1st Album The Making

In The Beginning...
After a number of years as a vague ambition, in 1996 Sue and Mike began to seriously write the songs that would become "The Services of Mary Goode". The process of writing and demoing took the best part of a year. Demos with guide vocals and keys were then put together, whilst Sue and Mike decided who they would like to form the band, already named "Janison Edge" (see our About The Band page). They first presented the demos to Ian to get an idea of how the songs would pan out with guitar; and Dave to do the same for the drums.
Recording:
Drums
In June1997, drums were first to be recorded at Thin Ice studio (home of Clive Nolan and Mick Pointer's Verglas Records). Dave played the drums superbly during the week of the recording, and actually finished early. The sessions were engineered by Karl Groom (of Threshold, Shadowland and Strangers on a Train fame) - and Mike just hung around to make sure everything turned out well.
Bass
It was then back to Gargoyle Studio to back up the drum tapes (accidents always happen!), and to continue sorting out more bits and bobs on the album, ready for Paul to come in and do his bit. So over the rest of the summer, Paul plugged in for extensive sessions, with Mike engineering. Paul put in a lot of effort and again produced some excellent results, despite the cramped conditions meaning he had to stand in the landing, outside the control room, trailing a lead to his amp located on the floor downstairs!
Surprise Guest!
During this time, Sue and Mike were honoured to welcome that inimitable bon viveur, Viscount (Ben) Swinley of Flaxley, to the studio to record a voiceover for the first track "A Twist in the Tale of Earth History". Despite being demonstrably more at home with sheep and vineyards, the Viscount turned in an excellent rendition of Sue's nonsensical lyrical interlude, which adds another "twist" to the opening number.
Estate Agents, Solicitors and Studio Reconstruction.......!
Unfortunately, progress over the Autumn/Winter was delayed as Sue and Mike moved premises in November and it took quite some time to set up the studio again. But here the surroundings were slightly more illustrious than a tiny rented back bedroom! Gargoyle Studio then began to look like a proper recording environment. Especially after the conversion of a little outhouse into a small live room. However, this work took some time to finfish. The staff at the local B&Q were starting to put the kettle on whenever they saw Sue and Mike coming.
Not very rock 'n' roll is it?
Guitars
So now the neighbours are at least a couple of metres away and benefit from not being attached to the house! Nevertheless, the band's presence was well and truly announced with the sheer volume of Ian's flashy guitar licks reverberating round the neighbourhood. Work once again got back into full swing, with Ian taking the time to work out parts and try different approaches, which really paid off with some excellent results.
Vocals
Having plugged the last few remaining holes in the wall so that she doesn't have to compete with the local traffic, Sue then began recording the vocal parts in May 1998. This was a new experience for Sue, and an extremely instructive one as well. So here there was a bit of experimentation needed - are the old vocal chords better in the morning or the evening, after the pub or before, on a day with a 'Y' in it or not? An answer must be found! Or perhaps not. With only a couple more weeks to go before mixing took place, Sue and Mike came to the stage where a deadline is a deadline is a deadline! But the impending mixing deadline really succeeded in concentrating the mind, and the neighbours of Gargoyle Studio were treated to some very early morning entertainment as Sue and Mike continuously swapped between the mixing desk and the vocal booth to finish the vocal parts and try out new backing arrangements.
More Keyboards?
Throughout all this, Mike was refining and adding to his keyboard parts. There was always just one more twiddle to add especially as, during the latter stages of recording, Gargoyle Studios acquired a classic 1960s Hammond organ, with Leslie cabinet (see Hammond.htm).
Mixing:
Next was a visit to Nick Barrett, who was lending Pendragon's mixing desk and a few other bits and pieces, and finally Karl Groom and Mike were able to settle down to some serious mixing. Karl arrived at Gargoyle at the end of May. Booked for a couple of weeks - he was still there at the end of July! Two weeks just proved too little to handle all the complex parts and arrangements. Even "Axeman" Groom was somewhat bemused by the EIGHT separate guitar parts on the final track! So on his free days here and there he managed to return to Gargoyle and very ably tackled challenge after challenge. Mike, having just started a new job, really tested his new employer's flexibility. Quality control at the end of the day was exercised by Sue, courtesy of the in-car stereo (always gets the truest reproduction). Again the neighbours' fingers must have hovered many a time over the telephone number to the local psychiatric hospital, as the three repeatedly trouped out of the house into the car, but never actually went anywhere! It was a very difficult task. Perhaps the writers were too critical. Was that bit quite right?... Could we raise that part just a little bit?... In the end they just had to close the book and hope for the best. But the time taken has been worth it and many have said that the quality of production really shows.
Mastering:
It was decided to master the CD at Abbey Road. After all this care and attention, it seemed appropriate to finish off the process with the best available. So on a fine day in August, Sue, Mike and Ian went down to the famous studios, dodging the tourists on the pedestrian crossing. They were met by Chris Blair who handled the mastering for the day. Chris was long enough in the tooth to have been involved with the Beatles' production, but more recently he has worked a lot with Clive Nolan and had just completed work on the Manic Street Preachers' new album. For Sue, Mike and Ian it was an interesting day, absorbing the atmosphere of the place and watching Chris' hands fly over the huge distinctive Abbey Road machinery.
Artwork:
With the finished product in hand, it was time to turn to completion of the artwork for the album. Since the release of the CD, the artwork has attracted many a favourable comment. It was developed by Sue and Mike throughout the period of putting the album together, based on sketches of themes from each of the album tracks. From these Sue and Mike commissioned a full sized original painting from a local artist, Jane Bryan. The picture on the album page showing the front of the CD is only a part of the final picture. The whole thing is over a metre wide and is absolutely wonderful. You can get a full colour poster from the merchandise page Mike spent many evenings and invested a lot of thought and attention designing the inner pages of the CD booklet - manipulating images from the cover painting. There was also the small problem of getting the various and extremely busy members of the band in one place long enough to have some photos taken. In the end, Sue and Mike took a group of portrait style pictures, on the steps of a local monastery! Getting the lighting right meant that Ian and Paul really had to perform above and beyond the call of duty and turn up at 7.30 in the morning. But they posed brilliantly - until one of the monks suggested politely that we ought not to be there, as he made his way to mass!
CD Production:
Once all the artwork and photography had been put together, the CD was taken to Sound Discs in Notting Hill, London, for pressing. There, Peter Bullick and Dave of Portobello Press did a splendid job and delivered the finished product within two weeks. AND THEN, FINALLY, IT WAS READY!
Promotion:
During this time, Sue and Mike also decided to form Gargoyle Records (see Gargoyle Records) and spent some time sorting the administration for the band and getting in touch with lots of lovely people worldwide with press releases and other promotional stuff. Advance copies of the CD were sent out to magazines, radio and other media worldwide, and to potential distributors in November 1998. From the outset, they have tried to produce high quality material and continue to build on their original success in this area.
THE ALBUM WAS OFFICIALLY RELEASED ON 1 FEBRUARY 1999