Upton Heath

Upton Heath is the sixth song on English Electric Part 1.

Big Big Train: Oxford August 2012

L to R: Greg Spawton, David Longdon, Dave Gregory and Andy Poole

Photograph by Amy Mumford

The words and music to Upton Heath are by Greg Spawton and I. Upton Heath is a place in Dorset, UK and Greg has chosen this title because it is one of his favourite places to go walking.

I initially received the audio files which contained an arrangement of the song with the addition of a few sketched out lyrics. It also had a delicate 'world music/roots style rhythm' beautifully performed by Nick D'Virgilio. I was told to avoid being seduced by this rhythm and not follow it down the 'world music' path. 

Those initial impressions are very important and when I listened to the track I thought it would be a good idea to give it a campfire sing along feel. I kept as many of the original lyrics that I could and keeping it simple, I then repeated them. I used a call and response theme between the lead and backing vocals, to give it that campfire feel.

I severely re-arranged the structure of the song because the chorus section (that you will hear) was only a very short four bar phrase in the original arrangement. I decided to use it and extend it as the chorus and so I edited a new structure together. The audio files were bounced and sent down to Bournemouth.

Other than shortening the length of the piece and changing one chord in the reprise of the bridge, that (as they say) was that! Structure in place, it was now time to colour it all in.

I came down to Aubitt Studios in Southampton to record the vocals and added the folky riff which is played in unison on mandolin, accordion and violin. It also features Dave Gregory playing banjo for the first time! 

Upton Heath was a track that could have gone either way, it could have worked or it could have been abandoned. In context of the album, it is a moment of calm amidst the frantic, flamboyant and epic moments elsewhere. Some Big Big Train songs can be lengthy, dynamic and intense, Upton Heath is none of these things, it is uplifting, relaxed and has its own sense of peace.

The track also features Rachel Hall who has added some lovely strings along with Abigail Trundle who plays the cello.  Danny Manners plays double bass. Lily and Violet Adams are in fine voice and they seamlessly blend their voices with the moving wave vocal sample patch, giving Upton Heath an etherial quality.

' And all that we are

And all we shall be

Walk with me

Up on Upton Heath'

I will be in the chair once again next week when I will tell you the story behind A Boy In Darkness

Judas Unrepentant

Judas Unrepentant is the fourth song on English Electric Part 1

Some of you may already be familiar with this track because of its inclusion on the cover mount CD for the July 2012 edition of Classic Prog.

Greg and I had a conversation one evening about the flow of the songs we had been working on for English Electric and we highlighted the need for a quick progressive rock song. I thought that Judas would be able to fit the bill because I already had the story in mind, Greg and Andy liked the story and I also had many of the sections sketched out so it would be simple enough to develop. 

Judas Unrepentant is a song that concerns Tom Keating. There is plenty available on the internet which will give you information about his life but here is a brief overview.

Tom was an art restorer who eventually turned to art forgery after failing to break into the art market. He was on a personal crusade to destabalise the art world by forging works to fool the experts. He deliberately planted clues in the works that would reveal them as forgeries. He also cunningly managed to falsify provenances for his forgeries.

However, eventually in 1970 an article appeared in The Times concerning auctioneers suspicions about the provenance of thirteen water colours. Tom knew the game was up and handed himself in. He was eventually arrested and charged in 1977 but the case was dropped due to his deteriorating health.  

During 1982 and 1983, Tom had his own television series in which he demonstrated the painting techniques of the great masters.  If you are interested in seeing footage of Tom paint, then treat yourself and click here.

Tom died at the age of 66 and in an interview he said that he did not consider himself to be a good painter. I have to disagree with him on that point.

I was at art college in the early 1980's and that is where I learned about the notorious Tom Keating. He was an anti-hero for me and I have often thought that his story is a remarkable one and it deserves to be heard. I also think it would have made a brilliant  HandMade film.

After his death, I am sure you will not be at all surprised to learn that Tom's paintings have increased in value and his forgeries also reach high prices. Ironically, there are also forgers out there who are now forging Tom Keating forgeries! 

Tom Keating's favourite artist was Rembrandt. The title of the song came from my variation on the title of the painting above which is called  'Repentant Judas Returning the Pieces of Silver' by Rembrandt. Tom may possibly have been considered to be a 'judas' by the art establishment for his forgeries but because he refused to disclose which forgeries he had made and put into circulation, it struck me that he was an unrepentant judas. I like the drama of the title and it sets the scene for the song.

