Roachford – Permanent Shade of Blue
Album Producer
Permanent Shade of Blue is a single from the pop band Roachford that Martyn Phillips produced in 1994.
Roachford
Andrew Roachford (born 22 January 1965) is a British singer-songwriter and the main force behind the band Roachford, who scored their first success in 1989 with the hits “Cuddly Toy” and “Family Man”. He has also had a successful solo career.
Andrew Roachford was born in London. The band was formed in 1987, the line-up featuring Andrew Roachford (born 22 January 1965, vocals, keyboards, percussion), Chris Taylor (born 26 November 1964, drums), Hawi Gondwe (born 30 July 1964, guitars) and Derrick Taylor (born 13 January 1965, bass guitar). By 1988 the band were touring, supporting acts such as Terence Trent D’Arby and The Christians. Shortly afterward, a seven-album recording contract with Columbia was signed. They went on to have a string of success throughout the 1990s, becoming Columbia’s biggest-selling UK act for ten years.
Permanent Shade of Blue is the third album by British band Roachford, released in 1994. The album was certified double-platinum in Australia, where it reached number 2 in the ARIA Charts.
Deva Premal – Dakshina
Album Producer
Dakshina is an album from the singer Deva Premal that Martyn Phillips produced in 2005.
Deva Premal
Deva Premal (born 2 April 1970 in Nürnberg, Germany) is a singer known for introducing Sanskrit mantras into the mainstream. Her meditative, spiritual music, composed and produced with her partner Miten and released on the their own label, Prabhu Music, puts ancient Tibetan and Sanskrit mantras into contemporary settings.
Deva Premal and Miten use a process of “natural selection” to choose the mantras on their albums. Premal has said she gravitates toward Sanskrit mantras, rather than mantras from other languages. She says that, for her, removing her ego from her understanding of the mantra allows the creative process to express the true meaning of the mantra.
The purpose of her work was explained: “Our objective is to be open to the Goddess of music – to be true to ourselves, as musicians, as ‘teachers;’ as partners, and ultimately, as individuals – fellow travellers. We accomplish this by not ‘trying’ to accomplish anything. We take very little credit for what is happening around our so-called success (we have sold over a million albums now!) – we see our selves as messengers of a 5,000 year old tradition…so, our part in the process is simply to show up and chant.”
Dakshina is a Sanskrit word meaning “Offering in gratitude to the Guru.” Deva Premal’s vision for this beautiful album is to honour ‘the inner guru’ in all its multi-dimensional aspects, and to show her deep respect for the essence of all spiritual paths.
Londonbeat – I’ve Been Thinking About You
Album Producer
I’ve Been Thinking About You is a single from the pop band Londonbeat that Martyn Phillips produced in 1990.
Londonbeat
Londonbeat is a British-American electronic dance music (EDM) band who scored a number of pop and dance hits in the early 1990s. Band members are American Jimmy Helms (who also had a successful solo career and sang radio jingles for Radio Hallam and Hereward Radio in the UK); Jimmy Chambers (born 20 January 1946), from Trinidad, and Charles Pierre. Former members include multi-instrumentalist William Henshall (credited as Willy M); George Chandler (formerly a founding member and frontman of The Olympic Runners); Marc Goldschmitz (subsequently a member of the band Leash) and Myles Kayn.
“I’ve Been Thinking About You” is a song by British-American band Londonbeat from their second studio album In the Blood (1990), produced by record producer Martyn Phillips.
It was released in 1990 as the lead single from In the Blood. It hit number one on the US Billboard Hot 100[3] on April 13, 1991, having hit number two in the United Kingdom the previous year. The song also topped the singles charts in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Finland, Germany, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Zimbabwe as well.
Reviews
MUSIC & MEDIA MAGAZINE
A C&W-tinged pop number underpins the band’s characteristic massed gospel vocal style complete with jangling, melodic guitars and she sort of chorus which they patently lacked on their debut LP Speak.
