CV
My Musical “Odyssey”
Early Days (1)
I left University in 1973, with little idea of what to do career-wise. I had studied piano from the age of 6 privately and at school, and got all the performance grades, and most of the theory ones, by the age of 15 – this was 1967 however, and some of the enthusiasm I’d had for the classical end of music had been superseded at least five years earlier, by the new sounds I’d been hearing on Radio Caroline, Radio London etc.; “Pirate” ships broadcasting a heady range of new music unavailable at that time on the “straight” BBC. I fell in love with the sound of Motown, Stax, and the artists producing this really cool new music. On Saturday evenings from about 5pm I was glued to an old radio in my bedroom and compiled my own charts week by week. While the rest of the family were downstairs listening to the football results on the BBC, I was locked away with the Four Tops, The Supremes, Otis Redding, Al Green, The Temptations, et al. I definitely had the better deal. I remember the first time I heard “Green Onions” by Booker T Jones and the MGs – a lifelong love of the sound of Hammond Organ was born that day.
Early Days (2)
After Uni I spent a couple of years learning my “by ear” chops in Croydon, and played with a variety of local bands, mainly pubs and church halls. I spent some time in a 4-piece prog-instrumental band led by guitarist John Grimaldi, formerly of Argent, with a killer rhythm section – John Giblin on bass, and Preston Heyman on drums. I recall playing a single gig at The Marquee, but the hoped-for record deal never materialised.
My first “real” pro gig (1974) was a tour and festivals with the (sometimes irascible) TIM ROSE. We opened for Uriah Heep, an unlikely support. Tim was actually a nice guy despite his typically brusque persona. Well known for his recordings of “Morning Dew”, and “Hey Joe”, both of which he claimed to have written…..
We rehearsed for the tour at PSL Rehearsal Studios in Wandsworth Common, which later became Gateway Recording Studio. The building was a nexus for many South London artists and several of my significant connections happened here.
Following the Tim Rose tours I joined what was then Joan Armatrading’s Band who also rehearsed at PSL. The band without Joan were called “The Movies”, and were a bright hope, first with A&M records, then with Dick Leahy’s GTO Records. I contributed to 2 albums, Double ”A” (1977), and Bullets Through The Barrier (1978; there was a LOT of touring between 1975-1978, after which time I left the band.
As well as the two albums, a few videos have emerged in recent years. Here is a link to the song “Yo-Yo”, from a gig we played in Germany. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlnJICXpwmo
The band never quite captured the best of the live excitement in the recording studio, perhaps down to a combination of inexperience in the studio environment, mismatched producers, overlong hours and various other excesses. “The Movies at The Marquee” is a typical review of the time.
I remain hopeful that more videos of “The Movies”will emerge, especially of the Old Grey Whistle Test sessions.
Tim Rose
The Movies
L-R Jon Cole, Julian Diggle, Dave Quinn, Jamie Lane, Greg Knowles, MP
After “The Movies”, in 1979 I joined the Billy Ocean band thanks to an introduction by Paul Kinder, A&R head at GTO Records. Billy was a nice guy to work with; we regularly played at the larger Northern Soul clubs, e.g. Wigan Casino, Blackpool Tower Ballroom etc.; Billy at this time was post “Red Light”, and pre “Caribbean Queen”, so there were no new recordings to promote. However, in keeping with the music and fashions of the genre (for ref. think Earth Wind & Fire etc.) there were matching cat-suits for the band. Billy liked the band to look smart and unified hence the “exotic” stage gear – one night after a couple of gigs back to back he professed himself extremely unhappy with our overall presentation – the stage clothes were pretty creased and none of us was good with an iron – so before we went on he commandeered the band iron, setting the sartorial precedent for all future gigs!
When the Billy Ocean gig finished the band decided to stay together, and became “Sox”. Britfunk was in the ascendant and Sox were regulars on the London pub and club scene. As well as our own gigs we also became Linda Lewis’ backing band for a while, 1980 through 1981.
