Got a phone call from Jon Cohen who I worked with for Universal Records in August. The album is nearing completion and the orchestra parts have been recorded in Prague. Jon says Universal are jumping up and down about the album so it should get the push it desreves when it comes out in November for the Xmas market.
Working on a new album with Allie which features her instrumental acoustic guitar compositions. The album has been in progress for coming up for 3 years and like good whisky is distilling well!! We’re at the point now where all Allies guitar parts are complete and she is now about to invite guests over the next couple of months which include pedal steel guitarist Rod Clements from Lindisfarne, guitarist Frank Usher from Fish, Neil Warden on nylon string guitar. Fraser Spiers on harmonica and Ron Shaw on Cello. The way the album is shaping up it promises to be really fantastic.
Ric and I just completed the first single we created together yesterday. The song is called Liquid Love and is a catchy dance track which Ric penned the lyrics for and I did the music. He’s going to release it on his own label later this year. Ric and I also started working together at Sonic Studios in the 80’s, one track he wrote featured guitarist Keith More who was working as a session guitarist and producer at Sonic for a while.
Just been mastering the debut album by New Yorker Jess Abrams jazz album with her and producer Nik Paget Tomlinson. Thealbum features a great jazz trio of Piano, Bass and Drums by musicians from the Netherlands with Jess singing. It’s an interestingly refreshing sound and I will hopefully be allowed to feature some of it on the Offbeat site when it’s finished at the end of the month. Producer Nik Paget played in a band with my son Paul called Solar Invasion back in the late 80’s when they were both still at school and most recently in Great Ezcape. My meeting with Nik predates that though, his Mum Lillie brought him in to Sonic Studios when Nik was just 14 to record his first ever demo back in 1988.
Offbeat is about to launch a podcast service for web-sites and corporate clients. We already do a monthly podcast for Aegon Scottish Equitable and it’s been a great success. This week we will be editing the new Offbeat podcast which is designed to answer frequently asked questions about the company. This will also demonstrate the value of such podcasts for other sites and companies who want to offer a more direct and personal way of getting information across to their customers as well as browsers who are using this way of direct communication in preference to text based information. The podcast, which was conducted by Yen Yau from First Light Movies will be online at the beginning of next week.
