Wreckless Eric 1978
|
next >
|
My first album. We recorded it in Pathway Studio in Islington. I'd previously recorded Whole Wide World there with Nick Lowe producing. The album was produced by Larry Wallis who was an utter genius. Unfortunately Larry couldn't get on with the engineer, Barry Farmer (aka Bazza), so we had the other engineer who was a good guy and perfectly competent but couldn't unlock the secrets of the Pathway sound in the same way that Bazza could. Bazza had built Pathway Studio from component parts - the console, the monitor cabinets, the echo plate - the lot. Bazza read Wireless World. He came to work with a briefcase containing the latest copies of Penthouse and Wireless World, and a spare pair of Y fronts. But more about Bazza later.
The album was supposed to be called A Louder Silence. There's a track called Waxworks which has a stop followed by an ominous silence. When we were mixing it I asked Larry if he could make the silence louder. I meant longer but my mind was scrambled. If it had been up to me the cover would have been some weird abstract painting, an eerily supernatural street scene, or a strange drawing on lined notepaper, but the record company got involved and concocted a wacky idea involving me falling fully clothed into a swimming pool. I'd be on the front cover just about to hit the water, and the record would start with a splash. It's quite funny but I think the idea is ill-conceived and misses the point.
In the end they didn't use the idea because the team of divs detailed off to meet me at some far-flung swimming pool at six o'clock on a cold January morning thought it would be hilarious to just pick me up and hurl me into the water. They had a terrific time but them and their hilarity was caught in every shot so it really didn't work. They probably just wanted to be on the cover.
They went with the photo of me with the Rickenbacker instead. That photo has haunted my career - I was taking the piss: it was supposed to be pop music (except it wasn't) so I was channeling Herman's Hermits. I wish I hadn't - people took it at face value and the world tried to change me into the picture on the product.
The album was supposed to be called A Louder Silence. There's a track called Waxworks which has a stop followed by an ominous silence. When we were mixing it I asked Larry if he could make the silence louder. I meant longer but my mind was scrambled. If it had been up to me the cover would have been some weird abstract painting, an eerily supernatural street scene, or a strange drawing on lined notepaper, but the record company got involved and concocted a wacky idea involving me falling fully clothed into a swimming pool. I'd be on the front cover just about to hit the water, and the record would start with a splash. It's quite funny but I think the idea is ill-conceived and misses the point.
In the end they didn't use the idea because the team of divs detailed off to meet me at some far-flung swimming pool at six o'clock on a cold January morning thought it would be hilarious to just pick me up and hurl me into the water. They had a terrific time but them and their hilarity was caught in every shot so it really didn't work. They probably just wanted to be on the cover.
They went with the photo of me with the Rickenbacker instead. That photo has haunted my career - I was taking the piss: it was supposed to be pop music (except it wasn't) so I was channeling Herman's Hermits. I wish I hadn't - people took it at face value and the world tried to change me into the picture on the product.