I toured again with Linda in Japan in 1997, and produced a couple of tracks for her the same year.
Sox: L-R Sam Kelly, John Read, Gordon Hunte, Mick Parker, Chris Cameron
Sox at The Golden Lion, Fulham, sometime in 1980
Sox spent some time in a recording studio in Wembley, courtesy of Ian Samwell (more of whom later), and although some high quality recordings were produced, the tapes are lost. During these sessions my interest in the technical side of recording was kindled, possibly the first time I’d been able to go “behind the glass” and look at a music session from a new perspective. I came away from these sessions determined to get into session/studio work, and learn about the art of recording.
In Autumn 1981 I had the great thrill of playing keyboards live with Taj Mahal, on a UK tour supporting The Desperadoes, a Trinidadian based steel band. Fellow Sox musician John Read played bass. Taj’s music, with its roots in African, American, and other “world” genres was a great example of fusion, joy and vitality, and a great musical education.
1981 onwards - by now a good deal of session work in various contexts – albums, singles, films, TV, commercials, publishing companies etc. My entry into the world of composing for TV commercials occurred around this time – I did a lot of session work for a jingle company with a recording studio round the back of Marble Arch. One Friday one of their composers admitted to have taken on too much work with a deadline for the following Monday a.m. so asked for a volunteer to write some music suitable for selling boiled sweets (or was it dog biscuits?) – I was in!
Gateway Studio
From 1981 onwards I was booking more and more studio time for jingles and TV compositions, many of which were at Gateway Studio; I got to know Dave Ward (then owner) well, and decided to take on a share of the business as being a more cost effective way of using my recording budgets. One of the sound engineers, Dal Abbey, taught me the basics of studio gear, and how it was all connected together. It was just as well that he did, because not long afterwards I had to engineer a weekend session as the booked engineer didn’t show. A combination of enthusiasm and blag created a successful recording session.
Gateway was well patronised at that time, being a 16 track studio with a very large live room – enough space to leave my Hammond C3 permanently set up, as well as grand and upright pianos. Ironically it was so well patronised that I ended up setting up another facility at home for my own demo use, based around a Fostex A-8 Multi-track.
MP in my home studio - Pimlico 1982
MP in the control room, Gateway Studio 1981
Many names of note passed through the doors of Gateway during the time I was involved – incl. Frankie Goes to Hollywood (pre Trevor Horn), Atmosfear, Divine, Renaissance, Gryphon, Gonzalez, A-ha, Osibisa, Harvey & The Wallbangers, Barbara Dickson, The Jazz Sluts, (more when I remember….) . One of the in-house engineers, Pascal Gabriel, later went on to produce Dido, and Bomb the Bass (although in my opinion he didn’t get the production/ co-writing credit he deserved for the success of Bomb the Bass).
Session with Bill Lovelady (2nd from right) at Gateway, autumn 1981.
“Reggae for It Now” was Bill’s hit. 3 ex-members of Sox formed the rhythm section – MP, John Read (bass), and Sam Kelly (drums) (2nd, 3rd, and 4th from left). This somewhat fluid line-up played many of the pub-rock venues around London, most of which are long gone. Dal Abbey, my sound engineering guru, is in the white suit.
I was regularly booked for sessions in other studios at this time, and to accompany a variety of artists on TV shows such as Wogan, TOTP, Parkinson, Pebble Mill, etc., it was my pleasure and privilege to work with, among others, Kiri Te Kanawa, Gloria Estefan, Neil Diamond, Celine Dion, Michael Bolton, Frank Sinatra, Chaka Khan, Mariah Carey, Russel Watson, Julio Iglesias, Daniel O’Donnell….
