633 Squadron

Warren – lead guitar (’65 Epiphone Casino), rhythm guitars, keyboards, bass & drum programming
Brian Bennett – military snares

I have a Ron Goodwin soundtrack CD with this and "Where Eagles Dare" on it. Originally, I wanted to mix these two tunes together, but it didn't quite work. The arrangement of this took the best part of three months! I just couldn't get the tempo and rhythm of the track right, but I'm really pleased with the final version. Dad put some fab military snares on and Dick flew some planes across Radlett, which I managed to record on my portable DAT machine! I whistled this tune all night when Manchester United beat Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League Final - can't imagine why!

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Echo Beach

Dick – lead guitar ('61 Kay Jazz II, '58 Guild X175), rhythm guitars, keyboards, bass & drum programming
Warren – organ
Dave Bishop – sax

This is one of those ideal little snap-shot pop songs that grabs you right from the start and does the business fairly and squarely in a couple of minutes. I love the guitar riff – it’s really quite weird and off the wall – not something I could ever imagine coming up with myself. It took a bit of head-scratching to figure it out. I was pleased that my old Guild X175 came up with pretty much the right sound straight off. The main melody was done on my Kay Jazz II. The most well known part of this song, for me at least, only happens once at the very end so I thought it might be an idea to put it at the front as well for this instrumental version. Great sax from Dave Bishop, as ever.

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The Cappuccino Kid

Warren – lead guitar (Squire Stratocaster), rhythm guitars, keyboards, bass & drum programming, brush snare
Brian Bennett – drum solo
Dave Bishop – sax
Jane – 'the waitress'
Woz – 'the kid'

I had the title first! It just sounded so good that I thought I'd better write a tune to fit. I used my Squire Strat because I wanted the same sound as on "The Ghost of Old Compton Street". Dave Bishop plays the middle eight section and dad plays a quick-fire drum solo. Dick drove some motor bikes around Radlett, which I managed to record on my portable DAT machine! We had a bit of fun recreating a scene in The Vibratos Diner. It was nice of Jane to ask but I'm still waiting...........

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For A Few Dollars More

Dick – lead guitar (Hohner/Warmoth 6 String Bass,  Tokai Strat, Godin Acousticaster), rhythm guitars, bass & drum programming
Warren – keyboards, brush snare, military snares

What great movies those first three Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns were! I saw this one first, although it was in fact the second one released, in Germany in the sixties when I was playing there with my first band. It had been dubbed in German but even though I didn’t understand a word, I thought it was brilliant. Ennio Morricone had the ability to set up the atmosphere just right with his sparse music and I liked the theme for this particular film most of all. I used my electric sitar for the jaws-harp bit – hope it doesn’t turn it into a curry western instead! Woz contributed various important bits including the orchestral snares, the choir and strings.

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Get Carter

Warren – lead guitar ('58 Guild X175), rhythm guitars, keyboards, brush snare, bass & drum programming
Alan Hawkshaw – hammond organ
Dave Bishop – sax

I've always loved this track by Roy Budd and the movie as well. Really simple, but so effective. Dave plays some wonderful sax and we're both really chuffed to bits that cult figure Alan Hawkshaw played some groovy Hammond organ for us. Dick drove some trains through Radlett, which I managed to record on my portable DAT machine. I think I used the same guitar that I played "The Ipcress File" on. It's one of Dick's and it's got a lovely bottom end, missus! (How dare you -you’re speaking of the Guild I love….D.)

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Diamond Head Drive

Dick – lead guitar (Fender Telecaster, Dobro), rhythm guitars, bass & drum programming

I wrote this round about the same time as Cala Mondrago – you can probably see the similarity. Apparently, Diamond Head (in Hawaii?) is where Freddy Tavares, whose design work went into the shape of the Stratocaster, used to live. Not that that is particularly relevant since this is played on my Telecaster!

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Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Warren – lead guitar (’65 Epiphone Casino), rhythm guitars, keyboards, bass & drum programming
Brian Bennett – brushes
Dave Bishop – sax

This has been one of my favourite John Barry tracks since I first heard my dad playing it in Portugal when I was around eight or nine. James Bond was christened "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" by Chinese moviegoers for obvious reasons! The Bond film producers wanted it to be the title of the follow-up film to Goldfinger. John Barry wrote this piece of music and Leslie Bricusse composed the lyrics. Two versions of this song were recorded: one by Dionne Warwick and one by Shirley Bassey. However, the next film made was, in the end, "Thunderball" with the title song composed by Barry and Don Black and sung by Tom Jones. Barry used the theme from "Mr Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" throughout "Thunderball" and the end section of the song is used during the many underwater sequences.

I used my favourite guitar on this: my Epiphone Casino. I love the tone on this track. Dave, once again, plays like the genius that he is and dad plays some smooth brushes.

Dick wore a tuxedo to mix this track. He actually mixed it shaken and not stirred and I took a photo of him doing this on my portable camera. (The man’s an idiot….D.)

