I have had many different ideas in my life, and this one I thought up while sitting in a recording studio for the umpteenth time.
It would benefit some of the up and coming bands and give the tape operators a little more time in front of the desk instead of in front of the tape recorder.
Here is a couple of funny stories, the first from Molly Duncan, famous for playing sax in Average White Band, with whom I did a gig in this years' summer
Having known Tony Brainsby for quite a while now and having just finished the UK tour with Wings in which he played his part with organising all the press and promotion, I called him up for some help.
He did an amazing job for me setting up radio interviews and loads of music press. He charged me next to nothing bless the man, and I remember Magenta helping quite a bit too. Take a look at some of the results in the gallery above.
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The two YouTube tracks on the page are here for a reason. During the time I was setting up this idea and going around all the studios in London, some of my friends were putting together an album and I helped them get some studio time at a much better rate than normal. The material and concept was created by two guys from Guernsey called Dave Fuller and Rob Spensley. The amazing Alan Murphy on guitar and Tony Beard on drums. Check out the solo Alan does on the second track here, superb...
I have dedicated the amazon online purchase to Dave Fuller's solo album. He sent me a copy about a year before he passed away and since you can't seem to buy the tracks I've put up on Amazon by the Walkie Talkies, I've substituted.
I discussed the whole Reeltime thing with Alec Lesley, the promoter for Robert Palmer and many other acts here in the UK, and Alec liked the idea so much that he backed me financially to set up the concept in New York. So you can see I spent a few weeks in NYC going around the whole studio scene and getting quite a lot of interest. It was at Electric Lady that the studio manager offered me a job as the sales director. I thought that was so cool. Although I declined it was nice to be asked!!
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Here is a photo I took of the tented dressing room that Q Tips had at the Bob Marley Crystal Palace Bowl show. It was a really hot day and most of us backstage just hung out outside, sitting on the grass and enjoying the whole afternoon. I was looking after Q Tips for the day so we got most of it to ourselves, being the first act on stage that day.
I must recommend this site that details the Bob Marley performance with some fabulous pictures:
Within the period of trying to set up Reeltime recording Services I was asked by Jed Doherty to look after a new band he was connected to called the Q Tips, with a great front man named Paul Young. It was nice to be able to go to Crystal Palace Bowl again after working there with Cockney Rebel in 1975. Check out a couple of sites with quite a lot of stuff on the day's events. As well as Q Tips I got to see Thin Lizzy and Santana this month too. YouTube clips of the show or at least the way the bands were playing this year of 1980.
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This is an amazing site too, with everything festival wise you'll ever need for historical concerts
https://www.ukrockfestivals.com/crystal%20place-1980.html