An amusing anecdote regarding Frank Sinatra. We were recording a track for him to sing to, probably on the Parkinson Show – the bands generally didn’t get to appear on camera so it would be a kind of glorified karaoke. We were in Abbey Road No 2. Frank was accompanied by three minders, straight out of “The Godfather” school of minding – as broad as they were tall, black suits, shades, permanent gum chewing, etc. After one take Frank summons one of these guys to him, whispers in his ear, and points at the control room glass. Up the stairs and into the control room he comes scowling, and walks towards the sound engineer, who starts to look pensive. He says to him in authentic menacing Brooklyn accent, “Frank would like some more of himself in the ‘phones”. The engineer looks very relieved, as if to say “phew - I can do that”.
Another take, Frank summons the same guy, whispers in his ear, again pointing at the control room. At this stage it is obvious that the engineer is sweating – “Have I offended the man? Why’s the minder coming back again?” Back into the control room marches the heavy, towards a by now very nervous engineer, leans down and says, again in the broadest Brooklyn, “Frank says to say – ‘Thanks’”. Huge sigh of relief from the engineer, much hilarity from the musicians.
Other TV shows I was involved with as part of various house bands included Not the Nine O’Clock News, Dame Edna Everidge, Des O’Connor, The Rock Gospel Show, Lenny Henry, etc. There is a “blink and you’ll miss it” moment on Not the Nine O’Clock News “The Bouncing Song” featuring MP with the rest of Sox – normally the band wouldn’t appear on camera
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6CfAciVEsg
MP with Julio Iglesias - Wogan BBC1
1982-1986
In 1982 I composed the end title music (and some incidental cues) for the Merchant-Ivory film “Heat and Dust”; these cues are an interesting juxtaposition of Indian classical music with modern electronic textures, mainly using Prophet 5 and Mini-Moog sounds, alongside tablas, dholak, tanpura, and sitar.
Another absorbing film I was asked to score was called “State of Wonder”, director Martin Donovan, an interesting exploration of Man’s relationship with formal religion, and eternal search for peace. It was premiered at the 1984 Berlin Film Festival, to critical acclaim.
More session work, performing and programming. By now I had learnt to use a Linn Drum, along with various other MIDI sequencers and synths, and became musician, programmer and engineer for various projects on the then expanding Hi-NRG dance scene. These recordings were aimed primarily at the US/UK/ European big city gay clubs, and the labels that financed the recordings expected to shift 3000-4000 of every release, which covered costs, and created a budget for the next recording. The music was inevitably formulaic, 130 bpm, 4 on the floor, 16’s hi hats and 8th notes (usually in octaves) on the bass synth. Labels included ERC, Fanfare, Fantasia, many of these recordings being made at Gateway using the same musicians. I got the chance to work with some great club singers - a roll call of the significant artists of the genre - Jimmy Ruffin, Hazell Dean, Paul Parker, Kit Rolfe, Gloria Gaynor, Sylvester, Desiree, Sinitta… Fanfare Records was owned by Simon Cowell, and the label scraped along from release to release, until the success of “So Macho”. In 1986 this became the summer hit in the Balearic clubs. Co-produced by MP and G Hargreaves, this was recorded at Gateway, and I am the sole musician on the original recording.
L-R The man from Ampex, Kath (studio manager), David Kenny (engineer), Sinitta, MP
On to perhaps more significant music making – producer Nick Patrick had started to use Gateway for various projects, and we struck up a great working relationship, he mostly engineering, me on keys and synths. This relationship led to the collaboration with Mory Kante, the success of the album “Akwaba Beach”, and the track “Yeke Yeke”. More detail on this project can be found at;
The success of this project led to further collaborations with Nick P. These involved a good deal of travel to recording studios in France, Switzerland, Belgium, and further afield. Mory’s follow-up album, “Touma”, enabled me to work alongside a roll call of other great world musicians such as Jeff Porcaro, Carlos Santana, Ray Phiri, Michael Boddicker, Jerry Hey and the Seawind Horns.
