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Jun 23 2020

TO WHERE I AM NOW

It was so bright outside today that when I went out for two minutes without my sunglasses, I came back blinded with stars in my eyes. It took me ages to adjust to the archive labyrinth and the studio control room. The real flashing lights on the mixing desk and the various pieces of Star Trek equipment in the control room were actually there in my head and it took me a while to find my sunglasses, because I simply couldn’t see well enough to look for them. It was 68 degrees here in Penzance, you could feel the sun wrapping itself around you like big cosy arms. The sky was so blue that it didn’t look real, it was as if someone had dreamed it up. People were out in the streets and I imagine that the beaches were full, especially as de Pfeffel has announced some easing of the lockdown from July 4th. So many things are opening up, except for the ones that we want, the venues and the swimming pool.

Ed arrived today with his car crammed with drums. Can you imagine the difference in experience for a drummer versus a singer? Especially in the early days of trying to get somewhere and the lug. That poor singer having to carry his poetry book around. Who’d be a double bass player? You sometimes see them on the subway, I guess they never travel in the rush hour. In the live room at the studio there’s a two inch square hole in the ceiling to accommodate double bass players, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to hold the bass upright. Dare soundchecked the drums after Ed had set up, but the start day for recording is tomorrow. You never think about how long it is to the end of an album even though it’s a very long way. When you look back on the process, listen back to what you’ve done, it all seems a very long time ago just in terms of the amount of work. But when you think about The Beatles taking an afternoon to record Please Please Me and Guns ‘n’ Roses taking 14 years to record Chinese Democracy you wonder at the chasm between the two and the different experiences those projects were to each other even though they were essentially the same thing.

I had two sessions today, one with Chris in New Jersey and another with Paul in New Orleans. Progress! The exciting thing about the sessions is that as we work on songs and ideas, singing, getting a body of work together, at the same time we start on the second sessioneer album with Ahad after Jed and Space Summit. There was a time that these were also at this early stage, progress is the key. I’m coming to the conclusion that anybody can do anything they just gotta wanna. I’ve been hitting the French for 20 days in a row and really feel like I learned something and even though I’m busy and feel like I would learn more if I could concentrate more, submerge myself in it, just the act of doing it is so useful and there will be times when I can really take it in. There will always be crazy times when there aren’t enough hours in the day. No time isn’t really an excuse, it’s priorities, even ten minutes a day adds up.

Today, finally, after over a year, I received a vinyl copy of Hanging Out In Heaven. It’s nice, isn’t it? It wasn’t that the label hadn’t sent it, it’s just that I hadn’t got around to having them send it whilst we are here at the archive. I spoke to Jan today who took those amazing pictures all those years ago and told him it was on the way, he was happy. Jan has also taken the picture for the cover of the new MOAT record, Poison Stream. He lives in Stockholm and is one of my oldest friends there. He told me today that he’s had the virus as have many of my friends and musical collaborators in Stockholm. Sweden was the country that followed a different path and there’s some quite scary numbers in the death department. There’s some bad news with flare-ups at the moment as they ease the lockdowns, but the statistic that says Germany 83 million people – 9,000 deaths, UK 66 million people – 42,000 deaths, begs belief.

So I head off into a busy week with the Ahad album, with Dare in the studio recording Ed’s drums and with me playing guide guitars and bass where necessary, some sessions later on at night and fitting that French in somewhere, too. So if you want to ask me a question or are waiting for a reply about anything at all – next week!

