The Limbo Diaries. 18. Postscript

So, that was 'Limbo' that was... 
Along with 'Alaska' it does seem to hold a special place in our 'friends' hearts.
It was Miracle Mile’s 7^th album and received much critical acclaim upon its release; indeed The Sunday Times made it their ‘CD of the Week’ and nominated the lead track ‘Lights of Home’ as a ‘Sunday Times ‘Song of the Year’ 2007 noting: 
"Trevor Jones finds the poetry in real life; Marcus Cliffe anchors it in the sweetest pop. Gorgeous as ever. You may cry "


 “Songs that rival those of Prefab Sprout, the Blue Nile or just about any other grown up pop group you could imagine”

Hi-Fi News *****

"Its evocative lyrics and melodies take the listener on their own journeys into their past and future. Miracle Mile have released yet another superb record; how much longer will they be in Limbo?"

Americana UK 9/10

"Classic pop songwriting, gorgeously realised" The Sunday Times ****

“An album overflowing with sensitively wrought melodies and heart-fluttering lyricism. If it's possible, this is even more passionate than usual, deliciously understated and tear jerking." Hi-Fi News *****

TJ: “I really believed that the 'Glow' sessions would be the last time we recorded at Norbury Brook, so this comes as a happy bonus; amazing what you can come to take for granted; people and places. Same cracked mugs, same mad cat, one new guitar (a battered but lovely old Gibson) and Marcus (also battered but lovely) burning incense rather than spraying that inner nose stripping air freshener! He'll be wearing a kaftan next... look our for a sitar solo!

We always look for a working title. I was struck by the word 'Limbo' for 3 reasons: firstly it kind of sums up the Miracle Mile's position in the music world, secondly it relates to Marcus's current emotional and domestic circumstance, and thirdly because I’ve just driven past some orange boxes with ‘Limbo' written on the side! Friday the 13th seems a fateful date to start our recordings; maybe it'll bring us luck...so there's a title; 'Lucky Limbo'?

If you own (and know how to work) a 'music streamer' you'll soon be able to download a remastered 'Original Studio Master' of 'Limbo ' (and 'Alaska') from Linn records.

Next nostalgic port of call will be 'The Glow Diaries'.

Brace yourselves...

The Limbo Diaries. 17. 'Lights of Home' & 'Pink Jesus': Last Post

24/8/06

TJ: After taking most of the summer off we start work on ‘Lights of Home’ and ‘Pink Jesus’.

Lyrically ‘Lights of Home’ is familiar MM ground; the idea that the first steps of a journey are also your first steps towards ‘home’, and that a new perspective can invest the ‘familiar’ with new meaning. 

We develop a simple piano part and I sing, adding a bridge and key change that I’d written en-route to the studio. Sounds good.

I’m always prodding ModestMarcus to feature his bass playing more, and he came up with a lovely piece that I’d been sitting on for a while, waiting for the lightbulb to flash. 

My sister Kerry is never far from my thoughts. 

She took her life 5 years ago this coming September. 

I had already placed that moment in ‘Sister Song’ on ‘Alaska’ so am mindful of not being overwrought in her remembrance, but there was a dignified melancholy suggested in the quiet beauty of Marcus’s piece that somehow seemed appropriate to her, now distant memory. For some unknown reason I had recorded a conversation with my parents just after Kerry’s passing. Some phrases reverberated; Mum has a framed picture of Kerry and she talks about the comfort of “dusting her everyday”. Listening back to it placed  me betwixt and between past and present. We took some of the spoken sections and flew them into the music, and I wrote some brief thoughts and sang them. 

The finished piece seems like a goodbye kiss, so we might keep it as it is.

MC: Quite poignant now this, as the bass in question, a ‘Ken Smith’ 6 string I’ve had for 20 years, has recently been stolen, so this is the last recording done on it. I recorded the bass solo through the Joe Meek VC1 pre amp and added a little delay and reverb and that was it, very pure, solo bass. The vocals were recorded as always with the Rhode classic1 through the Amek/ neve pre. The voices were from Trev's dictaphone with a mic held near to pick up the sound from the little built in speaker.

