Here is the first and title song on the new Caffrey Morrison Thompson CD “Sleepless Nights”. It’s a £1 dowload. Free to listen. The album will feature 15 tracks in total. I’m digitally remastering all the songs so I’ll put another track up every few days or so.
Steve Thompson
Social Media Plumbing
Using a terrific WordPress plugin – “Social” by Mail Chimp to hook up my Facebook and FB pages and Twitter
How I Gave Venom The Devil
This article is taken from a story I wrote ages ago called “Remembering the Eighties”. The 80’s story was originally commissioned by a website called “Metal Godz”. The site is long gone and my eighties article remains unfinished and unpublished.
Click to enlarge.
During all the recording sessions for Neat Records we had the assistance of Conrad Lant. Conrad was a good tape op and got on well with everyone. He was always going on about his own band. It seemed that they saved up for about 3 months until they could afford enough pyrotechnics to blow up half a city and then they had a major blow out and had to save up to do another show. Conrad said very little about the music, it was mostly about the explosions. One day he informed me that the bass player had quit and he was being called upon to play bass. A gig was imminent so I loaned him my Gibson EB3 I still had from my own early career. Conrad could barely contain himself seeing all these bands make recordings. He wanted his band committed to tape too. We had a slack day coming up so I relented and said he could bring his band in during down-time. Again I loaned him the bass. I produced three tracks with them but the only title I remember was “In League With Satan”. I taught the guys a musical trick sometimes called “The Devil”. Theoretically known as the “tri tone” it is a very discordant combination of two notes and I thought it would be most effective in their music. Say you were playing a G, the tri tone from that would be C#. At high volume it sounded horrible and they loved it. I had no idea these tracks would come out as a single, I just produced it as a favour. Now Conrad was convinced he was on the way to mega stardom and in need of a bass so I let him talk me into selling him my EB3. I explained the history of the instrument and made him promise it was going to a good home. The next time I saw my old bass it had holes drilled in it and an upside down crucifix nailed crudely to it. My bass was now a mess and Conrad had become Chronos!
Trying Something Out
Just added the Buffer plugin to my site so I guess this will go to Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin
SONG STORY: Laugh At It All
SUNDAY SONG STORY: I’ve let this slide a bit but here’s a new story. Way back I did a demo session at Guardian Studios in Pity Me. I never went back but this was largely because I did not drive back then and it was a good ways out for me. Anyway, little was I to know that in terms of ratio of recorded outcomes to demos made it probably is the most successful demo session I have done. All four tracks were sung by Dave Black and one of them “Please Don’t Sympathise” was recorded by Sheena Easton with Chris Neil Producing. Celine Dion cut the same song and although Chris Neil did eventually end up producing Celine I don’t think he did that one although it may have gotten him the gig! Chris produced a number of my songs around this time including the big hit Hurry Home. He must have thought, hang on I’m having a piece of this so he recorded one of the songs from the Guardian session himself. The track you’ll hear is “Laugh At It All” sung first by Dave and then we hear Chris’s version. This recording sank without a trace but I hope you’ll enjoy it now.
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SONG STORY: Merry Christmas
SUNDAY SONG STORY: This weeks story has a festive theme so I thought I’d bring it forward a day. Back in the 90’s I was producing demo recordings for other songwriters. They would send me their rough efforts and I’d record a polished product with which they could seek fame and fortune. I had a stable of singers on tap to sing these songs including Phil Caffrey, Dave Black, Tanya Rowlands, Mark ‘Busk’ Conlin, Liz Wilson & the infamous Mick Whitaker who features in this story. This group of singers was known as the ST Stable of Singers, the studio was ST Studios, the writers were ST Writers and we had a regular newsletter for this merry band of souls which was edited and produced by one of the writers. Given all this. it seemed only right that we should distribute a special Christmas recording to all these folks and it is the 1998 ST Christmas special that is featured below. That day Mick Whitaker was in the studio. As Mick didn’t drive I used to take him home at the end of sessions but our journey was always impeded by the fact there was a pub (The Coach Inn) in the way between my studio and his home. I’m explaining this to give some context to the track you will hear. It is indeed a live recording I just ran some inane loop and then went into the vocal booth with Mick for some impromptu (well hastily prepared) festive singing. Enjoy!
SONG STORY: Empty Pockets
SUNDAY SONG STORY: The previous two stories have included Toni Haliday and this is the third and final in a song story trilogy. You may have noted in the preceding stories that I was striving to develop material that would work for Toni as an artist. She was young and edgy and I needed material that reflected that. I felt I was getting close with Paris By Air. I also looked around for younger musicians for her to work with as my session guys were decrepit 25-26 year olds!
