In the late 70’s I was house producer at Neat Records in Wallsend. In 1981 I took a brief sabbatical and went to London to cut a recording of one of my songs for State Records with Wayne Bickerton producing. The recording is attached to this post, I am playing guitar on the track, but the rest of the guys on the song were session musicians.

These guys were top-notch players and I felt a bit out of place in their company. As the session got underway, Wayne was setting up the drum sounds. The young whippersnapper on the kit said to Wayne, fuck off to the pub and I’ll set up the sounds myself.

So we all fucked off to the pub. When we returned, we cut the recording you can hear Chris Farlowe singing below

When I returned to Neat Records I bumped into Keith Satchfield of the band Fist and he asked me how the session in London had gone. I explained about the rather stiff atmosphere in the studio. how good the musicians were et cetera. Keith then asked me who the season musicians were and I said I’m sorry I can’t remember any of their names but the drummer was a right cocky bugger. Then I said, oh hang on, the bass player had an unusual name. I delved into my memory banks and hit upon the name, Mo. He said, was it Mo Foster? I said yes, that’s the guy. So then Kieth said well, the drummer was most probably. Simon Phillips, I said yes, that was the guy, cocky bugger he was.

Kieth says to me: fuck me, I’ve only been playing guitar with a Jeff Beck band.

The Long Fade album was released in 2019  to some great reviews. It also got plenty of airplay. It was re-released in 2021 by Cherry Red Records as part of an extensive deal on recordings I’ve made going as far back as the early seventies. I began my musical career in 1969. Since The Long Fade is the first release to bear my name, you could say it was an album 50 years in the making!

So, how to follow it up? That difficult second album. Well, I don’t have 50 years to mull it over. There were a few false starts, then Covid 19 and lockdown hit and all bets were off. One day in lockdown, a new song emerged from my consciousness: “Distant Destination”. Due to the time we are living through, and, perhaps, my own time of life, this is quite an introspective song. It is now complete with a magnificent Jen Normandale vocal.  Other songs have followed, some introspective, some quirky: it could be a strange album. Now in 2023 it is nearing completion. It bears another first – a vocal from me. Released as a single, I Will Go Back features only me and percussionist, Barry Race. We even made a pop video! This album will be finished if I can stop writing new songs. They just keep coming. See track listing below from the tray inlay artwork.

When I quit my band Bullfrog in 1974 it was to concentrate on becoming a songwriter. I made some demos assisted by Bullfrog drummer Jim Harle in a studio called Mortonsound in Carliol Square Newcastle. The building that was home to Mortonsound Studio was impressively named “British India House”. I used to walk down an incline past Worswick Street Bus Station. The bus station is no longer there but thankfully British India House is still standing to this day. It is is an impressive 1930’s Art Deco style building.

A while ago I chanced upon the tape from that day and borrowed a Revox to have a listen and digitize the songs. These demos are too primitive, naïve and cringe-worthy to share. But this work is my first solo demo recording and represents the foundations of my song writing career.

Jim, the Bullfrog drummer who was the only other musician on the session recalled “there was an elderly gentleman at the mixing desk that day”. That would be Roy Hartnell who became a friend of mine. He was 40 years old – elderly!

Cringe-worthy the recordings may be , but the they represent the first step on a journey I was determined to make. Some might say my real first steps were with my band Bullfrog but this did not take me to my chosen destination. Or maybe it simply took me to the destination that was meant to be: Carliol House, Newcastle. Perhaps the start of a new journey. Those who know me will not be surprised that I embarked upon that journey with a determination more like a curse than an asset.

Mortonsound was a humble 4 track affair but I did return there once more when I quit my job as house producer at Impulse studios around 1979. Unlike my first visit to Mortonsound the second visit produced hits: a top 20 album track for a British artist and a massive hit for a Canadian vocalist. The story of that second recording session is told here:
https://steve-thompson.org.uk/i-quit-heavy-metal-and-a-flower-pot-man-came-to-call

I travelled to the studio with an 80’s pop icon and a 60’s song writing icon sat in on the session. Quite a story don’t you think?

A recent series of email exchanges with this young lad (right) has reminded me of a story you may enjoy. Back in the eighties Mike Read was on Radio One (when it was listenable). He held the plum spot of Breakfast Time. I was on a roller coaster ride of a hit single with Hurry Home by Wavelength. Mike played a strong part in that hit, playing the record to death on his show. One morning I was having my breakfast whilst listening to the Mike Read Breakfast Show and he had once again played my song Hurry Home. As it finished he said “that song was written by a guy called Steve Thompson. Yesterday Pete Waterman played me a load of his demos. They were brilliant and when you come across someone so talented don’t you just hate them”. This was an incredible thing to hear on the wireless so I assure you I remember accurately every word. Anyway, I finished my breakfast and maybe half an hour later Mike was on topic again “hey remember that songwriter I told you about, Steve Thomson? Well here’s his latest record – “I Don’t Want To Be The One. As the intro started he said over it “By the way, it’s the Searchers. Did wonders for my ego I can tell you. Anyway, moving on to our current airplay scenario. Mike is once again spinning my “latest record”. This time it’s Alvin Stardust. Tell you more later.