18/9/06

TJ: Marcus and I listen back. Add some dulcimer and brass to ‘Long Goodbyes’ and a french horn part to ‘Joshua’s Watch’ and make a list of ‘to do’s’ for the other tracks.

Have a listen back to ‘Lights of Home’ to which Marcus has added some female backing vocals (the lovely Lucinda from Bliss) and some strings and samples.

MC: All going well when we listened back, the tracks are now really coming together. 

I'm looking forward to getting stuck into mixing.

DOWNLOAD 'LIGHTS OF HOME'

The Limbo Diaries. 16. Hever Castle, a diversion

19/06/06

TJ: Marcus and I did out first gig in ten years on Saturday! Marcus has been playing bass with a group called Bliss, and they asked if we'd like to guest at Saturday's show. The question came while I was out of the country, Marcus accepted in my absence, so we were booked! I had visions of our return being a gentle reintroduction at smokey little club in London, but no, Marcus comes up with a sell out audience (500 folk) and... a castle! Hever Castle in Kent, to be exact, Anne Bolynn's home. There's a theatre in the spectacular grounds, overlooking a lake. It was a beautiful night. Instead of competing with chit chat and smoke, we had sunshine and raucous bird song. We played 4 songs: 'Beads Without a Chain' & 'Heels for Dust’ with two acoustics, then Marcus moving to a beautiful Steinway Grand piano to play 'Alaska' and 'Five Points of Light'. It all went well, and has given me the bug again! (Maybe 2016!)  It was a fine night, for a worthy cause, a children's charity, Demelza House. It was nice to then sit back and watch Marcus play with Bliss, as if I needed reminding what a player he is.

'Limbo' in limbo and needs some finishing touches...will keep you posted.

MC: Hever was indeed a wonderful day and a fitting return to gigging for Trev and I. It was all a bit last minute though and by the time we went on stage my fingers were completely raw from our intense rehearsal period starting at midnight the night before. The gig went very well and we sold out of Cd's, but more importantly it showed that Miracle mile, even in its most cut down state were now a 'live' act...

TJ: Footnote from 2012: the lead singer of Bliss was a certain Lucinda Drayton to whom Marcus is now engaged. That night at Hever was (kind of) the start of a fine romance...

The Limbo Diaries. 15. 'Ghostwritten' (continued)

12/05/06

TJ: We plan to start ‘Ghostwritten’ today. Marcus was at my place last night. Hungover and (in my case) flued up, we drive in convoy to the studio. En route, doing about 90mph on the motorway, my rear tyre explodes. In a display of Mansellesque brilliance, I control the car and survive unscathed. Marcus changes my tyre. I watch. By the time we get to the studio I’ve lost my voice. Shock, hayfever or flu?

We start on ‘Ghostwritten’. The song was originally going to be a quiet piano thing. We decide that maybe it should be more ‘up’, more of a celebration. We try to use the feel of ‘Quiet Heart’ by the Go Betweens as the rhythmic template. It leads us elsewhere. I play some clipped, chuggy acoustic chords to shape the song. Marcus doubles this with a pumped bass, then adds a Hammond part to colour the chords. I jangle some telecaster chords, and work on a really simple pick that we then echo with a synth’ sound. The musical hook was to be played by a horn but we try it on guitar. I remember seeing Steve Earle play at the Town and Country Club in Kentish Town years ago, and how when he played  ‘Guitar Town’, he had about eight different guitarists all playing the very simple main riff. It sounded fantastic! We try the same thing. It sounds fantastic! (I’ll let Marcus list, and spell, the guitars played) Marcus adds some tambourine, and I head off home, into the sunset, burning fresh rubber.

MC: Ah, waking up at chez Jones’ hungover, a now quite familiar feeling. As we were running a bit late I wasn’t hanging around as we sped down the A3 into London that morning. I was keeping an eye on Trev in my mirror as I take a different route so I didn’t want him to get lost. The large puff of blue smoke that emanated from the Mazda was quite spectacular and my first thought was ‘oh shit he’s blown his engine’. When we pulled over and I got out of the car I could smell burning rubber which was a relief. Changing the off side wheel at the side of a motorway is an experience I don’t want to repeat too often. Bending over with your arse poking into the nearside lane whilst trucks pass you by inches at 70 mph is a lesson in vulnerability.