“Touma” - Musician Credits
Other collaborations with Nick included recording sessions with the Gypsy Kings – the album “Este Mundo”, recorded in the round in Paris. The band were keen to try added tech elements such as synths and programmed percussion as a change from their previous output. Albums with other French artists included Alain Bashung, Julien Clerc, Alain Souchon, Andres Roe, Pierre Morin, and Michel Polnareff. Michel was a nice guy, though an eccentric character – he’d lived in the USA for a long time, and had recently decided to return to France. His house was on a golf course near Versailles, but nobody in the record company was allowed to know exactly where he lived; he insisted that the chiens corporatifs were conveyed to the house blindfolded in the back of his own taxi. Happily this did not apply to Les Anglais, as he trusted us not to reveal his whereabouts to the hacks of Paris Match or other celeb tabloids desperate for some imagined scandal or other about his life.
L-R Alain Souchon, Michel Polnareff, Andreas Roe, Azucar Moreno, Alain Bashung, Pascal Obispo
Some of the other African artists I played keyboards with included Sipho Mabuse, Miriam Makeba (Mama Africa), and the Malopoets. At the time the “go-to” rhythm section for a lot of the “township jive” genre (mbaqanga) were the Khumalo brothers, Vusi (drums), and Bagithi (bass), who had first come to prominence in the Northern Hemisphere as the foundation to Paul Simon’s “Graceland”, along with guitarist Ray Phiri. I had the great thrill of playing with these amazing musicians on various projects. At the time, the poisonous curse of apartheid meant that we couldn’t go to South Africa and work with these guys, so performances were recorded in Europe.
Sipho was very well known already in South Africa; the album (“Chant of the Marching”) I worked on with him angered the South African government due to some lyrics critical of the repressive regime, and the record was banned there by the SABC. To give him his due though, and great respect, he knew that political change was coming, and was happy to have his music be part of that change. We would meet again, in Swaziland (now Eswatini), a few years later.
MP with King Mswati III
The 1989 trip to Swaziland to take part in the King’s Trust music festival reunited me with Sipho and other musicians I had worked with in Europe. I was part of the house band at the festival, and the artist line-up was an impressive one, featuring Eric Clapton, Labi Siffre, Joan Armatrading as the international attractions, plus many artists and bands from “across the border” – no apartheid in Swaziland - and many thousands came to attend the festival, and celebrate music free from all political division and repression.
L-R, ?, Eric Clapton, Ray Phiri, Sipho Mabuse, MP
L-R Peter, MP, Labi Siffre at Piggs Peak Hotel, Swaziland
Some thoughts on teaching and education
Backtracking a little – while involved with Gateway Studio it became obvious that there was a growing interest from musicians regarding the recording process, coinciding with the rise of more affordable home recording, and the growing use of synthesisers and other music tech. One might spend half a session explaining how, why and when to use a compressor, particular microphone choices and placements, how to add reverb or other “fairy dust” elements, the magic of the patchbay etc. It was a logical step into a more formal teaching environment, and the Gateway School of Recording & Music Technology was born. At the time the only other course we were aware of was the Tonmeister, though this was aimed at those who already had degrees in both music and science – the Gateway demographic was very different. Our courses were instantly popular; I began teaching, and discovered that I really enjoyed it.
Nowadays every University or college offers a Bachelors or equivalent in Music Technology, but there were no formal qualifications to be had when the Gateway School started, and we were always very careful to point out that the courses were not a route into employment in the music industry (although many former students have ended up as professional engineers, producers etc.).
Gateway courses were eventually validated by Kingston University, who at some stage offered me a different teaching post – a Masters in Composing for Film & TV. I accepted it on the proviso that it should be as practically based as possible, with research not just for its own sake, but to support the students’ creative work (and important for me that it was part time). There is now plenty of academic-based research into the relationship between image and sound (much of which is both interesting and absorbing), but I really wanted my students to learn the way I did, by doing, not just through reading and analysis. The course ran one evening a week, and I was involved in writing and teaching it for ten years. The Arts faculty at Kingston gave access to the Film School, so there was always an abundance of raw material for students to score.
More “Odyssey” Coming Soon!!
MP - CV