Spike Edney came to visit at the Barn in 1997 with a recording he’d written called ‘Original Sin’ to talk about doing an SAS Band album. At first the idea of a ‘covers’ band with a few original songs didn’t appeal. Until I went to see the band live. An SAS Band concert really is a special event.
Chris Thompson was sensational that night and the steady flow of well known ‘guest singers’ made the SAS BAND show memorable.
Recording the album took almost two years. Most of the players involved worked a busy schedule with other acts, and getting the parts in place was a juggling act of some proportions.
Some highlights for me were – Ian Anderson agreeing – and then playing the flute on ‘Baby You’re a rich man’. The day Peter Green came down to play the solo on ‘That’s the way God Planned it’ and I got to hang with Peter Green for a few hours, and Spike’s trombone part on ‘Didn’t I blow your mind this time’. Who knew Spike could play the trombone.
This production was by far the biggest and most expensive I had ever undertaken, as the high degree of attention being paid to the parts meant endless days in the studio, seemingly for little more than a tweak on a snare fill. I had a few nightmare days of calculating that a change on the reverb for the end line of one song had cost £3,000, and then been discarded as no better than the reverb used in the first place. Grr…. More lessons on the economics of Music production. Eventually though we agreed on a final format having finished the mixing at Roger Taylor’s Mill studio.
The engineer was Robin Black. The CD art was Stuart Catterson.
The album was released in 1997 via Grapevine/PolyGram. This album was an immediate ‘hit’ on the web site, where over 3 000 copies were ordered via the web within a Month of the first pressing arriving.
Sales at the live shows eventually added a further 2 000 and I think it retains a timeless quality that reflects an extremely high standard of musicianship.
Songs that made the album: You’re the voice, The name of the game, Baby you’re a rich man, Sail on Sailor, Dirty mind, Didn’t I blow your mind, Original sin, Dreamworld, Once more, Hey jealousy, Angels, That’s the way god planned it, For you.