Judas Unrepentant is a ripping yarn which is driven buy the relentless opening riff and rhythm along with a lyrical narrative. Check out Nick's complex drumming alongside Greg's crazy bouncing bass line. Andy Tillison (from The Tangent) has added boundless energy with his organ playing.

The middle 'court room' scene includes Dave Gregory's throaty 'All rise' courtroom usher vocal (a role he was destined to play). It also contains some beautiful piano playing by Danny Manners and expressive violin work from Rachel Hall (who has previously worked with Stackridge)

If you would like to listen to Judas Unrepentant, please click here.

In the next episode Greg Spawton will tell you about Summoned by Bells

Uncle Jack

'Uncle Jack knows, a song of the hedgerow'

Uncle Jack is the second song on English Electric part 1.

I wanted to write a song about my Uncle Jack. John Henry Herring was a collier and  he worked in the pits around the Heanor (Derbyshire:UK) area. He spent so much time beneath the ground that he truly valued his time on the surface. Jack would walk his dog (Peg) and would take notice of all that was happening around him in the natural world. The changing of the seasons, birdsong, woodland wildlife and the 'bustle in your hedgerow.' 

At Christmas time and for birthdays he would buy me books. The books usually concerned wildlife, birds and the ways of country life. However, there were also books like 'Tales of Mystery and Imagination' by Edgar Allen Poe and the collected poetry of Sir John Betjeman.


Greg, Andy and I were talking one day about possible songs for inclusion on English Electric and I mentioned Uncle Jack and how it is about a colliers love of nature, seasons and hedgerows and Greg said he had been tinkering around with an idea for a song called Hedgerow. That's how it works. One thing leads to another and gradually songs and albums begin to take shape.

The writing of it started before I was in Big Big Train. I had bought an old Windsor banjo that had clearly seen better days but once I had sat down with it, tuned it and began to play, the main riff came within a couple of minutes and the other sections quickly followed. All there under my fingers, fifteen minutes max! It's not always like that... believe me.

I am very fond of My Friend The Sun by Family and Ooh La La by Faces and I wanted  Uncle Jack to have that 'all-together-now-sing-along' feel to it. Verse one concerns itself with how seasons happen on earth and the end 'nursery rhyme' section was just a list of the typical inhabitants you would expect to find within british hedgerows. I wanted Violet and Lily's chanting to have a pagan-like Wicker Man soundtrack flavour. There is also a nod and a wink to my favourite XTC album Mummer.


Uncle Jack is really a personal thank you to my Uncle for all those childhood memories.


The next EEpt1 installment will be courtesy of Greg, when he will reveal the story behind Winchester from St Giles' Hill.


Peace


David

It's that time once again...

English Electric is nearly ready to head off into Aubitt to be mixed and mastered. Andy Poole is furiously preparing the files and tweaking the initial working mixes to get them ready for their final transformation.

For Greg and I this is the eerie bit. We've been full on writing, arranging and performing. Musicians have added their invaluable contributions and notched everything up with each inspired addition. Time is ticking, the mixing deadline looms and then ...........................................

All is still....... calmer at least..... or so it seems.
It is an illusion. The focus has just...shifted - elsewhere.

It's a bit like that feeling you get when you have come to the end of a gripping novel x1000.  Energy, time, emotion and money has been lovingly poured into the making of the album from all concerned. Once the making comes to an end, it changes. It becomes defined. Then upon release, it becomes something else again.

English Electric has been a long haul. It is a double album and it has been a huge undertaking. I wonder what listeners will make of it on release?

We are collating performance credits for inside the CD booklet. We are listening back through the working mixes to make sure the lyrics that will be also printed in the booklet are accurate. It is an odd thing to finally hear and see English Electric come to life.

A journey from the mind into the tangible, audible world.

Peace

David

Merry Christmas

Greg and Andy spent a day at Regal Lane Studio earlier this week, recording Danny Manners playing double bass on tracks that will be featured on the next Big Big Train album English Electric. [Part 1 of English Electric will be out in September 2012.]

Nick D'Virgilio is in the UK over Christmas and we will be in Aubitt recording more drum parts. I will also be recording more vocals. Dave Gregory will join us for a photo shoot that we intend to squeeze in at some point between all those activities and festivities.