Music today comes from the perfect Soul pipes of Aretha Franklin. I Never Loved A Man The Way I Loved You (1967) featured the Otis Redding penned Respect as the opening track which became her signature song and helped catapult the album to the No.2 spot in the US charts. The album also has two Sam Cooke songs on the record, Good Times and Change Is Gonna Come – she was a great interpreter of Soul songs. Although it seemed to set the Soul audience on fire, back in the day the critics were less enthusiastic, Rolling Stone gave it a bad review, time put paid to that opinion. When you consider that this classic and first release on Atlantic Records, I Never Loved A Man The Way I Loved You, was in fact her 10th album, it seems like she took a long time to get going having made 9 albums with Columbia that skirted around the 100s in the charts. Ultimately in her career Franklin had some impressive stats – from Wikipedia: 112 charted singles on Billboard, including 77 Hot 100 entries, 17 top-ten pop singles, 100 R&B entries, and 20 number-one R&B singles.

Her follow up album Aretha Arrives released in the same year (1967) opened with The Stones’ Satisfaction, but it was the single Baby I Love You that made it to No.4 on the US chart and sold a million copies. Franklin would become known as the Queen Of Soul. You gotta have your Soul party hat on to dig these vibey sixties Atlantic records, but she could belt out a ballad too. She released three albums in 1967 alone and then two a year till 1972 with a regular output through the seventies and eighties, this lady was prolific.

It was on Lady Soul (1968) that she sang another song that would be associated exclusively with her, Carole King and Gerry Goffin’s (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman from an idea suggested by Atlantic’s Jerry Wexler. It was specially written for her and reached No.8 on the US chart. The album also features Curtis Mayfield’s People Get Ready and The Rascals hit Groovin’, written by Felix Cavaliere and Eddie Brigati.

Aretha Now was her second album released in 1968 and that too had songs that she made her own, Think (US No.7) and I Say A Little Prayer. Think was written by Franklin and her first husband, producer-manager Teddy White. I Say A Little Prayer was a Bacharach/David song which was originally a hit for Dionne Warwick, but it wasn’t long before Franklin released it, too, both reaching No.4 in the UK and Top Ten in the US. The album also features another Sam Cooke classic, You Send Me.

Whenever I listen to Soul music, the groove, the singers, the warm skillful easy expertise, I always feel the euphoria of talent and heart.

Song Of The Day is The Guessing Game from the Noctorum album Offer The Light, released in 2006. I wrote the lyrics to this song but Dare sang it as he has more of the Soul voice and that seemed appropriate for today.

 

The Guessing Game

Sometimes when I’m dreaming
All these worlds are spinning ’round
Can’t believe what I’m seeing
Through the clouds down to the ground

Into the distance
Into the darkness

And now that we’ve returned here
To see what we have hatched
Millions of people
A perfect little batch
So that’s what you call England
Sweden and Japan
The Himalayan mountains
Sri Lanka and Siam

Into the distance
Into the darkness
Should we just leave you
What are your chances
Have you the faith
Have you the hunger
All of the madness
All of the wonder
The guessing game

Slipping through my fingers
This tiny galaxy
All these shooting stars
The Men from Mars
And all eternity

Into the distance
Into the darkness
Should we just leave you
What are your chances
Have you the faith
Have you the hunger
All of the madness
All of the wonder
The guessing game
The guessing game

(Willson-Piper / Mason)
Noctorum – Offer The Light (2006)

Written by Marty Willson-Piper · Categorized: Blog

Missing

This is my stolen 1965 Rickenbacker 12-string, serial number EB157. If there's any chance of this guitar coming back to me before I go to meet my maker, then that would be wonderful. Please contact me if you have any information.

11209512_1669022976719710_7288437867089763325_n

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Thanks to The Wernickis for a little glimpse into Thanks to The Wernickis for a little glimpse into their new New Mexico listening space 🌵 #nightjar #schoolkidsrecords
Redeyed lad of the lowlands 🎵 📷 @oliviaelek Redeyed lad of the lowlands 🎵

📷 @oliviaelektra 

#danelectro #danelectrobass #redeyerecords #pleasantrylane #pleasantrylanestudio
You usually don’t spend the day in the studio an You usually don’t spend the day in the studio and the night at a gig but if you put the studio next to the gig then there’s a greater chance. So @salimnourallah did just that, he put the gig and the studio next to each other and made it possible for me to spend the day recording and the evening playing live 🎵