Well we got to the studio in the end, and started ‘Ghost Written’. Once the drums were sorted I put down a bass part on my 1962 precision through the Meek VC1Q. The Hammond was added to give the song some harmonic base. The ensuing guitar fest’ included, Epiphone 335, De Almond Les Paul with P90’s, Fender Tele and Strat, all recorded through the Pod Xt pro. The tambourine part was quickly recorded with the vocal mic that was still on from earlier. Job done, another good day at the hit factory.

Trev  is now departing for his holidays, little does he know I am plotting our first gig in his absence...

DOWNLOAD 'GHOSTWRITTEN'

The Limbo Diaries. 14. 'Ghostwritten'

11/05/06

After marinating in the music of Grant McLennan and the Go Betweens for a couple of days I sat down and wrote ‘Ghostwritten’. I’m in the studio tomorrow and this might be the last song we record for the album, which seems sadly appropriate.

I rarely write directly about other folk (far too self obsessed) but I’d forgotten quite how seminal the GB’s were. Along with Waits/Springsteen/The Smiths/Blue Nile/Paddy Mac’ etc, they shaped my post punk musical obsessions... became as influential as any in defining and refining my approach to writing. The legacy of any great artist remains intact and influential forever. We’re often guided by the hands of folk departed, and, while I’m not crediting Grant with a co-write here, he was definitely helping to shape the chords as I wrote. It’s not ‘about’ anything specific, a reflection on the joys and possibilities of  song writing, the importance of inspiration and influence and, ultimately, as a recognition of a kindred spirit, a nod in his direction as he leaves the room. 

Lyrically it might be a bit sweet for some. 

Apologies. 

I did try to sharpen it with some vinegar, but it didn’t seem right. 

Where’s Robert Forster when you need him?

Ghostwritten

Now I won’t go to sleep without your sweet lullaby

I might fall in too deep and maybe catch the devil’s eye

Keep your elbows in the breeze and run

Dream about tomorrow when it’s over

I also ran, a dream’s a plan if there is gold in wonder

I sing because I do, because I can

Because the ghost of a better tune

Has got me grinning like a loon

And you sleep with a song and you dream as you depart

But I won’t call you ‘gone’, little man with a quiet heart

Keep your elbows in the breeze my son

Dream about a better bright tomorrow

 

I also ran, a dream’s a plan, 

and there is gold in wonder

I sing because I do, because I can

Because the ghost of a better tune

Has got me grinning like a loon

And keeps me singing to the moon

Then, like the ghost of a better tune

You left the room too soon

The Limbo Diaries. 14. 'Perry and Simone'

6/05/06

TJ: Chills... 'Simone and Perry' from 'Horsebreaker Star' was playing on the ipod 'select' as I heard the news this morning of Grant McLennan's passing. 
“Come see the paradise” indeed. 
I've got a few skeletons in my musical attic, albums that haven't survived or aged well, but I'll pat myself on the back over The Go Betweens. I got there fairly early with 'Liberty Belle', fell for 'The Wrong Road' and, later, the mysteries of 'Cattle and Cane' and was forever smitten. The songs seem just as 'right' now as the did then; they breathe their very own exotic air, yet maintain a whiff of the mundane; something special to fuel anyone’s day. The sensibilities aren't male, or ‘cock ‘n’roll’, girl friends connected as much as I did. I loved the vulnerability of the poetry, and that, particularly with Grant, the songs seemed inclusive, "an open invitation" to his world, the songs going exactly where I hoped they would, (with a few twists along the way) me grinning like a loon as they did. There'd always be that 'favorite Beatle' discussion, Robert and Grant's bittersweet combination is beyond that, but I do love those solo albums; there are times when a cup of sweet milky tea is 'just right'.  
'Oceans Apart' was a welcome return, hearing 'The Statue' was like bumping into a best mate years down the line. Of course he'll be missed, but there's a big heart to be heard in his words and music. 

God bless him... I'm off to the attic to review my collection.