It's been a busy few months, writing, completing lyrics, adding musical texture and vocal harmonies to our new material. There is good energy and high spirits aboard The Train at the moment.

I have completed the lyric to A Boy in Darkness, which was a relief because it has been a tricky thing to write about and getting the balance of the subject matter right was the key to it working as a whole. The middle section is a galloping instrumental which is supposed to denote the passing of time in the narrative and I wanted someone to play on it who would add fire and energy. I'm delighted to announce that it features a guest keyboardist in the shape of the very capable Andy Tillison. A man who needs no introduction in the microcosm of the Progressive Rock world for his outstanding work with his band The Tangent.

I enjoy the work of The Tangent and inviting Andy to play a furious organ solo was exactly the right thing to do. Andy T has played a blinder! So much so that when Andy P heard it, it resulted in an unrepeatable two word enthusiastic appraisal.

A trainspotter* on our Big Big Train Facebook Group kindly asked how the "Big Big Thing" was going.

It's going well. The characters are established and there is a mapped out story line, which of course may (and almost inevitably will) alter as the project develops. There are some completed pieces of music and many other sections earmarked for consideration. It is going to be a big undertaking writing it, editing it and making it. I have set up another blog to chart these developments. It hope it will serve as a guide to the characters, places and events within the story.

When the time is right, I will publish the blog posts so you can see what we have been up to. There should be plenty to get your teeth into.

That's all for the moment and now all that remains to be said is...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Peace

David Longdon

*  'Trainspotter' ~ An enthusiast for Big Big Train

Aubitt Bound

We aboard the Big Big Train are once again getting ready to go into Aubitt for the second vocal tracking session for English Electric.

I have been frantically trying to complete the lyrics for A Boy in Darkness. It has taken a great deal of work to get it to where it currently is but I'm not out of the woods just yet. The subject matter is tricky and I've had to do lots of research. Let's hope I have some finished words to sing in two weeks time.

It has been mentioned that English Electric will be a double album released in two parts. That means it will need to work as a whole and also as individual releases, so listing the running order is taking some time. Once we have one in place and I know which tracks are going where, I will write about the songs and their subject matter.

Nick will be in the UK once again at Christmas and there are more tracks awaiting him. Greg has written a couple, we've co-written some more and I have contributed two.

One track is called Make Some Noise and is about being young and forming your first band. It was originally intended for a solo autobiographical concept album I intend to make called DOOR 1. There is another song taken from DOOR 1 which will feature on English Electric called Uncle Jack.

Since joining BBT I only have limited time to give to music and all my creative output is currently housed within BBT. Hopefully DOOR 1 will at some point, see the light of day. It could be my Lifehouse.

The second song is called Judas Unrepentant but I don't want to say too much about this one just yet.

Andy is preparing audio files to send to Dave Desmond, so he can arrange the brass parts. Dave Gregory has completed work on a project by Steve Hogarth and Richard Barbieri.

Dave G and Martin Orford will be joining us at Aubitt for the session and inevitable curry.

Did I also mention that we have a very special guest keyboardist lined up to play in the middle section of  A Boy in Darkness?

Spoilers!

David

The English Electric Vocal sessions: Part 1

On  the 22nd and 23rd of August 2011, Andy, Greg and I went to record the vocals for English Electric with Rob Aubrey at Aubitt Studio in Southampton.

We managed to get a great amount completed. The initial idea was to concentrate on capturing as many lead vocals as possible and leaving backing vocals until later on. 

The sessions were fast paced and during those two days we have managed to complete not only the lead vocals but also the backing vocals on Swan Hunter, Curator of Butterflies, Leopards, Hedgerow, East Coast Racer and Uncle Jack.

We also discussed, planned and tweaked our release schedule. English Electric is going to be a double album and it will be released in two parts. 

The artwork and concept behind Station Masters was fine tuned on our Tuesday morning car journey from Bournemouth to Southampton.

We also spoke about instrumentation for our 'Big Big Thing'- Project (remember that?)

We also discussed how, where and when Big Big Train will play live. Lots of things to consider! 

Greg 'Live blogged' his way through the sessions ( See Big Big Train's Facebook page for the posts) 

We have another vocal session planned for October 2011 and then Nick D'Virgilio will be in the UK at Christmas once again to record more drum parts.