If you can improve it, do so.
As Terence McCullagh gets going on the restored and recovered master recordings of Lesley Rae Dowling, he discovers old gems that spark his imagination.
The first remix single in this series, The Spaniard (2020), is already available. The next in line is Innocent Child, available on April the 24th. Both songs show Lesley's special songwriting talent, though the latter is musically more mature. The structure is more complex and jazzy than most of her releases.
The original production of this song was done by Jonathan Butler and Kevin Shirley. Tully has retrieved the two inch master tape from the LTE archive at the University of Stellenbosch, Music Department. He carefully cleaned the BASF tape and on the first pass on his rebuilt twenty-four track analogue tape machine, he collected and converted the individual tracks to digital files.
Tully then replaced the drums and bass tracks with more contemporary sounding recordings, using new live takes. Because it is Tully, this was not just a process of replacement. He has attended to both the arrangement and technical quality of the sounds involved.
He then re-mixed the song, keeping the performances of Jonathan (guitar and vocals) and Morris Goldberg, who played the alto saxophone. Lesley's vocal takes are some of her best. The track comes from her fourth album, When the night comes which was recorded in 1985 and showed a marked maturity in her studio performances.
"I am only taking these re-mixes on if I can make them better. There is no point in doing this otherwise", say Terence.
The version released in 1986 was good. The new version is superb. There is more room in the mix for Lesley's vocals and the new rhythm tracks lift the song to new heights. Tully has also re-arranged the way Jonathan and Morris are featured.
Link to download and stream - Listen to the music
As Terence McCullagh gets going on the restored and recovered master recordings of Lesley Rae Dowling, he discovers old gems that spark his imagination.
The first remix single in this series, The Spaniard (2020), is already available. The next in line is Innocent Child, available on April the 24th. Both songs show Lesley's special songwriting talent, though the latter is musically more mature. The structure is more complex and jazzy than most of her releases.
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| LRD - (c) Songwrights Publishers. Still from a video shoot. Circa 1984 |
The original production of this song was done by Jonathan Butler and Kevin Shirley. Tully has retrieved the two inch master tape from the LTE archive at the University of Stellenbosch, Music Department. He carefully cleaned the BASF tape and on the first pass on his rebuilt twenty-four track analogue tape machine, he collected and converted the individual tracks to digital files.
Tully then replaced the drums and bass tracks with more contemporary sounding recordings, using new live takes. Because it is Tully, this was not just a process of replacement. He has attended to both the arrangement and technical quality of the sounds involved.
He then re-mixed the song, keeping the performances of Jonathan (guitar and vocals) and Morris Goldberg, who played the alto saxophone. Lesley's vocal takes are some of her best. The track comes from her fourth album, When the night comes which was recorded in 1985 and showed a marked maturity in her studio performances.
"I am only taking these re-mixes on if I can make them better. There is no point in doing this otherwise", say Terence.
The version released in 1986 was good. The new version is superb. There is more room in the mix for Lesley's vocals and the new rhythm tracks lift the song to new heights. Tully has also re-arranged the way Jonathan and Morris are featured.
Link to download and stream - Listen to the music
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