Erasure – Chorus
Erasure
Erasure are an English synthpop duo, consisting of singer and songwriter Andy Bell and songwriter and keyboardist Vince Clarke. They formed in London in 1985 as part of the club scene. Their debut single was “Who Needs Love Like That”. With their fourth single, “Sometimes”, the duo established themselves on the UK Singles Chart, becoming one of the most successful artists of the late 1980s to mid-1990s.
Their highest charting US single (on the Billboard Hot 100) was their 1988 single “Chains of Love”, which hit #12 on the chart. They also had Top 20 US hits with the songs “A Little Respect”, and “Always”. From 1986 to 2007, Erasure achieved 24 consecutive Top 40 hits in the UK. By 2009, 34 of their 37 chart-eligible singles and EPs had made the UK Top 40, with 17 climbing into the Top 10. At the 1989 Brit Awards, Erasure won the Brit Award for Best British Group.
The duo are most popular in their native UK and mainland Europe (especially Germany, Denmark, and Sweden) and also in South America (especially Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru). They have penned over 200 songs and have sold over 25 million albums worldwide.
Chorus, Erasure’s fifth proper studio album, was released on 14 October 1991 by Mute Records in Germany and the UK and 15 October 1991 by Sire/Reprise Records in the USA; and on the short list of nominees for the 1992 Mercury Prize.
Reviews
Ned Raggett ranked the album at number 45 in his list of “The Top 136 or So Albums of the Nineties”.
Chorus is simply a brilliant album. Musically diverse, creative and beautiful, lyrically superb with some of Andy’s finest ever (and most effortless) vocals, this album is one of the band’s best.
Jesus Jones – Right Here, Right Now
Album Producer
Right Here, Right Now is a single from the pop band Jesus Jones that Martyn Phillips produced in 1990.
Just after embarking on Londonbeat’s “In the Blood”, Dave Balfe from Food Records send me Mike (from the band)’s demo of this track and I was immediately struck by its timely message and the effective directness of its implementation and told the somewhat disgruntled Londonbeat singers that I was going to take time off to record this (as we still had not signed off the deal).
Recording with Mike went smoothly in Sam Therapy and Matrix. The lyrics refer indirectly to the demolition of the Berlin wall and the later unification of Germany (optimistically referred to as the “end of history”) and it was somewhat ironic that I was able to record the lead vocal on an ex-East German broadcast Neumann UM57 that I had managed to purchase as a result of the opening up of the East. After the tracking, a first mix did not cut the mustard so I returned to Sarm 3 for a recall. The US company, however were still not convinced by my mix so engaged Gary Hellman and John Luingo to do another, cutting out the guitar solo and reducing the track to 2 minutes but creating a smoother mix.
A bigger irony was that, despite being an anti-war, first Gulf-War veterans adopted it a “We Showed Saddam” anthem and helped push it to no 1 on the R&R chart spot and no 2 in Billboard Hot 100, only kept off the top spot by another British band EMF with “Unbelievable”. In following years, both Clintons used the track as walk-on music for their rallies. Years later, I noticed that the release date for the record had been September 11th 1990, the same day that George Bush senior made his infamous “New World Order” speech – make of that what you will!
Jesus Jones
Jesus Jones are a British alternative rock band from Bradford-on-Avon in Wiltshire, formed in late 1988, who recorded and performed from the late 1980s to the 2000s. Their track “Right Here, Right Now” was an international hit, and was subsequently globally licensed for promotional and advertising campaigns. They also achieved chart success with the songs “Real Real Real”, “International Bright Young Thing” and “Info Freako”.
Incorporating elements of electronic music styles such as house and techno to an indie rock format, along with fellow British groups such as The Shamen, Pop Will Eat Itself and EMF, Jesus Jones were one of the leading purveyors of the early 1990s alternative dance scene. In late 1988, while on holiday in Spain, Mike Edwards, Iain Baker, and Jerry DeBorg decided to leave the band they were in at the time, and form their own band. The name of the band came about when they realised that they were three “Joneses” sitting on a beach in Spain surrounded by people called Jesus.
