Wednesday, 11 August 2021

Happy 70th to Rockin' Rick Richards

 Once again, the blog is neglected. It's not like I haven't been busy, or anything. I have actually been up to all sorts and could have documented it all here.

Starting in February, there was a lot of activity working on Cakewalk backing tracks, initially for potential Zooplankton recordings. Mike May heard the BT for He Said She Said and worked on some new words. Apparently, he recorded some bits at Rick's, however the files disappeared before I got them. That one's still up in the air. Due to COVID, we haven't been able to have many sessions at the Unit and, apart from a couple of jams, have done nothing.

Because of this, I decided to work on another solo album. Oh, I also remixed the 1998 Soundscapes tracks. Using the original MTs (all still present, except for the ambient track on Safe Inside. Don't know where that went). Four 19:59 tracks mixed and put up on Bandcamp. However, I digress.

So, work started on "There are no Words". I originally envisaged an 80 minute album using most of what I had been working on already, and planned four sides of material (with estimated timings):

01 (A1) Chances are Slim (5)

02 (A2) Born in a Storm (6)

03 (A3) Evening News (5)

04 (A4) Amazing Thing (5)

05 (B1) Pluck the Stars from the Sky (13)

06 (B2) Falling (7)

07 (C1) I Meant to Say (4)

08 (C2) Hedgehog Dreams/Hedgehog Symphony (15)

09 (D1) Edge of Somewhere (20)

I worked on all these tracks simultaneously until the middle of June when I decided that it was going to be a single album, tracks 1-6. I think the main reason was that I had just about finished them and still had quite a bit to do on the others, EoS particularly. They will no doubt appear at some time.

(btw - I had already suggested to Ali that she had another go at singing some of these, but she laughed in my face)

So, anyway, on June 24 I did the FINAL mixes. And, for once, they are still the FINAL mixes. I haven't been tempted to mess with them at all, which is not like me.

FINAL ALBUM: TTPpg#01 PETE GIFFORD There are no Words

01 Chances are Slim (5:40)

02 Born in a Storm (3:59)

03 Evening News (4:37)

04 Amazing Thing (4:36)

05 Pluck the Stars from the Sky (12:55)

06 Falling (6:38)

I also did single edits of Born (3:04) and Pluck (4:25)

I played some bits to Rick and he suggested sending them to Carl at Chezbo Records. I did and he loved them.

August 9 saw the release of Born in a Storm:


Chezbo Records is proud to introduce multi-talented musician, Pete Gifford with his new single “Born in a Storm”.
RELEASE DATE: 09/08/2021
Taken from his forthcoming album “There are no words”, this track has a Balearic/Downtempo style with a TV sitcom theme tune feel to it.
Pete Gifford, based in Horden, County Durham, started his musical journey in the early 70’s recording and composing from home. He was initially inspired by the Beatles, but now embraces progressive rock. He went on to performing live with local bands Stroller, Blind Look, Swan’s Corner, Jellyfish, Amaraz, Network. Playing with the likes of Hugh McGouran, Steve McCormick, Rick Richards, Pete then went on to manage a record shop in London before moving back to Middlesbrough.
After playing in local bands Stalebread Charlie, Caution to the Wind, Supernova, Pete started to release his solo work. He released several albums including, (virtually), George’s Revolving Shed, No Time at All, and the Soundscapes series. Pete also contributed to “Multiplex – our secret studios”, a various artist tribute to Bill Nelson.
Following occasional gigging with Fear of Falling, recording with Wine Flies and playing bass with the McCormick Band, both live and in the studio, Pete worked on the music video for Caribbean Cowboys’ Johnny B Goode single, and also mixed their album. His new album “There are no words” is due for release later in 2021 on Chezbo Records.
Listen to the track on Soundcloud:
Juno Download:
Spotify:
Deezer:
iTunes:
https://music.apple.com/.../born-in-a-storm.../1576200966


Nice one, eh?

Here's some more artwork from Carl. The first one will probably be the album cover. The rest were suggestions. No agreed design for Pluck yet.










OK, so that's where we are. Watch out for another update in about six months. Ha!

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