The Throne of Blood
Hopefully, if you’ve got this far, you’ll realise that these are not albums but sessions. Bliss [1999] had a strange evolution. Samples were stripped from a Roland dance module (an 808, I think) and Executive Post started to create using the rhythm patterns. Once they were happy they let the guitarist loose. As usual he ran amok. Makes for an interesting listen. Still a demo.
Montevideo Bllues [1999] was a jam, again with mad Santana-meets-Zappa guitar. What were they smoking?
Men Of Action always had a plan. Always knew what they were going to get from a session. The attention to detail is scary. Blistering lead guitar shreds the demo of Cities Of Gold & Steel [1999]. The eastern-flavoured Hanging Gardens [1999] by Spaghetti Westerns was heavily-sequenced. I distinctly remember having to use the pencil-tool in Cubase to notate the sampled flute parts. Nicotine Rush[1999] by Big Velvet Berets has backward guitars and strange whistling. Cool. The main riff at the end turned up on an Alice Cooper track [2020]. Even cooler. Great minds.
Next up a light-hearted distraction. The youngest-ever recording artiste?
A very short cover of ‘Sorrow’ [1999] was caught on 8-track at this time. Renamed ‘Grief’ it lasts about 30 seconds. A very sketchy cover of ‘The Visit’ [1999] was also done very quickly to test some condenser microphones.
A fantastic version of ‘Three Kingdoms’ [1999], though written in 1984, finally appeared, alongside most of ‘Moving On.’ [1999] They were by Bible Stories and Think Of A Number respectively.
It was at these sessions when ‘Mental Excavation’ [1999] by the Winter Warmers originated. A sample had been lifted from an album by the New Jazz Aliens. It was an odd-timed drum pattern. It was looped and should not have worked at all. But some blistering lead was put over the top of it and forgotten. Its working-title was ‘Overdose.’ Nice. Alternate takes were definitely completed where it’s known as ‘The Throne Of Blood.’ Neat.
The same sample also appears in a cover of ‘Heroes.’ But that’s another story.
About 20 years later the multitrack back-ups were discovered on CDs which had been archived from Cubase Audio. Everything was played back live into the 24-track machine and, bizarrely, it synched perfectly. The guitars were duly separated and reorganised and a bass line was added to fill the aural vacuum. Could be the longest-ever gestation for a track. It’s very messy, though.
There’s a good chance that some of these treasures will be revamped and turn up in future projects!
At the Xmas period a joke track was produced privately for the drummer of the New Jazz Aliens.
It was called ‘Mrs Pearl.’ [BOP 2000] Enough said.