The Limbo Diaries. 13. The Falling Man

21/04/06

TJ: I missed a recent TV documentary on 'The Falling Man', about the efforts to identify a man captured on film, falling to his death from World Trade Centre on 9/11/2001. Since its publication, the now iconic photo, taken by Richard Drew, has been invested with all sorts of meaning. Many think that the image should be airbrushed from history, that to view it was voyeuristic. Others see it as a symbol, a new flag for a now outward looking America. There seems to be a calm about the man's descent that defies the horrors that surround him, he's caught in a brief moment of apparent grace. Of course, the shots before and after that frame tell the true tale of this prelude to extinction; he hurtles at 130mph, limbs akimbo, to his certain demise. I googled 'The Falling Man' and came upon a piece written by Tom Junod that had appeared in Esquire magazine about the shot. I was struck by the idea of this being the falling man's last will. He could accept the fate thrust upon him by the terrorists, or he could choose to control his own destiny, albeit a limited choice, but still an empowering moment; not suicide, but choosing your own time of departure. Is there not a dignity in that, and should we not recognise that dignity? To look away would seem to deny the fact that he made a choice, should we not honour him by bearing witness? I wrestled with the subject, I didn't want to jump on the wailing 9/11 bandwagon, but there was something in the way that people reacted to the photo that intrigued me. Eventually it came to me that we all wanted to see his face, his expression, to know how he felt, to wonder if we would have done the same. There but for the grace of God indeed...he is us! I then heard an interview with a man who had spoken with his wife on a cell phone just before she had jumped. He was talking about her making the ultimate choice, that he knew she was thinking of him and their children as she leapt and, how for her, it was a kind of homecoming. She was able to breathe fresh air and, for one last moment, be under a beautiful blue sky. He said something like "to be out of the smoke and into fresh air...she must have felt like she was flying". It seemed like an endorsement of the human spirit too profound to ignore, so I put pen to paper.

I didn't want the song to be too musical, too artful, it just didn't seem appropriate, so we agreed to keep it stripped to its original acoustic strum. Marcus then added a double bass and a wurlitzer that help shape the chords. We might add some dobro around the vocal, but that's it.

MC: It was strange when Trev came in with ‘The Falling Man’ as I’d recently been working with Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris. They’ve done a duets album and one of the songs on the album is called ‘If This is Goodbye’. Upon first listening thought it was just a goodbye love song but it was in fact about 9/11 and the last phone calls people made when they found themselves trapped after the impact of the plane. It was a very emotional song to play and was still fresh in my mind when we started ‘The Falling Man.’

The guitar and vocals were recorded as above and the double bass was recorded in the control room with rhode classic through the Joe Meek VC1Q with a touch of compression.

THE FALLING MAN (DOWNLOAD)

The Limbo Diaries. 12. Forgotten Songs

24/03/06

TJ: A new song 'Forgotten Songs'. I play an acoustic guide then sing. We add a footy crowd type backing vocal section, with Marcus making his vocal debut for MM! We decide to ask Chris Bachelor to arrange and play a brass band type section for us.

MC: I recorded the acoustic with the usual AKG 451, Trev used the Taylor 514 he got for his birthday (lucky boy!) a guitar I was strangely familiar with. The vocal was recorded with the Rhode classic into the Amek/Neve pre. As we were stacking up the BV’s I thought I’d add to the mix, don’t know why I haven’t before but as Trev pointed out, it was in fact a first on a Miracle Mile album.

FORGOTTEN SONGS (DOWNLOAD)

The Limbo Diaries. 11. Love Letters and Long Goodbyes/Joshua's Watch: BJ Cole

17/3/06

TJ: BJ Cole comes in today, fresh from working in Ireland with Davy Spillane. We throw five songs at him, and he copes manfully; a couple of ‘’play throughs’ to routine the arrangement and chord structure, then we go for two takes a song. This focuses everyone, and adds a tension to the playing that we like. BJ could come up with variations all day, gold dust in every take, but we like the ‘first thought, best thought’ approach with him. It’ll also make things easier to edit!

First up is ‘Sunburst Finish’. The track is pretty full as it is, but BJ finds some space to inhabit, and loosens the song up nicely.

‘Lucky Limbo’: We like the space on this, so BJ holds back until the M8 and the steel weeps beautifully when he finally enters. (sounds like an extract from ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’!)

