25/2/05
TREVOR JONES: Today we have Melvin Duffy in to do Pedal Steel. I like that we use two steel players. They are both masters of their craft, but come at the instrument from different worlds. BJ has done it all, and is the master of so many styles that now (in my opinion) he is redefining himself and the instrument, with a more maverick approach, which we like to encourage as it suits certain songs of ours. With this approach you never know quite what you'll get with BJ, but you're never disappointed. On his own stuff he works with beats, guest vocalists and musicians, each track having a unique style. Check out his latest album 'Trouble in Paradise'. Melvin is from a more traditional background, very much rooted in the history of the steel guitar. I know that his dad was a player, I think he is of Irish origin. Melvin is master of the elegiac swoop and sweep...puts goose pimples on the toughest skin! He's recently been playing with, ahem, Robbie Williams, and (a favourite underachiever of mine - a kindred spirit?) Stephen Duffy esp' on last years lovely 'Keep Going' album. It will be the first time that I've met him, which is odd, as this is the third MM album he will have played on. He is driving up from Cornwall on the snowiest day of the year (god bless him) so we we're holding our breath. While we wait, Marcus plays me what he did earlier in the week with percussionist Danny Cummings. It's great! I'll let Marcus elaborate on the session, but the percussion has really loosened up the tracks. Also checked out the fantastic drum track that Marcus has recorded for 'Hey Light of Day'. He calls them 'sexy'. I think he should get out more! Marcus also plays me the woodwind section that Simon Currie has done for 'Call it Home'. Woodwind (clarinet/bassoon/sax/flute) always loosens things up, the tuning is never perfect, (Marcus calls the clarinet a "misery stick"!) the nature and tone of the instruments I guess, but that is good, the 'honk' adds a certain grain to the mix. Simon did an arrangement for 'Milk Moustache' on "Stories...' that elevated the song. This arrangement is more subtle but adds a peculiar flavour, that has become part of the MM sound. Melvin arrives and sets up. I make him a ham sandwich. He's vegetarian. Not a good start it seems, but he is a lovely, gentle, generous man who plays like a dream; tempted and egged on, not by a carrot, or a fee, but by a box of crusty creme donuts...musicians eh? He plays on 'What Kate did Next' 'Strange Sympathy' 'Hey Light of Day' 'Baby's in the House' and 'An Average Sadness' to which he also adds a Weisenborn (spelling please Marcus) part. He nails 5 unheard songs in less than 5 hours, and finishes, like he plays, bang on time. I hope we can tempt him into doing some gigs...

We're making great progress, in fact, once we get Chris Bachelor's horn parts in on 'What Kate did Next' and 'Paper Planes and Ponytails' it's mix time. Could we really be finished for a summer release?

MARCUS CLIFFE: I was worried that Melvin might not make it as he was coming up from Cornwall and in London that day we had 3 inches of snow on the ground, but the trooper that he is, he turned up just after lunch. Melvin's a great musician and I knew from the last 2 albums that he would get the tracks done in a short period of time, and he did. It was quite a day for Trevor as it was the first time he'd actually met Melvin, the first time he'd heard Danny's percussion, and the first time he'd heard Simon's woodwind parts. I think I can safely say he went home a happy man that night!

5/3/05
TREVOR JONES: Marcus and I are called to a photo shoot for the Sunday Times article which is to appear shortly. I develop a huge spot on my nose the night before, sod's law! It goes well though. The photographer Paul and Alex his assistant/girlfriend are cool, very professional. We do some outdoor shots at an industrial estate near my home west of London, then into a local pub for some indoor stuff. We're hopeful that we can use some of his shots for the album.

MARCUS CLIFFE: I went over to Trev's the night before the shoot and we had a few glasses of wine together. The shoot went fine and the photo the Times used was a good one.

21/3/05
MARCUS CLIFFE: I got Chris batchelor over to do some brass, he was booked the week before but had got bronchitis which meant he couldn’t play. Chris and I were at university together and we've been friends for 25 years. Our musical paths hadn’t crossed until the last album when i thought brass might be a good addition and indeed Chris's contribution was superb. He put Flugel horn on 'Kate' and 'paper planes' then put trumpet on ‘Beads...’ Every thing went OK musically although when I took out the working CAD M39 I found that it had died as well, very strange that a pair of mics both die within a week of each other. Well that's all the tracking done now, we need to edit the steel tracks Melvin did and fine tune a few things but it will soon be time to start mixing................

TREVOR JONES: There may be one last recording to make. I’ve been trying to get my head around the shape of the album, the way a recording flows is vital to us, both sonically and lyrically. I’ve come up with a vignette that relates to some of the other songs and that I hope will be the punctuation mark at the end of the album. It’s called ‘Night Sail’. We’ll keep you posted.

<