IN THE SOUNCLOUD PLAYER   4- Track Taster Edit   1. Dirty Thing 2. Feelin’ Like Elvis 3. Choises 4. Burger Kingdom   ALSO … Check out the Planet Earth [ReU-Nite Version] .   Tweet

Thanks for all of birthday messages today… I am grateful for each one, even got one from my old mucker SJCLB, that was nice to hear from him. In return, I’d like to share a taster of a banging’ new remix with you as well as a Twitter Q&A tomorrow (Friday, February 17) starting around 4pm UK. We’ll go all night so we can talk about everything I’ve been working on.   And there’s plenty to catch up on. I’ve been heads-down in the studio, finishing mixes & remixes from the forthcoming album Motherlode. This [...]

  David Bowie’s “Hunky Dory” – “The Rise & Fall of Ziggy Stardust” & “Aladdin Sane” were undoubtedly some of the most influential albums of my pre-teens – And not just the genius of Bowie’s songs & concept – Mick Ronson’s cosmic guitar playing also being a big part of that experience alongside Trevor Bolder & Mick Woodmansey’s groove, yeah they played with spaced-out soul those boys.   Its hard to imagine that it was in 1972 I discovered Bowie – now 40-years on it still stands the test of every kind of time & [...]

If the alien we all knew from in 1980′s came back down, I believe even the most extra of terrestrial’s would surely have words to the effect of …   “WHAT A VERY DIFFERENT PLANET EARTH WE HAVE COME BACK TO FIND”   Its started on the dance-floor, by todays scale a relatively small dancefloor – but thats where its roots were seeded.     Tweet

Choises was written in year 2000, only months before the DD reunion, it was only recently, when I started Jammin’ with Greenie Green at Blast studios in Newcastle that I re-discovered the track, I basically threw this one into the pot, & lets see what’s cookin’… If the drummer can get the groove down then a song like this works, and you need a certain swagger when you rock up a swing beat, & bingo – it worked, but truthfully, it wasn’t on the track list until May this year.   I wanted to get [...]

DIRTY THING…     The Dirty Thing Mixes were put together from the original demo sessions, as a sort of Myspace experiment – remember that… Myspace.   I’m putting up a alsorts of audio from the session archives… Amazing what you’ve maybe convieniently forgotten …   Tweet

Since we last spoke, there’s been more that a little news to digest… Near & Middle Eastern Revolution – Hey ho, were at War AGAIN – The Cinematic Tragedy of Japan – I finally succumbed to an I-Phone – Oh and that weird flu that keeps you coughing for 4-5 weeks, what’s that all about – I blame Rumsfeld… And err turning 50 – bad for the old mirror habit [no not the white line version] !!! But at last I can purchase one of those 50+ holidays, maybe take a cruise up the Fjords [...]

Ive been working deep into the wee-hours finishing what used to be known as “a new album” possibly the most satisfying & fulfilling place to be at this point in the proceedings, even though the concept of the album is becoming somewhat of an anathema, there’s really nothing else to use as a template upon which to define your work. Now that the “handbags at dawn” have been checked-in, its good to feel positive about producing music again, you tend to forget that’s really about as good as it gets… A dose of adversity unwittingly [...]

It was 30-years ago today… We were recording Duran Duran, our self-titled debut album. We had already recorded the 1st single “Planet Earth” at Redbus studios London, before the Xmas break – NR & I mixed it on Boxing Day at Utopia Studio in London with Producer Colin Thurston, and then we were off to Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire to record the rest of the album… Although I do recall that we did some of the drum tracks at Redbus before encamping to the residential hideaway…   I remember how exciting this was to everyone, even [...]

There were 3-key points arising from the re-mastering debacle, not wanting to be misunderstood – I would like to clarify my feelings.   1. The audio experience is at times very disappointing.   2. Certain product is blatantly faulty.   3. There is demo material now commercially available.   Of course the problem with re-mastering is that if you already liked it then is it really necessary? It’s not as if there are legions of petition for such a change… Maybe the changes that are made sound like “music to your ears” and that’s cool, [...]