I mentioned earlier my new album for Spring to be accompanied by a live show (possibly the last one ever). Well, album production has been slowed down by external events. Two consecutive studio sessions were postponed by Covid isolation requirements. On the third attempt I, myself suffered from a lurgy (non Covid). This stymied my plans for adding vocals. Bolstered by the reception I got to “I Will Go Back” I planned to come out of the closet as a vocalist. For the time being I’m back in the closet. Alternative instrumental sessions were planned which are now on hold whilst my finger recovers from a painful association with a kitchen knife. And so I’ve decided to say the album may happen in spring but then again it may not. It will happen when it happens. I’m taking the pressure off myself to set a date. No good can come of such pressures. During the isolation period I engaged with pre-production at home. I started to work on the title track for an album that would follow the next – “Strange Times”. This is an experimental album that at present exists largely as a concept and artwork. The new song is working really well. Should I bring it forward and include it on the Distant Destination album. Or should I perhaps work on the two as a double album and title them both “years of procrastination”. We shall see. |
Category Archives: Blog
I WILL GO BACK
Available on the platforms listed to the right (or perhaps below if you are on a mobile). Choose your service or view the video below.
This is a download only release but there are 10 limited edition CD’s available. These are white label CD’s in a jewel container and professional print sleeve. Each CD is uniquely numbered and signed. (Sorry all CD’s now gone)
Double Disk Plus Demos
Hindsight And History
The picture to the right is my first band Bullfrog as featured on the CD cover of a new release from Cherry Red Records. The picture is from 1971. It’s our “Beatles on the rooftop” moment. Except this is Eldon Square, Newcastle. Years later other bands played Eldon Square in officially organized shows. But ours was not an official event it was a rebellious act of self promotion. We bust into a basement and ran a mains cable across the grassy square to the monument in the centre where we set up and played a blues/rock set to Sunday strollers. The stunt was the brainchild of our Australian manager known only as “Skippy”. Skippy convinced us that the notoriety would catapult us to the top. As it happened, all it got us was an article in the Sunday Sun. Shortly after Skippy got deported so that was that.
Years later we appeared in a history book published by the Newcastle Evening Chronicle. This was not due to any notoriety of the band. The pictures taken in 1971 show behind us the architecture that was soon to disappear when the developers moved in to build a town Centre shopping mall.
But we were seeking notoriety and fame for our music. We were young and ambitious, I was just 19 years old. How were we to know that 50 years later a picture from that sunny day in May ‘71 would form the cover of a CD on which one of our songs would rub shoulders with the likes of Mott The Hoople, Free, Uriah Heap, Deep Purple, Hawkwind, The Yardbirds, Thin Lizzie, and others.
That’s the original 1969 Bullfrog lineup in the picture. Left to right: Mick Glancy, Robin Hird, Mick Simmons and Me – Steve Thompson. By the time we recorded “The Joker” which appears on disk three of the Cherry Red boxed set “I’m a Freak Baby 3” two line-up changes had occurred. Pete MacDonald replaced Mick Glancy on vocals and Jim Harle replaced Mick Simmons on drums.
Images From Eldon Square Sun May 30th 1971
Fast Forward To 2021
Click here for more info or to purchase the boxed set
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Hollow Victory (A Sketch)
I’m working up this forgotten song (Hollow Victory) into new arrangement for a new album (Distant Destination) with my band. This is not it – It’s just a teaser. A doodle from which the full song formed. I may post other teasers or work in progress. It’s a very powerful song IMHO and is destined for the vocals of of Jen Normandale. The song was started for a project with a Russian Girl called Oxana.