‘Way Back When’ is a bit of a challenge, as the arrangement is not yet defined. BJ riffs around the vocal in the verses and lays a pad down in the choruses.

‘Yuri’s Dream’. We get BJ to play some high subliminal stuff on the outro. I think this one is going to be popular with dogs!

‘Joshua’s Watch’ Not a lot on this, just my guitar and voice, with some delicate strings and high glock. BJ plays a lovely simple part that adds to the melancholy.

BJ in action is a compelling sight, and puts me in mind of a puppet puppeteer; he’s pulling all the strings, but seems guided from above by a different hand. No religious conceit intended, just a clumsy effort to illustrate the physicality a player totally lost in his instrument, yet totally in tune with the song. Seemingly fuelled by some exotic petrol, he grunts, moans and sways, while glorious sheets of sound emanate from a distant vintage amp. I could watch him all day!

We crack open a bottle of champagne, not a common event, but Marcus has just completed on his new house, and, as the studio will move with him, this could be our last session here, so the indulgence is warranted. The mid-afternoon tipple does go straight to our heads. I make the mistake of asking BJ to do one last song “a simple part, no problems.” BJ winces at these words, he’s obviously heard them before. As we routine ‘Love Letters and Long Goodbyes’ I realise that I’ve left the most difficult song until last, then thrown the demon drink at it. BJ grapples with the format; it’s not an easy one. Though it is a conventional sounding tune, there are half bars and extra beats akimbo (not to mention what BJ calls ‘the Steely Dan chords’. Marcus calls them ‘Jazz’. I call them ‘wonky’) Although by now BJ is too jazzed to feel inspired, we get a couple of workable takes that I’m sure we can snip. At the end of the last take, on the sustain of the very last chord, BJ breaks a string, the sound of which will definitely make the record, if only to remind me to organise the sessions better next time! We then sober up with a cuppa, and a lively debate on the relevance (or not) of ‘Englishness’ in our multicultural society (discuss).

BJ Cole: It's a long way from NE London to Norbury, whichever route you take. On my way to Marcus Cliffe's studio it occurred to me that this was the fifth time Trevor has asked me to work on a Miracle Mile album. This makes the trip special, for in my 37 years as a session musician, no other artist has employed my Pedal Steel on five consecutive albums, and the last four of them at Marcus's home studio in Norbury. By now the chemistry between Trevor, Marcus and myself is cooking. I set up and listen to the tracks (four in this case) and then enhance the mood of each track. Trevor is a master songsmith, his lyrics are often profound and thoughtful and the musical structures are varied enough to encompass a wide variety of moods. After nailing the four tracks, Trevor pulls a fifth out of the bag, saying: "it's really simple, it won't take you any time at all". This is invariably the cue for the most complex and difficult song of the session, and so it was! After having a light-hearted discussion about this paradox, I packed away my Pedal Steel. As I was leaving, Marcus informed me that this was the last time we would be working at his little studio in Norbury, a slightly sad note on which to leave my friends. Here's to the next time, wherever it may be.

MC: After a less than auspicious start to our recording experience many moons ago (it was a hot stressful summers day, couldn’t get a sound that BJ liked etc) I now look forward to seeing BJ when he makes his annual pilgrimage to Norbury Brook studio. We set up his trusty old fender amp mic’d with an old Octavia small diaphragm mic that BJ always brings with him. I tried it through the amek but decided the Joe meek VCV1 sounded better. A bit of roomverb on the soundscape mixer for monitoring purposes and we were set.

As Trev said, everything went well until the infamous “extra last easy song”! The champagne was duly dispatched by Trev and I, and by the end of the day a warm glow of soft focus had descended on the twilight hours of Norbury Brook........TBC

TJ: This will be our last session for a while. Marcus is about the go on the road for a month. 
Songs in various stages of evolution are:

Love Letters and Long Goodbyes (Download)

Joshua’s Watch (Download)