I attended many scruffy rehearsal rooms auditioning bands for Toni and As I eventually hooked Toni up with Hot Snax who were a cooking young band of the time with quite a large following. We arranged a TV show “Check It Out” where Toni and Hot Snax performed live and she and I recorded an interview to camera in the recording studio for inclusion on the show. The day after the show I got a call from Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame. Toni had said in the interview that one of her influences was Annie Lennox. Dave said, The Eurythmics were on tour and although Annie had gone off to Scotland, Toni could meet him for a chat if she wished. I arranged a car and took Toni over to a cafe in Sunderland (Daves home town) where he was holding a kind of royal court. I don’t recall much of this but after a couple of hours I had to head back to the studio in Wallsend to do a session and Dave came with us. I just got on with the session and the entourage went off to the green room.
Anyway, afterwards I started to develop the song that is the subject of this weeks story. “Empty Pockets”. This has some elements of “Paris By Air” but is far more edgy. I wove into it some of the things Toni had told me such as the fact she had her handbag stolen at a party. She was bemused that such a thing should happen at a “posh” party. I recorded the track and gave it as much edge as possible even double tracking the snare drum with a dustbin lid. I called Toni to come in and have a go at Vocals but could not raise her after several tries. I then sent a couple of letters which went unanswered. This was frustrating as I believed I now had the track that would achieve what we had been striving for. Then one day I got a call from a Lawyer. He said “do you realise that this girl is below the age of consent to enter into contract”. I just said “yes, I do” and hung up. Everything that we’d done had been done with Toni’s Mothers approval and clearly Toni had desperately wanted every opportunity that had been put her way. However, when an artist decides they want out there is little point in discussion or coercion so I just let it go. From the day I introduced Toni to Mr Stewart I never heard from nor saw her again. Your conjecture about what happened that day will probably be as accurate as mine. I believe she went on to have a fairly successful career but I never received any gratitude for the efforts I made in her formative stages. This was not the first nor the last time this had happened so I did not spend too much time thinking about it.
And what of the track? Well I shelved it because it was very hybrid and not suitable for pitching about to other artists. However, in the studio one day there was a young guy called David Baird and I cajoled him into to singing it. He did a fine job and added a blistering sax. In retrospect, maybe we should have put his version out.
Anyway, here it is after 32 years: EMPTY POCKETS by Rewind. Available for download now (follow the link below). Lets see if we can beat the X Factor to the Christmas number one!
Paris By Air
The Ship, Wardour St (Click to enlarge)
Dateline 1979 (ish) and I was house producer at Impulse Studios, Wallsend, UK and producing for Neat Records. I had set up a sister company, Neat Music Publishing and had done a sub-publishing deal with Bruce Welsh of the Shadows. This took care of the Neat Catalogue but the arrangement also handled my own songs. Bruce’s partner, Brian Oliver became my mentor. On one of my trips to London, Brian and I were sitting in the notorious Ship on Wardour Street. He was giving me tips on finding inspiration for songs. “Take this pub for instance”, he said, waving his hand around the room and pointing at a poster, “you could write a song called The Duke Of Wellington”. My eyes alighted on another poster and I replied “No, I’m going to write a song called Paris By Air”, (as the poster declared). I then described what the story would be, a young girl trapped in a council estate living a hum drum life and longing to escape.
At the time I was working with a singer called Toni Haliday (later of CURVE) and I was shopping for a record deal for her. I needed to write stuff that matched her age and attitude. Toni had told me about her life and her dreams and I saw how Paris By Air could be a vehicle to express these things. Back home in Whitley Bay I put together the song.
“I walk down the street with time on my hands,
The signs on the walls show far-off lands,
But I don’t know a soul in this neighbourhood,
Can afford the fare, I’m stuck here for good.”
A week later I laid the track down with Toni and a bunch of mates acting as session guys, one of whom was Andy Taylor (later of Duran Duran). I played the opening riff on a Rickenbacker 12 string.
Now, at this time I was living in a Whitley Bay house shared with various members of The Tygers of Pan Tang. I returned home one evening and John Sykes asked me what I’d done that day in the studio (as he often did). I played the guys a rough mix of Paris By Air. They all loved it, particularly Rocky. And so it came to pass that the Tygers recorded Paris By Air for their fourth album, “The Cage”. This necessitated some changes of lyrics to suit a male singer. “Paris” also came out as a single and was a hit. The album was a huge success and went top 20.