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The Boxer

Dick – lead guitar (Godin Acousticaster), rhythm guitars, bass & drum programming
Warren – keyboards

Not much I can say about this except that I like the song, which I guess is pretty obvious otherwise I wouldn’t have done it. The story goes that apparently engineer and producer Roy Halee dropped a whacking great packing case to make the massive offbeat sound in the original. He was quite a trail-blazer in terms of recording technique back in the sixties and did most of the Simon and Garfunkel stuff as well as psychedelic bands like The Byrds. A genius and a hero in my humble opinion. Everything he did sounded amazing. Warren did a great job with the strings at the end on this.

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Grieg's Piano Concerto In A Minor

Warren – lead guitar (Fender Telecaster '52 reissue), rhythm guitars, piano, keyboards, bass & drum programming
Dick – guitar fills & solos (DeArmond M75T)

I love this track; it's mental! Last year I bought a box set of ELO tracks compiled by Jeff Lynne. It had some unreleased stuff on it and one of the tracks was Grieg’s Piano Concerto in A minor. I have to say that I basically nicked the arrangement because I loved it!

We had some fun at the end - Dick and I both trading off each other with stupid tunes over the outro. Dick used to be Grieg’s recording engineer and did a few of his early albums. Or was that ELO............ (Actually, it was Plato….D.) Quoth the late, great Eric Morecambe: "I’m playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order." ‘Nuff said!

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Friday On My Mind

Dick – lead guitar ('67 Gretsch Tennessean), rhythm guitars, bass & drum programming

Ditto Echo Beach – a perfect pop song. I believe this has been voted best pop song ever in Australia, which is where The Easybeats came from (although one of them was Scottish, two were English and two Dutch!). I honestly never knew that The Shadows had recorded it until I’d already done my version! Then I heard it and couldn’t figure out why they’d left all the great little guitar fills out. They’re what make it as far as I’m concerned. Anyway, sorry guys – it wasn’t a deliberate nick. I must admit there are a whole bunch of guitars on this. As well as the acoustics, the arpeggio octave sort of stuff is a Jag and a Jazzmaster, the fills are my '58 Guild X175 and '62 Gretsch 6120, the heavy guitar is my Hamer Special and the lead is my Tennessean.

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Department S

Warren – lead guitar (Rickenbacker John Lennon signature), rhythm guitars, keyboards, bass & drum programming

I'm a great fan of ‘60's and ‘70's TV themes and this is one of the best. Edwin Astley wrote this and he also wrote "Randall and Hopkirk Deceased", which I'd like to on a future CD. We got a good Theramin sound on this and the guitar sounds cool too! It's my little John Lennon Rickenbacker, which I used on "Joe 90". We wanted to get Peter Wyngarde in to do some vocals, but he would only come to the studio if we provided him with a portaloo and a drill. Unfortunately, this was not considered advisable so we scrapped the idea.

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The Peacemaker 

Dick – lead guitar (Fender Stratocaster, Godin Acousticaster), rhythm guitars, keyboards, bass & drum programming

I wrote this as a demo for Hank but he rejected it! Quite a while went by with no reply and so I called him to ask what he thought and he said, "Mmm, nice playing, Dick!" Ho hum. In fact, it’s pretty much in its demo form apart from a remix – I did wonder if I should re-do it using something other than a Strat but time ran short and in the end I thought what the heck - anyway, you might like to hear it as originally intended.  I forgot to mention it on the album credits but the guitar in the quiet middle section is my Godin Acousticaster. The title comes from the Colt 45 (the gun that won the West)  which was known as "The Peacemaker". 

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Jet

Warren – lead guitar (’65 Epiphone Casino), rhythm guitars, keyboards, bass & drum programming
Dick – guitar fills
Dave Bishop – alto sax

Great song by ever fab Paul McCharming! We had fun recording this - I used my Epiphone Casino and turned up loud. Dick played some great guitar on it and I think if we ever started gigging regularly, it would be a good one to do. I think Dick was originally supposed to record the "Band on the Run" album with Macca. Good job he didn't - I read they all got mugged in Lagos where they recorded the album!

(At least I might have had some money to get mugged for!… D.)

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Heartbreaker

Dick – lead guitar (Hohner/Warmoth 6 String Bass, Mosrite Ventures), rhythm guitars, bass & drum programming
Warren – keyboards

I used my 6 string bass on the verses and my Mosrite to play the choruses here and they almost sound like it’s all the same guitar! Not intentional – just coincidence or crap recording technique! It sounds a bit Shads-ish – testament to the fact that Semie Mosely was trying to build an improved Strat maybe. I only opted for the Mosrite because it’s so nice to play and I wanted to at least use it on SOMETHING! Nice keyboards and strings from Woz. More great songwriting from Oz (that rhymes!). Mind you, like The Easybeats, the Bee Gees are another Aussie band that aren't exactly Australian. They come from Manchester really, don’t they? Buy British!

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