I wrote a number of pieces for the project but when she got deported it killed it all off (The project). Watch this space:
It’s a Hollow Victory
With A Bitter Taste
And The road behind you
Is laid to waste
You made your exit
And You had your say
what about the times
You could have been having
All The Days Of Love
And living and laughing
IRON MAN OF NORTON: Second Shipment – Various Artists
Available on all the platforms: Spotify, iTtunes, YouTube etc. Look for the platform icons to the right or below and click on your choice
With fabulous artwork by Mark Mylchreest, this is the second set of various recordings I have made over the years. The collection features a vast range of artists. Just take a look at the track listing below. I discovered in my archives a recording of Tommy Morrison singing his song “When The Truth Comes Home”. A Lovely song. He up and played it to me one day on acoustic guitar. It just blew me away. It sounds like I must have included it in one of my demo sessions, probably at Lynx studios in Newcastle.
I always loved Empty Pockets. Vocals and Sax are by David Baird. The track is just Paul Smith and me. Pretty minimalist. I recall we put a dustbin lid on the snare to get that sound.
Many of the tracks were recorded in the studio built in my house in Whitley Bay. Folks used to call around and just add something to whatever I was busy recording. Beautiful Sight is one such song. Lorraine Crosby had laid down her vocals when Steve Lamb called round. He played that beautiful solo on his white Gibson SG.
| 1 | REWIND | Empty Pockets |
| 2 | BABY FORD | Brand New Man |
| 3 | THE BRIEF | Front Page News |
| 4 | CAFFREY | In A Dream |
| 5 | TONI HALIDAY | I Love Every Moment |
| 6 | LORRAINE CROSBY | Beautiful Sight |
| 7 | ANDY TAYLOR | Catch A Fast Train |
| 8 | RAMALASH | Way Of The World |
| 9 | TOMMY MORRISON | When The Truth Comes Home |
| 10 | TONI HALIDAY | Looking For Love In A Stranger |
| 11 | BABY FORD | Lisa Lisa |
| 12 | RAMALASH | You Shook The World |
| 13 | NIGHTS THAT PASS IN THE SHIP | Nothing Doing |
| 14 | TONI HALIDAY | Bad News Boy |
| 15 | TONY McPHEE | Born To Be With You |
| 16 | THE BRIEF | Girls In Mini Skirts |
| 17 | RAMALASH | Let’s Make Up |
| 18 | BULLFROG | Just A Chance |
All tracks produced by Steve Thompson
All songs written by Steve Thompson except:
2, 11 – Steve Thompson & Pete Adshead
3, 16 – Steve Thompson & Gary Maughan
9 – Tommy Morrison
15 – Tony McPhee
17 – Bullfrog
A Pocket Full Of Memories
Yesterday evening I sat on the patio with a beer watching the sun go down. An old man with less hair, fewer teeth and a pocket full of memories. The memories that rise to the surface at times like this are often unexpected and quite random.
Around 1986 I had signed an exclusive music publishing deal with DJM. The D and the J and the M stood for Dick James Music. The deal was brokered by Gus Dudgeon who brought his old friend Dick James out of retirement to sign the contract. Dick was feted in the music business as the man who signed the Beatles. Almost of equal importance to my mind: he was also the man who sang the theme tune of my childhood favourite TV themes – “Robin Hood, Robin Hood, Riding Through The Glen”. Gus’s connection to Dick was that he was once House Producer for DJM productions. Most notably one day Dick had asked Gus to take a young writer he had signed under his wing – Elton John. It all boded very well.
A few weeks later after the champagne and the press call, when the ink was dry on the deal I had occasion to call DJM. It was just something minor, a general housekeeping detail. The receptionist answered the call. To my dismay the call took a bizarre turn almost immediately. I felt reality start to wobble, we were talking the same language but we were not on the same page at all. I don’t recall the details but It was all very strange. Then suddenly, realisation dawned and I understood what had happened. Somehow, and lord knows how, I had called DJM Plumbing Supplies in Shiremoor.
IRON MAN OF NORTON: Boxed Set – Various Artists
Artwork, Mark Mylchreest – Click to enlarge.
Available on all the platforms: Spotify, iTtunes, YouTube etc. Look for the platform icons to the right or below and click on your choice
With fabulous artwork by Mark Mylchreest, this is an eclectic collection of various recordings I have made over the years. The collection features a vast range of artists. Just take a look at the track listing below.