“Right Here, Right Now” was released as the album Doubt’s second single in September 1990 (approximately four months before the release of Doubt). Despite spending only nine non-consecutive weeks on the UK Singles Chart and peaking at number 31, it became a top ten hit in the United States; it topped the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart and reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1991. The single sold over 1 million copies, won a BMI award, and was the song most performed on college radio in 1991.
From The Guardian: how we made Right Here, Right Now
“‘Bill Clinton used it as his campaign song. Then Hillary used it as hers. I think it got stuck in their car stereo and was the only song they knew’”
Reviews
The most earnest of Jesus Jones’s songs, “Right Here, Right Now,” about “watching the world wake up from history” in 1990, recently became a No. 1 single.
The song became a No 1 in America, popular enough that versions of it still appear on karaoke discs in bars all over the US.
Akasa – One Night in My Life
Album Producer
One Night in My Life is a single from the pop band Akasa that Martyn Phillips produced in 1989.
Although this did not bother the charts so much, One Night in My Life holds a special place in my heart.
I met Jhalib Millar from the band whilst hunting for appropriate Indo-fusion musicians for a track “Habbiba”. which Francis Usmar and I were producing for the legendary Bollywood composer Bappi Lahiri. He played me a couple of songs that he and Clem Alford had written with Sophiya Haque on vocals, and I was immediately struck by there charm and potential – the guys had previously been in Monsoon with Shiela Chandra, and hoped to repeat the success they had achieved with “Ever So Lonely”.
I made some good quality demos for them up at the Madhouse Studios in Luton, where they had a lovely Harrison console and some nice microphones, including an AKG C12A, which I think we used for Sophie. Instrumentation was largely from either my trusty Akai S1000 samplers, including the string arrangement which I was quite proud of. The Minimoog, coupled with the Yamaha TX216, was my “go to” for bass. The track persuaded East West Records (WEA) that I could be trusted with the reigns of production, and that led to sitting in the hot-seat for the rest of the Happiness album (described elsewhere here) on which I had been engaged as a programmer. We did some more tracking for the upgrade to master at Sam Therapy Studios, and mixed at Swanyard Studios. Tim Simenon from Bomb The Bass did a great remix, and I countered with the “BBB” mix. Do check out the videowhich was shot at Leighton House in London by Jack Cardiff, and the single cover by Pierre et Giles.
Following a couple of singles and an album of both band and solo material, the lead singer Sophie (as we knew her) went on to become one of the first pan-Asian V.J.s and attracted a regular audience, I was told, of a quarter of a billion souls! Tragically, she died a few years ago much too young, after a short battle with cancer, and Jhalib, the main driving force in the band was also sadly taken in a similar way.
Akasa
Akasa was a London-based pop band that had moderate success in the late-1980s and early-1990s. The group was formed in 1988 under a deal with Warner Bros.
Akasa featured a very young Sophiya Haque as vocalist along with Clem Alford and Jhalib Millar. Supported by producer Martyn Phillips, Akasa served as the stepping stone to further success for Haque. The group’s single “One Night in my Life” was well-received and several live performances followed at clubs in London. Akasa’s style of music is represented by a healthy fusion of Western and Indian music. Other notable Akasa tracks include “Kamasutra”, “The Wheel of Life” and “Himalayan Hideaway”.
Haque’s untimely death, at the age of 41 on 17 January 2013, renewed interest in the group’s contributions to the London pop scene.
The Beloved – Happiness
Album Producer
Happiness is a 1990 album from the British pop band The Beloved that Martyn Phillips produced. Happiness reached #14 on the U.K. Albums Chart on its release, in March 1990, and subsequently reached #154 on the U.S. Billboard 200 Pop Albums Chart.
“A fairly regular gig for me in the latter half of the 1980s was as a synthesiser programmer. for Paul Staveley O’Duffy. I operated the Fairlight CMI and performed synth duties on a series of hits for the likes of Swing Out Sister, such as “Breakout” and “Surrender “, Was Not Was, “Walk The Dinosaur” “Spy in the House of Love”, Errol Brown, Barry Manilow, even getting to work with the energetic and inspiring John Barry on the soundtrack for the James Bond Film “The Living Daylights”.
