not getting work from other people but we realised that you could make enough money by selling 12-inch singles to make another record. So we specialised in 12-inch mixes, particularly on that Agents Aren’t Aeroplanes record. We knew we weren’t going to have a hit, but all we had to do was raise enough money to make the next record. It was the same with Hazell Dean, and that kept us going. We weren’t rich by any stretch of the imagination, at this point, but we had enough money to make the next record. I remember when we got called in to do Dead or Alive, when we were doing the contracts, I demanded a royalty on the 12-inch. Well, major record companies treated 12-inches like promos – they [virtually] gave them away. So they just didn’t care. They put in my contract that I got paid on 12-inch records. The band didn’t get paid on 12-inch records. So when suddenly that 12-inch, worldwide, had sold over a million they had a problem because the band wasn’t being paid and Stock Aitken Waterman were. So that’s why these 12-inches are important to us. They weren’t part of our marketing strategy, they were part of what we knew was needed. It was part of our art form, if you like
Would you sometimes work on the 12-inch first and then maybe edit it down for the seven-inch version?
Yeah, quite often. Certainly on ‘Roadblock’ we did. Actually, Princess started off as a long version which we shortened. Things like Kylie and Jason were never like that but Sigue Sigue Sputnik was made in a 12-inch form and with Lonnie Gordon we always made as 12-inches and edited down.
Getting back to PWL and the actual record label part of it, you would have had this interesting relationship with the majors because, they were your clients, so you’d produce music for Dead or Alive for CBS and do remixes etc. But also they were also your rivals, weren’t they? For example, when EMI did the spoiler thing with Nat King Cole and Rick Astley [EMI released the original of When I Fall In Love while Rick’s cover was in the charts]. So they could be complete bastards…
They were complete bastards.
But you’re having to work with them and maintain some kind of relationship…
Yeah, but we just carried on. We knew that they were threatening their A&R guys. You know, “if you’re a naughty boy, we’ll send you to Stock Aitken Waterman”. That’s worse than sending you to Coventry! You know, nobody will ever speak to you again. Yeah, we knew that, but it didn’t worry us.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but Mandy Smith might have been the first PWL record…
It was, yes.
And then obviously, Kylie was the big one that followed. It seems incredible that no other label was interested in Kylie, at the beginning. Is that just what you were reflecting on earlier, just a Stock Aitken Waterman thing…
Yes. Yes! And I was offering ‘I Should Be So Lucky’ for £1200, by the way, when most people were paying £15,000 pounds per track. But nobody took it. Nobody. I went to a music conference in America and that’s where Steve Mason who owned Pinnacle distribution, talked me into putting it out on PWL. “This is a hit, put it out yourself!” That’s how that came about. I didn’t want to do it.
Why didn’t Matt and Mike come in with you on the label? Because ultimately, it’s PWL and not Stock Aitken and Waterman Records. It would have seemed the natural thing for the three of you to do it as a joint enterprise.
They didn’t want to do it.
Why not?
They just didn’t want to. You have to ask them, I suppose. They didn’t want to invest, they didn’t believe in the artists… That wasn’t what they did. They were writer-producers. Matt and Mike took their royalties and they didn’t have to pay the staff, I paid the staff. So what I did with my company, PWL, was up to me. If they’d have wanted to, at any point, they could have come in and said, well, we’ll put some money in with you.
So what extra burden and workload did having the label bring? I know you used to sleep in the vocal booth in the early 80s, which is kind of crazy.
Yeah. It brought the added load of more staff, who all had mortgages to pay. You start with four or five staff and then suddenly, you’re up to 12 to 14 staff. These aren’t the actual figures but it’s like you’re paying £3,000 a month in salaries, and national insurance contributions and suddenly you’ve gone to £25,000. That’s a whole different ballpark. So it wasn’t about me living in a flat, it was about me paying the wages every month, and not having the bank pulling everything from us.
So it would be typical business cashflow-type issues that would you’d be faced with?
Yeah. Cashflow problems in record industry was how the majors control the independents because you always had a cash flow problem, because you didn’t get paid for six months and 90 days. Take Rick Astley. We had the number one record in the world and Barclays Bank was chasing me for an overdraft of £5000. I probably had four million pounds sitting out there all the way around the world and I was I was getting threatened with bankruptcy for a £5000 overdraft. That’s just the way it worked. So you’re constantly changing banks, and you’re constantly having to deliver the wages. I wouldn’t have changed it for the world, by the way, but it’s interesting looking back
And I guess once PWL was set up, every new artist would be automatically added to the roster to make it work. You had to scale it up, didn’t you?
We did it and we didn’t, because I didn’t sign Sonia to the label. I signed Sonia to Chrysalis.
Why did you do that?
