Mayfair by Powder Blue Tux
Barney Hurley, the man behind our hugely popular AOR Rarities Playlists series, has been back in the studio after a break of many years - and Mayfair, the teaser track from the upcoming EP by his new band Powder Blue Tux, has just been released. Back in the mid-1990s Barney was the founding member of the cult band Samuel Purdey, whose Steely Dan-influenced album Musically Adrift couldn't have been more at odds with the prevailing Britpop mood of the time. But the album was recently released worldwide by Tummy Touch and it finally received the response it deserved.
"It was getting rave reviews in magazines like Q, MOJO and Uncut," says Barney. "I got the bug back and decided I wanted to be involved in music again. The first project I started was a jazz fusion album with a friend who's a jazz pianist. I know he won't mind my saying so but he didn't share my passion and enthusiasm for the project and the material suffered, so I shelved it. I had a good think about musicians I know well and who I could have a good working relationship with so called Ben and Scott Addison of the late, lamented Acid Jazz band, Corduroy. I've known Ben and Scott for 23 years as I used to work for the Acid Jazz label. Also, they sang background vocals on a couple of the Samuel Purdey songs, and when Samuel Purdey toured, Ben sang background vocals and played percussion. I spoke to them both at length and the three of us shared the same vision for the project. We almost immediately went into the recording studio and Mayfair was born.
"It was getting rave reviews in magazines like Q, MOJO and Uncut," says Barney. "I got the bug back and decided I wanted to be involved in music again. The first project I started was a jazz fusion album with a friend who's a jazz pianist. I know he won't mind my saying so but he didn't share my passion and enthusiasm for the project and the material suffered, so I shelved it. I had a good think about musicians I know well and who I could have a good working relationship with so called Ben and Scott Addison of the late, lamented Acid Jazz band, Corduroy. I've known Ben and Scott for 23 years as I used to work for the Acid Jazz label. Also, they sang background vocals on a couple of the Samuel Purdey songs, and when Samuel Purdey toured, Ben sang background vocals and played percussion. I spoke to them both at length and the three of us shared the same vision for the project. We almost immediately went into the recording studio and Mayfair was born.
Barney Hurley
We are now working on the second track, which is called Container Zero. It has an upbeat, almost disco feel. The best description of it I can think of is it's a cross between Donald Fagen and Donna Summer. We're using the same musicians we used for Mayfair as I want a continuity in the sound of the EP. So we're using Elliott Randall, bassist Winston Blissett, rhythm guitarist, Greg Lester and backing vocalist, Liz Fletcher. The EP will be mixed by Bob Power, as he did a great job on Mayfair. Bob mixed Samuel Purdey's Lucky Radio twenty years ago and when I arrived at Chez Bob Studios in Manhattan to mix Mayfair, it was as though we'd mixed Lucky Radio the previous day. He hadn't changed one iota.
On the second day of the mix I felt like there was something missing and came to the conclusion that the track needed horns. Luckily, my friend Don Breithaupt, the founder of the superb band Monkey House had introduced me to Michael Leonhart of 'The Steely Dan Horns' a few nights before. (If you haven't heard Monkey House, I strongly advise you to check out their last album Headquarters. It's genius.) I sent Leonhart the half-finished mix of Mayfair and asked if he could arrange a subtle, sweeping horn arrangement, that could be put quite low in the mix, to give it a classy sheen and bolster up the track. The only reference I gave him was the Joni Mitchell song The Hissing of Summer Lawns. I wanted the horns to sound like the Tom Scott arrangement which is just flugelhorn and flute.
A couple of days later I was producing Leonhart and Walt Weiskopf in a studio in Brooklyn. That was a gas. They were very nice guys and consummate professionals. I'll definitely be contacting Leonhart again for the tracks that horns lend themselves to. After Bob and I added the horns and completed the mix and I had a few days left in Manhattan, I decided I may as well get it mastered by the best of the best, Scott Hull, the owner of Masterdisk. He's mastered everybody - Steely Dan, Donald Fagen, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Bob Dylan, Miles Davis. You name it, he's mastered it. And he did a wonderful job on Mayfair.
Walt Weiskopf, Michael Leonhart and Barney Hurley
The EP is going to have five tracks and will be released by a Japanese label. We've had a few offers but have yet to decide which label will be releasing it. Luckily, I've found the perfect engineer for this project. His name is Wes Maebe and he works from his Sonic Cuisine Studios in London. I first met Wes when we were recording Elliott Randall's lead guitar part at his home studio. The first thing that struck me about Wes was that he had great ears and was very 'on the ball'. Also, he is an accomplished musician so, as the producer of this project, if I run into any musical hurdles, I'm sure Wes will be able to help me out, in which case he would get a co-production credit.
A little plug for my bandmates. Corduroy are playing a reunion gig at the Jazz Cafe on Friday, September 25th, so if you're an old Acid-Jazzer and fancy a trip down memory lane, get yourselves down there. I haven't seen Corduroy since 1994. I can't wait."
Comments
Congratulations, My friend, Barney
Jaime Castro. Madrid, Spain
Congratulations, My friend, Barney
Jaime Castro. Madrid, Spain
Congratulations, My friend, Barney
Jaime Castro. Madrid, Spain
Dan Proverbs.