Paul was in the driving seat for a couple of singles for East West band The Beloved; the second “Your Love Takes Me Higher” did well in the clubs. Jon Marsh and Steve Waddington were looking to blend a more contemporary sound into their tracks; we three shared an excitement for the developing genres of Chicago House and Deep House, as well as the opening up to more world music, so having heard my work with Akasa, the band asked me to produce the rest of an album, which became “Happiness”.
We ensconced ourselves at Sam Therapy Studios in Kensal Road, West London, for a couple of months to track. Jon would turn up on Monday morning after a hard weekend’s clubbing, with the greeting “I feel s**t!”. It did not take long for the enthusiasm to pick up, as we infused elements of the dance culture into their more structured pop songs of the album. “The Sun Rising” is worthy of note: based around a pad progression (voiced on the Roland Juno-60 and Roland D-50) and a vocal hook that got us all in trouble later, there was a flow and cohesion to the whole process. We mixed the track on the DDA board manually, then spent a few hours working on another album track, using the monitor section on the desk, before returning to the mix sometime in the early hours of the following day. Without automation, the mix became a performance, with all three of us handling rides cuts and EQ changes on the fly! The sun had literally risen and was high in the morning sky when we were finally happy with the result – the resultant tune became an anthem that would be played at the end of the summer raves. We also had great success with the singles from the album: “Hello” and Time after Time”, which were mixed on the SSL E-Series in my favourite room at Sarm Studio 3 in Basing Street, Notting Hill, West London.
Various alternative and club mixes for various tracks aggregated into the remix album “Blissed Out”; with much less time to complete, these tracks have an immediacy and freshness to them. Jon went on to record two more albums with his wife Henny, as the other member of the band, scoring a big hit with “Sweet Harmony“.”
The Beloved
Having slimmed down from a four piece to a duo comprising Jon Marsh and Steve Waddington in 1987, following the departure of original members Tim Havard and Guy Gausden, Marsh and Waddington soon fell under the influence of the burgeoning Acid House scene emerging in London at the time, from clubs such as Shoom. The duo changed their style from the New Order-influenced synthpop, and took in influences from acid house, pop and techno (the record also features Chicago house diva Kym Mazelle on female vocals).
The change in style proved to be their commercial breakthrough, as the album yielded three Top 40 UK singles – “The Sun Rising” at #26, “Hello” at #19, and “Your Love Takes Me Higher” at #39. A fourth single, “Time After Time”, was one of the group’s most popular songs in many European countries, including Italy, where the long playing work became known soon after the release of the final single, which also caused the previous singles to be reissued. The success of the album was so big as to push the band to release a whole remix album, called Blissed Out, in 1991, including almost all of the original album’s songs, in one or more remixed versions, and a number of additional tracks, mostly instrumental.
The Beloved
Having slimmed down from a four piece to a duo comprising Jon Marsh and Steve Waddington in 1987, following the departure of original members Tim Havard and Guy Gausden, Marsh and Waddington soon fell under the influence of the burgeoning Acid House scene emerging in London at the time, from clubs such as Shoom. The duo changed their style from the New Order-influenced synthpop, and took in influences from acid house, pop and techno (the record also features Chicago house diva Kym Mazelle on female vocals).
The change in style proved to be their commercial breakthrough, as the album yielded three Top 40 UK singles – “The Sun Rising” at #26, “Hello” at #19, and “Your Love Takes Me Higher” at #39. A fourth single, “Time After Time”, was one of the group’s most popular songs in many European countries, including Italy, where the long playing work became known soon after the release of the final single, which also caused the previous singles to be reissued. The success of the album was so big as to push the band to release a whole remix album, called Blissed Out, in 1991, including almost all of the original album’s songs, in one or more remixed versions, and a number of additional tracks, mostly instrumental.
From The Guardian: how we made The Sun Rising
“The Beloved signed to Warner Bros and The Sun Rising went from my front room to producer Martyn Phillips…”
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/aug/24/the-beloved-how-we-made-the-sun-rising