📷 @drewliophoto 

#galacticheadquarters #happinessarecordlabel #pleasantrylanestudio #salimnourallah #oliviawillsonpiper
TO WHERE I AM NOW A visit in the studio today fro TO WHERE I AM NOW

A visit in the studio today from old mate Mark Burgess from The Chameleons who has been hanging in Texas recently. I was thinking about the two of us growing up in the northwest of England and all these years later finding ourselves in such an unlikely spot together. We fixed a few issues in the universe and I carried on recording some guitars until Mark had to leave. Mark had played at the Galactic Headquarters next to the studio this year as Olivia and I had four years ago and this reminded me to remind myself to remind everyone to remind their friends that we will be playing there with Salim on Saturday, New Year’s Eve, for the ultimate in intimate performance. You can get tickets here (follow link below).

CONTINUE READING: https://martywillson-piper.com/2022/12/to-where-i-am-now-1045

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📷 @salimnourallah 

#markburgess #thechameleons #chameleonsvox #pleasantrylanestudio #happinessarecordlabel #martywillsonpiper #oliviawillsonpiper #moatband
📷 @argirgirl 📷 @argirgirl
TO WHERE I AM NOW Sadness manifested in a buildin TO WHERE I AM NOW

Sadness manifested in a building, today we went to visit Paisley Park. Prince built Paisley Park in Chanhassen, about twenty minutes southwest of Minneapolis. It opened in 1987 and he recorded his later albums there. Apart from Prince, REM also recorded and mixed Out Of Time there, recording Kate Pearson’s vocal on Shiny Happy People vocal. Madonna had Prince play guitar on three songs from Like A Prayer and the two co-wrote Love Song, finishing it remotely due to Madonna not being able to stand the cold weather and the rather desolate location of the studio. Of course, there are things around but it’s not in the city and it’s not in the countryside, it’s in a suburb, no distractions, just what Prince wanted.

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📷 @argirgirl 

#paisleypark #prince
Marty & Pablo! 📷 Rod MacQuarrie Marty & Pablo!

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At last, a proper door stop. 📷 @judgeschamber At last, a proper door stop.

📷 @judgeschamber 

#grammysitting 👵
🌵 Texas Acoustic Dates 🌵 31 December - DALL 🌵 Texas Acoustic Dates 🌵

31 December - DALLAS
7 January - CELINA
12 January - HOUSTON
14 January - AUSTIN
15 January - SAN ANTONIO

With @salimnourallah and @joereyesmusic

More info here: https://mailchi.mp/e47ede06acd6/texas-acoustic-dates
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"These are awesome sessions that I highly recommend for guitar players of all levels. Very informative, frank discussions on everything related to guitar and music in general. Definitely a must for anyone pursuing songwriting."
(Stephen G., VA, USA)

"Marty knows how to bypass scales and get to the heart of feel and timing. His musical knowledge spans multiple cultures and genres. Perhaps most importantly, Marty is a cool dude. I highly recommend his guitar guidance." (Jed B., MN, USA)

"Ok, so you’re sitting in your home and Marty is across the world but is actually right here teaching you how to play guitar and write songs. He is a delight to talk to and he is your teacher, meaning he wants to see you get something out of his lessons. You know he’s paying attention and wants to steer you in the right direction. I am so grateful and humbled that he offers his time in this manner. This is an amazing opportunity for anyone who admires anything from his enormous body of work. How often do you get to learn from somebody that inspired you in the first place? Amazing." (Ann S., CA, USA)

Missing

This is my stolen 1965 Rickenbacker 12-string, serial number EB157. If there’s any chance of this guitar coming back to me before I go to meet my maker, then that would be wonderful. Please contact me if you have any information.

11209512_1669022976719710_7288437867089763325_n

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