SONG STORY: Looking For Love in a Stranger
SONG STORY SUNDAY: Back with a story after missing a couple of weeks. This week let’s look at “Looking For Love In A Stranger”. Toni Haliday walked into the studio one day and said she wanted to be a pop star. She eventually had some success with Curve but I recall she was just 14 at the time. She had attitude and a decent voice so I gave it a go. This song was already done (complete with Rickenbacker 12 string) and I put her vocals on it. It’s not really her thing and I later spent some time trying to develop suitable material for her. I later put Mick Whitaker’s vocal on it too . Wayne Bickerton of State Records called and said he’d like to cut this and another song from the same session (She’s a Runaway) as singles with Mick. Wayne said he loved the demos and asked who was playing on them. I told him it was Paul Smith on Drums and me doing the rest. So Wayne said I should come down and play guitar and he’d hire some session musicians for the rest. We cut the tracks at Waynes Odyssey Studios which was pretty new at the time. http://www.philsbook.com/odyssey.html
The single came and that’s the second segment you hear on the audio collage. When I returned to Newcastle, Keith Satchfied asked me about the sessions and who had played on the track. I said the drummer was called Simon and the bass player had an unusual name. Keith said – was the drummer Simon Philips, I said yes. So was the bass player Mo Foster. I said yes that’s it. Keith says F*** me, you’ve only been playing guitar with the Jeff Beck group!!
Unfortunately Micks single did not set the world alight and did not sell well. About a year later I was at Odyssey doing something else and Wayne introduced me to Chris Farlowe. Chris had come in to sing his own version of the song and that’s the third segment on the collage. I don’t even recall if Chris’s version got released or not.
TESTING
Song Story Jaws 3D – The Lyrics
A Love Song for Two Dolphins
In the early 80’s I was signed to MCA Music. One day I got a call from my mentor there, Pete Waterman. Pete said I there was a big-shot movie producer in town and I was was urgently needed the next day in London to meet up with him. I flew down and arrived in Pete’s office around midday. Pete introduced me to an American guy who’s name now escapes me. He was one of the producers of the movie, Jaws 3D which was nearing completion.
Anyway, this guy treated me to the story of his wonderful new movie and told me all it needs is a killer song. Apparently it’s a “boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl” theme. Except in this case there are no boys and girls involved; the lovers in question are dolphins. He says they have Streisand lined up to sing this yet to be written song. Pete has put me in the frame to write the lyrics and makes his office available to conduct my work. Pete and the American guy went off to lunch saying they will check my progress on their return. As they are leaving the American called back over his shoulder, ( American Accent) “hey kid, gimme a lurve song for two dolphins”
Alone in the office I slid the cassette into the machine. Shit!!!!! How on earth could I turn this orchestral pomp into a song. Still I had been charged with the task so I had to try. I spent the next two hours racking my brain and writing one liners and drawing doodles. Click here to see my handiwork.
The guys arrived back and the American says, “OK Kid, whaddyah got?”
I said, “not much” and passed over the piece of paper and waited to be well and truly spanked. Pete (ever the bullshitter) went into overdrive. “What did I tell you about my boy, F***ing brilliant, just look at this, “sink or swim, I will follow him”, that’s a killer line”. It was just about the only line but Pete was leaving no room for contradiction. He was already on the phone booking a studio for that evening. Then he dashed out of the office and grabed another MCA staffwriter who had a good singing voice. This hapless guy was named Simon Jeffries and he was going to have to sing this crap. Like me, Simon was not going to say no to the guy responsible for signing his yearly salary cheque (publishers advance).
I was therefore obliged to spend the rest of the day making words fit to soaring violins and trumpets. The pain of this was nothing compared to the recording session that evening. I think we nearly killed the poor vocalist. Unsurprisingly, I never heard another thing about my entry into the world of movie themes and as it happens I never saw Simon again either.
However, like many things in our past – it has ended up on YouTube – this is NOT to be taken seriously.
Song Story – Messing Around
I realise the previous stories may a bit name droppy so this one will be a bit of an antidote to that. I have written my fair share of duffers so let’s have a listen to one now shall we. When I quit being in a rock band and decided to concentrate on songwriting it was a whole different ball game, writing and pitching songs to artists than writing with and for a band you’re a member of.
The two demos here represent a couple of firsts on that journey. The opening track is the first time an artist recorded one of my songs locally and the next track is the first time an artist cut one of my tracks for national release. There is a common thread between the two as well and that is that I began to notice that producers were sticking pretty close to my demos. I capitalised on this by being very careful with arrangements and production ideas. I couldn’t compete with the high quality studios they used but I could give them a blue print for their production.
I don’t have the original demo for song one close to hand but it will have been recorded on my Akai 2 track. It’s called “Ways of Making You Talk” and the artists are the Debonaires. What on earth was I thinking of: “When we get right down to the thumbscrews, fix your feet so that you can’t walk, Stick bamboo shoots up your nose, we have ways of making you talk”. The next song is better; Messing Around, the demo sung by the Caffrey Bros followed by the actual Bruce Ruffin version as released by RCA records in 1980.
