in BLUE Album

My friend Martin Smith was my co-producer back in the 90's, writes Tony Norman. I wanted to record some songs I’d written and we worked with a group of really talented musicians and singers. Martin played acoustic guitar and sang back-up vocals. Kaz Barnett and Karra Brenchley sang their pure harmonies. Then two more excellent musicians joined us.

Mike Haughton added superb sax and flute and John Paracelli’s distinctive finger-style acoustic guitar flowed through the songs. It was a very happy and creative time. Outstanding musicians were giving my songs respect. That meant a lot to me. But what was happening in the outside world was dance music and boy bands. I didn’t exactly either category! So my album was never released. End of story, or so I thought...

Fast forward 10 years. Enter Michael Baldry, who owns Bluewave Records. Michael asked why I’d never done my own album. I told him about the 90's sessions and gave him an old cassette. Next day Michael called me and said:


‘It’s a great album. Let’s put it out on Bluewave’.

But where were the master tapes? I finally found them in my loft, the old analogue reel-to-reels were literally falling apart. We took them to a specialist company in London who managed to transfer them to a digital format. The tapes were safe, but it was touch and go. Another year in my loft and we would have lost the album forever...

We chose the best 7 tracks from the 90's and I cut new lead vocals to those songs. Bruce Pont produced the new sessions with me and mixed the tracks. The songs sounded better than ever. Then we added three new songs, including a duet with top jazz singer Liane Carroll, to complete the album. So, 10 years on, The Lost Album is now released worldwide on the Internet by Bluewave Records.


Read the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s USA review

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