First up is Paris By Air, the original demo. This is what I played to the Tygers Of Pan Tang in that house I shared with them in Whitley Bay. The demo featured a 16 year old Toni Haliday. The Tygers went on to have a hit single with it and it also featured on their top 20 album “The Cage”.
Later, I built a studio in my own Whitley Bay house and this is where I recorded the next track. “Disco Me To Ecstasy” was released with a name change to “Chiki Chiki Ah Ah”. However this did not fool the BBC and we earned a ban (I’m proud of that). This did not stop it becoming a hit though.
There’s a track I recorded with Andy Taylor of Duran Duran when he was just 16 years old. The song is not mine. It was written by John Farmer of “The Squad”. My good friend Stu Burns, guitarist with The Squad engineered this session for me in the bands makeshift basement studio.
“Going Solo” is a song I wrote with my old mate Gus Dudgeon for Elkie Brooks. Gus visited Elkie at her home in deepest Devon to have dinner and discuss the next album. However, before Gus got to play her the song Elkie fired him as her producer!
There’s a track from the Groundhogs front man, Tony McPhee. That’s me on bass and my mate Paul Smith on drums – The Geordie Groundhogs.
Penultimately, a track from my 70’s band Bullfrog, a taste of what’s to come on our upcoming album: “Aces”. And lot’s more in between. There’s also a second “Iron Man” collection slated for 13th August release. This one entitled “Second Shipment”
| 1 | TONI HALLIDAY | Paris By Air |
| 2 | BABY FORD | Disco Me To Ecstasy |
| 3 | THE BRIEF | Party In The Room Downstairs |
| 4 | THE COMING STORM | Man Of A Million Faces |
| 5 | GEORGE LAMB | See You In My Dreams |
| 6 | ANDY TAYLOR | Hey Gene |
| 7 | THE HOUSE BAND | Going Solo |
| 8 | TONI HALIDAY | Don’t Do The Dirty |
| 9 | TOMMY MORRISON | Let Me Hold You |
| 10 | BABY FORD | Bite The Bullet |
| 11 | RAMALASH | Who Is That Man |
| 12 | NIGHTS THAT PASS IN THE SHIP | You Made Me Do It |
| 13 | TONI HALIDAY | These Crazy Things |
| 14 | TONY MCPHEE | Too Bad |
| 15 | BABY FORD | When Does The Heartbreak Begin |
| 16 | RAMALASH | So Glad We’re Back Together |
| 17 | BULLFROG | Farewell |
| 18 | TONI HALIDAY | Nothing Like The Way We Planned It |
All tracks produced by Steve Thompson
All songs written by Steve Thompson except:
2, 10, 15 – Steve Thompson & Pete Adshead
3 – Steve Thompson & Gary Maughan
6 – John Farmer
7 – Steve Thompson & Gus Dudgeon
11 – Steve Thompson & John Cook
14 – Tony McPhee
17 – Bullfrog
Cherry Red
In December 2020 I signed a deal with Cherry Red Records and product started to be released from January 2021. The collections below represent what is out there now as well as proposed releases. Book mark this post as I will update it as new stuff comes out.
Click on the art image for more details and where to buy.
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Oh You Pretty Things
Riding The Rock Machine
The Long Fade
Released At Last
Almost There
Something On My Mind
Sleepless Nights
Distant Destination
Aces
Zebras
Boxed Set
Second Shipment
Taking The Easy Way (single)
I’m A Freak Baby 3
I Will Go Back (Single)
Strange Times
Behind The Wheel
Burning In The Shade
Tygers Of Pan Tang 3 CD Set
Sleepless Nights
Over to the right or perhaps below if you are on a phone are links to all the platforms where you can download or stream these songs.
