I dug out one of my City For Lovers 12″s and put it on as I haven’t listened to any vinyl in ages. Indeed, I may be speaking out my arse as now I agree that it very well may not be an 808. This is doubly embarrassing as I own an 808! Still, I’ve owned more than one over time and they can sound quite different depending on how the internal circuits are tweaked. Anyway, whatever drum box it is, it sounds very sweet indeed. I’m still curious to know either way though!

I’ve got a LinnDrum as well but would like to find the original Linn LM-1 as the sounds of these when detuned are like nothing else.

As for the bass, I realize there’s more than one way to create a “chorus” effect. Cool idea to put it out of phase at the desk - you can save money on effects pedals that way!

Thanks for all the other info on the SDX and publishing. I do hope you are able to work something out with the record company. Good luck with it.

One O’clock Gang - I think I’ve found all the vinyl they put out, I just prefer the “clean” sound of CDs much more.

Jack Richardson stored many of the Guess Who master tapes at the college where I studied. He said there was sometimes the issue of the oxide coming right off the old tapes when trying to play them. So, may the oxide be FIRMLY stuck to the tape for all the missing WOTW masters!

Best,

John

I’ll work back from the last to the first if that’s ok, but first, I may have to disappoint two long held beliefs of yours.

1) I could be wrong but I don’t think that was an 808 on the intro to City For Lovers? We had a very early Korg drum machine (can’t remember which) which we used with a Tascam Portastudio to try out ideas quickly and I think that was what we used. At the time the state of the art drum machine was a Linn Drum but only studios had those. Still, till we get confirmation one way or the other from Dave we’re probably in ‘Schrodinger’s Cat’ territory here, it both is, and is not an 808. How about that for now?

2) I don’t think that’s a chorus effect (or just a chorus effect) that comes in on Neil’s bass on the 12″.
We experimented with kicking the bass out of phase as an effect and that’s what you’re hearing. I love that part too and it’s very powerful on headphones. If Neil doesn’t remember we’ll have to try and find out from Jeremy Green the producer. For those with any interest in this stuff, it was recorded with an Ampeg SV Bass Amp and DI’d too……

That’s it for the balloon bursting….. Yes that’s a Simmons SDX but we only used the module not the kit and ran it from a Simmons Sequencer, a silver box with rows of flashing lights like something from Star Trek. I think Dave only played percussion on this song along with background vox. We were experimenting with all this stuff as it was pretty new at the time though when we played it live that was just Dave and no, we weren’t trying to capitalise on the expanding synthesizer use. WOTW were most definitely not a synth band, our concept was to push against the limits of our instruments. We weren’t anti synth at all and did try using one once, think it was a Wave PPG? but because of it’s unlimited nature it reduced the energy and edge so that was it. Is this making any sense?

Thanks for the offer but don’t worry about any site registering. It never occurred to me that Way Of The West.com would be free because of the western movie. I’ll investigate what’s available but if you want to send me any scans or memorabilia for the site I’ll email you with an address.

Also thanks for the offer of the use of recording equipment but after my time in music I’m up to my ears in the stuff as it is. I now have a small writing studio here but no reel to reel, which I’ll need if they ever find our tapes….

As for a CD, as Universal own the rights to the recordings I would have to pay them mechanical royalties if I wanted to put out an official CD. As usual these weren’t very favourable to the band so I have to hope the label will take a smaller cut and don’t insist on the original contract. It would only be a small run which may make it not worth doing. I’ll put up the outcome here when I know.

The publishing was owned by another large publisher but they’ve reverted to me now because of the time interval.

We used tape copy masters and acetates of the music for the itunes downloads and for a couple of the acetates we did indeed have to iron out a few crackles. Even though we couldn’t remove every little pop, they still sounded fresh. It was worth it. Still, I’d love to find those masters - if they exist.

Afraid I’ve never heard of the One O’clock Gang. Why not try ebay - if they’re worth ripping off, somebody will have done it by now as they it did to us, and you won’t have to sing soprano?

cheers

Pete

Pete, The 12″ of City For Lovers features a Roland TR-808 drum machine that kicks the mix off and stays in the background. (Can’t recall if the single has it, I’ve only listened to the single a couple times - I’ve worn out the 12″).

I’m curious, whose idea was it to use the 808 and was the choice based on availability (the studio or a band member owned it) or was it because it was nearly a new product at the time and there was excitement around using it?

On Feel The Steel, it sounds like there was some major interaction with a set of Simmons SDX electronic drums! This song seems to be the only WOTW recording with fully electronic drums - why the switch? Simply for something different, or an effort to capitalize on the expanding synthesizer use at the time? (Please be kind, I’m a synth lover!)

Best,

John G
Ontario, Canada

I don’t think your lyrics were unclear, it’s just for whatever reason, my brain somehow doesn’t hear what’s obvious in sung lyrics, I guess!

I would be happy to re-register a WOTW-related web site domain again that you can use in the future, if you like. I’m swamped with my work but I would like to eventually put up discography pictures and whatever else you’d like to include.

I will certainly take photos of the WOTW vinyl I have to show you. Please email me at xeno@xenoweb.com with your email address to send the photos to. I promise not to “bug” you.

Did you know that the single version of “Don’t Say That’s Just For White Boys” is on a compilation CD? It appears to be a promo-only CD called “B.L.A.S.T. - Modern Rock Program #4. I found this CD once when scouring GEMM.com for WOTW music on CD - the only thing I’ve ever found. The recording was taken from vinyl by the sounds of it. I can send you pictures…

I truly hope the master tapes still exist and wish you luck - We’ll all be watching to see what transpires at the end of August. Worst case scenario would be to use the acetates or vinyl and clean up any “snap crackle pop” digitally.

If Universal still owns the rights to the recordings, who owns the publishing? If a CD is released, will mechanical royalties need to be paid to Universal? At least, in today’s world, it would be easy to create a CD comp of the WOTW catalog with top notch audio quality, and not have to press more copies than you need. Again, I can help with sleeve design and probably the printing thereof.

Sigh, I have 20 grand worth of recording gear sitting in storage - I wish it was set up, I’d love to offer/be offered a chance at doing some WOTW remixes! We should talk about this, it could still easily be done if the masters exist.

By the way Neil (BASS), one of my favourite moments in WOTW recording is when the thick lush chorus kicks in on the bass line on the 12″ version of City For Lovers. It’s Magic!

Pete, Neil, a shot in the dark - do either of you know of a U.K. band named “One O’clock Gang”? They appear to have had one album and a few singles, one called “Close Your Eyes (Think of England)” which also got played over here in the 80’s. My right nut is reserved for a comp CD of their recordings. ;0) But first things first!

I see a figure running down the street…!

John G
Ontario, Canada

Harold
San Jose, CA

Of course this doesn’t mean we didn’t do it, those were hectic times but what if the best band you ever came across wasn’t actually us! I don’t want to give up that title without a fight so from now on that was us you saw - officially.

Thanks Nick, If I manage to re-connect a few memory cells I’ll let you know.

Pete