I wanted some of the pressure taken off. It’s the same with Stock Aitken Waterman [with songs like ‘Roadblock’]. I licensed that to A&M, because it was just too much pressure, at that point. I didn’t want to take any more staff on. We couldn’t cope with Kylie and Jason, let alone Stock Aitken Waterman, Sonia and all the rest of it. Most major record companies can only deal with three big artists, so trying to deal with five in a little company? Forget it!
When Kylie came along, it felt like, the start of a new era.
It was
Some people are always going to criticise Stock Aitken Waterman, and a lot of it is snobbery, as you say, but do you accept that, come 1988-89, things changed a bit and that you lost that dancefloor credibility you once had and it became more about just having hit records? It no longer mattered about being cool anymore? Where was your mind at? Were you even aware of a shift going on?
Oh, yeah, I think so. We’ve just had a conversation about how tough it was to pay the bills, and no major record company was giving us any work. And suddenly, we’ve got an artist earning a quarter of a million pounds a week [Kylie]. If someone’s offering you more money, you say “Fuck you, pal. I’m off over here”. This wasn’t me thinking I’ve got to be credible… bollocks [to that]! I’ve got to pay the wages here; I’ve got 32 staff. I don’t need the bank calling me every three weeks and asking me to pay in a cheque. We’ve got no credibility, anyway, so we might we’ll take the cash. We’ve won the lottery, so do I ring up the Lottery and say “sorry, I don’t want it”? Bollocks ! I’m taking the money…
I get it. But it’s hard to look into the future and kind of see where things were leading you.
Absolutely. But at that moment in time, you can’t look into the future. Yeah, I can look back now and say, if we sold Kylie, after the second album, which we could have done, to EMI for a lot of money, we’d have gone back to being what we’d done before. But we didn’t. Because we’d become a massive organisation at that point. Now, do I regret that? Yes, I can look back and say, that’s when we should have said “Right. Off you go over there. You set yourself up. We’re going back to basics”. But it was out of my hands by that time, because it was such a big organisation.
Was the aim always to have a hit single? Did you ever worry about the artist, in terms of ‘here today, gone tomorrow’? I’m thinking of the Reynolds Girls of this world. Did you ever feel a sense of responsibility around how then tended to get discarded – one hit and they’re off?
No, no, no, that’s absolutely the wrong way to look at it. Yes, I took responsibility for all my artists. And with The Reynolds Girls, I’m glad you picked them, because that wasn’t my decision, that was their dad’s decision. In fact, if you look at Hazell Dean, you can see our loyalty because we stayed with with Hazell right to the end. There was a problem in that she wasn’t selling records, but we stayed there; we didn’t drop her. I think 99 percent of the time the act wanted to drop us, or there was a situation were I didn’t agree [with something]. It’s like, if you want to go, away you go. When Rick wanted to go to RCA, I wasn’t gonna stand in his way. We’d been mates for a long time. It was like, if that’s what you want, Rick, off you go. When we were responsible for the artist, we never ever treated an artist as a one off single.
Thanks to Pete Waterman who was talking to Paul Sinclair for SDE. PWL Extended: Big Hits and Surprises is out now. It’s available as two 12-track 2LP sets, a 24-track 3CD package or the limited edition SDE-exclusive 26-track, stereo-only blu-ray audio, available only via the SDE shop using this link or the button below (limited to 1000 worldwide).
TECHNICAL NOTES: This blu-ray audio requires a blu-ray player. It will not play on a CD player!
A new book called Phew, Eh Readers? collects the work of music journalist Tom Hibbert whose idiosyncratic, acerbic, groundbreaking writing was enjoyed by a generation of music fans, notably in Smash Hits in the 1980s and then later in Q magazine later in the same decade and into the 1990s.
As well as collecting some of his funniest writing, the book will also include affectionate reminiscences from some of his peers including Mark Ellen, Sylvia Patterson, Robyn Hitchcock, Bob Stanley and Chris Heath.
Tom Hibbert died in 2011 at the age of just 59. The book has been compiled by Barney Hoskyns and Jasper Murison-Bowie with the assistance of Tom’s widow Allyce.
Phew, Eh Readers will be published by Nine Eight Books on 1 February 2024.
Compare prices and pre-order
Hibbert, Tom
Phew, Eh Readers?: The Life and Writing of Tom Hibbert
All ten of Kate Bush’s studio albums are being re-released through her new label The state51 Conspiracy with special coloured vinyl editions being available via independent record shops, including the SDE shop.
The third in the series of Level 42 CD box sets. This 7CD package features all of the band’s albums from 1991 – 1994 with four discs of B-Sides, 7″ mixes, remixes and rare versions. Daryl Easlea contributes sleeve notes.