Tommy Morrison was a very good friend of mine and a terrific songwriter. We wrote many songs together and I also demo’d for him some of his songs he’d written alone. The picture features me and Tommy at the housewarming party of my new abode in Whitley Bay. The royalties from my top 20 hit “Hurry Home” had funded this move. I built a recording studio and it became a mecca for many years for my musician friends.
Throughout the nineties this amounted to a good many recordings. Some folks may be interested in this production note: I always recorded my guitar through a miked up amplifier. A fender twin reverb. No pedals and never by direct injection. The amp was always set up in the vocal booth and I ran a cable out to it.One day I was jamming and particularly enjoying the guitar sound. Later when I went to shut everything down I found that the mic had dropped out of the mic n and was lying on the floor in front of the amp. From henceforth and for every guitar track on this album, I miced up the amp in this way: A mic laying on the floor in front of the amp.
Tommy and I co-wrote a song Elkie Brooks recorded “One Of A Kind”, a version of which is on my own album “THE LONG FADE”. We also co-wrote a couple of songs for Paul Rodgers with whom Tommy had a complex relationship/friendship. Two songs made it to the final cut but Tommy and Rodgers fell out once more and it was not to be.
Around 2008 Tommy sent me a £10 note, a typical Tommy gesture, and asked me to digitize the recordings we’d made throughout the nineties. I made a start but I soon got distracted by other stuff.
Then in 2012 I met up with another old friend and was shocked at the number of mutual acquaintances this old friend told me had passed away. So I had a ring around all my friends that I had been so remiss at keeping in touch with.
I got Tommy’s answering machine so I left a message: “Tommy it’s me, Steve, are you still alive”? Later that day he called me back. He told me he was indeed still alive but it had been touch and go. He said that he had exhausted himself moving a piano with another guy. Then he’d had a “beef and cholesterol pie”. As a result he’d suffered a heart attack. When they got him in to study him it was found that he had cancer of the lung so as a result he’d had half of one lung removed. “Jeez Tommy”, I said “I’d better get on with Digitising that stuff for you before you pop your clogs”
And this I did, trawling through DAT tapes. There are only two people on those recordings. Phil Caffrey providing amazing vocals and me doing the rest. They’re demos with klangy drum machines but there is also a vibe and a groove. And so was born the album “Sleepless Nights”. The band: Caffrey Morrison Thompson.
I took 10 CD copies to Sunderland and gave them to Tommy as we had lunch together. The very last time I saw him in fact. I’m so pleased I finished that project. It made Tommy so happy. And I’m sure he’d be equally delighted when Cherry Red Records release this album on May 14th
Tommy Morrison passed away in January 2014
Goffy Plays Hurry Home & A Fan Rings In From Nunthorpe
Check out the clip below from Goffy on BBC Tees this Sunday then read on for connections to some of the other musicians he mentions.
Apart from Goffy’s kind words about me he also mentions Dave Black and Pete McDonald. Dave was a good friend of mine and the inspiration for one of the songs on my album THE LONG FADE out now on Cherry Red Records (Click here) Pete McDonald was the singer in my first band Bullfrog. Bullfrog was formed in my hometown of Consett in 1969. Cherry Red Records will be releasing our very early recordings on an Album entitled ACES on June 4th.
Released At Last: SOUTHBOUND
Don’t Deny Me
Pretty Girl
Keep On Winding
[EDIT]
Sadly after this post was written and the EP released, Alan Burke of Southbound died unexpectedly on Friday 30 April 2021 However he did have the chance to enjoy this release just two weeks before he passed away. Here are the words he used to describe the experience.
On the news of the release:
“That’s amazing news Steve..I’m looking forward to the big time! We were the four amigos, best time of my life. How you keeping these days? Alan”
And when released:
“Steve, never thought we would see this day!!! I’ve bought a copy just cos I can…how many more do I need to buy before it gets in the charts? Seriously thanks for doing this! Alan”. 
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- Southbound 1979
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- Me 1979
AVAILABLE FROM THESE PLATFORMS NOW!!!