Papillon

Yuri’s Dream

Sunburst Finish

All the way to London

Step by Step

Lucky Limbo

Way Back When 

The Limbo Diaries. 10. Sunburst Finish

6/3/06

TJ: We’re hoping to get BJ Cole in to play peddle steel, so have a listen through to see what he could colour. ‘Sunburst Finish’ comes up. This was written, and recorded in a blur, and we’d both forgotten it. It sounds like someone else’s song. Marcus picks up his monster 6 string bass and warms the track immediately. We edit the piano part as it’s a little floral, then we add a mellotron choir voice to the chorus and M8, which adds a nice bit of ‘grain’. The sample is now called ‘Trev’s Dad’. As a kid Terry (my dad) sang in the Kings College choir, and knows every descant to any hymn. He likes to prove this as often as possible. Still singing castrato, he terrifies churchgoers around the country with his strangulated emissions. Maybe we should get him in for a session.

Marcus plays some percussive loops to lift certain sections and we go home happy.

MC: Not much to add to this, another fruitful day; we’re on a roll at the moment.


Sunburst Finish (Download)

The Limbo Diaries. 9. Way Back When

3/3/06

TJ: ‘Way Back When’: There’s not a lot there, a pad, a loop, the ‘Gypsy King’ riff and a vocal. Marcus records a bass part that takes us back to the 70’s again. We like the feel, but it’s a guilty pleasure; who is it? Marcus messes with some synth’ sounds and comes up with a great hook/riff, for the chorus. We routine a string part for the M8 and chorus. Things always sound ‘grander’ with strings on…not always a good thing, but here they work well…the penny drops for us both at the same time: it’s Hot Chocolate’s ‘You Win Again’, a guilty pleasure indeed. 

Decide not to deny our dodgy pasts, and leave it as it is. 

We like the 70’s?

MC: Ah the 70’s, I got out my trusty old 1960 burgundy mist precision, pumping through the Hiwatt amp and 4x12 on the podXt pro. Sounds great with the hip hop style drums we‘ve got on there. Hip hop? I can hear the sound of Miracle Mile fans reaching for their complaint forms!

The Limbo Diaries. 8. (Lucky Limbo)

24//2/06

TJ: Can’t get off work. Mad scientist goes solo in lonesome lab shock!

Hang on…all classes cancelled, so I make my tardy way, north to south, across London, to the studio, unknowingly incurring a congestion charge fine as I do!

After a natter and a cream donut (one and a half hours later) we have a listen to ‘Yuri’s Dream’. Marcus has played a great slide motif in the intro/outro sections, and we try doubling it with various ‘music box’ type sounds. They bring the riff out of the mix nicely, a bit of subtle ‘hifi’. We try not to be too gratuitous with them, as we love the sound of the slide. Although the track is now quite ‘big’ with strings etc, we decide to warm the sound with a Hammond part, which works well. Often the Hammond can fight for the same place in the mix as peddle steel, so it’s good to give the organ some space to work in. We hope to get BJ and Melvin in again (they’re part of the MM sound now) but don’t want to be over reliant on that gorgeous instrument.

Next we listen to ‘Lucky Limbo’. Only a pad, a loop and some strummed acoustics but it sounds great. We decide to lose the strum. Marcus picks up his battered Spanish guitar. Of dubious pedigree, it has a neck the width of the Thames, and strings (as old as my underpants) that even I’d be ashamed of. It’s a bugger to play so…he hands it to me! I play along with the track and develop a simple pick. It does sound good, adding to the ‘lullaby’ quality of the song. Marcus then plays along on piano. First take sees quite a dramatic Rachmaninovian approach, Marcus all heroic and windswept. We like the drama of it, but then Mrs Mills, sorry, Marcus, comes up with a lovely 3 note counter part in the chorus. The simplicity of this prodding part sends us down a more modest path; suddenly the song sits comfortably. I think that this is one of Mr Cliffe’s great strengths: the ability to refine his performance, until he’s totally ‘in tune’ with the song. He has the musicality to take it anywhere, but we always seem to end on the same page.

MC: I’ll remember this Friday for a long time. By the time Trev arrived I was in quite a distressed state. I have been going through a separation over recent times and for some reason that morning everything got the better of me. Trevor and I have been close since we started working together, and today he was everything a friend needed to be. After tea, donuts and some TLC, we headed into the studio.

The music just flowed that day; whatever was recorded was from the heart.

DOWNLOAD 'LUCKY LIMBO'