|
|
'GOODBYE TO THE AGE OF STEAM' LYRICS
For 'Goodbye To The Age Of Steam' lyrics click here
ABOUT 'GOODBYE TO THE AGE OF STEAM'
Age of Steam was mostly written in 1992. I was studying classical guitar at that time and the obvious result of this can be heard on the instrumentals - Expecting Snow and Dragon Bone Hill. However, pretty much everything on the album originated as classical guitar pieces which were deconstructed and orchestrated for the band. This took us away from the verse/chorus approach of our previous recordings and encouraged us to further develop the idea of using interlinked themes and motifs throughout the album (something we'd toyed with on the Infant Hercules.)
Lyrically, much of the album was about how people lose their way in their lives; about the tightrope we all walk every day. The album title wasn't linked to this, but it conveyed a feeling of pathos which fitted the mood of the songs.
We recorded the album with Rob Aubrey at Parklands studios, only our second time in a 24-track studio. Recording commenced on the 17th July, 1994 with guide tracks so that Steve had something to play his drums against. We briefly decamped to a village hall to record the drums (better acoustics) and these were completed over three days from the 19th July. Back in the studio, Andy recorded his bass parts over the next two days and from the 24th July we spent four days on vocals, rhythm guitars and keyboards. Most days, we worked until 3 or 4 in the morning and when not in the studio we spent time searching for sound effects and rehearsing our parts. On the 1st August we recorded all the backing vocals and we then had 8 days over the next two weeks to record the lead and classical guitar parts, tidy up the bass, keyboards and vocals and mix the album. Work was completed on the 15th August.
Wind Distorted Pioneers, the trees which break cover and grow above the natural treeline but get battered by the elements for their trouble, seemed like a useful metaphor for the main theme of the album and we chose this song as the opener. Wind Distorted Pioneers features our first ever 'big vocal' section; we had a bunch of good session singers available and IQ's Martin Orford helping us with the arrangements. Wind Distorted Pioneers segues into Head Hit the Pillow which kicks in at quite a brisk pace for us.
Edge of the Known World is about the drunks on the parkbenches, the ones in every town. Landfall, the next track, is slightly off the lyrical theme and is more of a political song.
Dragon Bone Hill is a pastoral but complex musical interlude. It was expected that it would stand on its own and provide some space before the second half of the album. However, on the 7th August we'd had a lucky musical accident which suggested a bridge to the next piece. Andy and Rob were working on a new keyboard sound for the chorus of Wind Distorted Pioneers. Rob was called to the phone and left the part on a repeating loop which developed its own atmosphere as we sat in the studio. I remember Andy and I looking at each other and thinking to ourselves "this sounds really good". This section sat beautifully between Dragon Bone Hill and Blow the House Down and linked the two halves of the album.
Blow the House Down was an elegy for all the casualties of the Falklands War. The track consists of a long instrumental section, bookended by two piano passages. The section of music from 4.07 to 4.38, which is repeated later on in the track, is one of the earliest things that I ever wrote, from an instrumental called Hoarfrost. This was composed in 1988, many years before the band formed, and was retrieved from an old tape which I found lying around.
Expecting Snow was a brief interlude between the two longest pieces on the album. This was the last thing written for Age of Steam, demo'd in one evening just before we went into the studio. It was inspired by an Alan Garner novel, the Stone Book Quartet. Garner's other great book, Red Shift, was the inspiration for Blue Silver Red. One of the musical motifs from this piece originated in the closing section of Kingmaker, the last track on our earlier demo tape,The Infant Hercules.
The final song on Age of Steam, Losing Your Way, draws together the lyrical and musical themes of the album. Most of the tracks are revisited in one way or another. The epilogue restates the middle section of Dragon Bone Hill before the album closes with two chords from Expecting Snow.
On the 14th August, just prior to completing the mixing, we spent an evening at an outdoor festival. Rob was the sound man and he played much of the album over the PA. Former Genesis guitarist, Anthony Phillips was in the audience and wandered over to talk about things. He said the music sounded "very accomplished" and asked for a copy. We agreed to send him a CD, but at that stage had no idea when it would be released or who would be releasing it. There were a couple of labels who were very interested, particularly GEP, Martin Orford being one of their directors. After some negotiation we signed to them. GEP later told us that they had no particular expectation that BBT would record a strong album at that stage. They had heard our previous demos but didn't feel they added up to much. In Mike Holmes' words, they felt we had been beamed up and replaced by space aliens.
We understand that point of view; Age of Steam was a big leap forward for us. However, we would argue that there were signs of progress, compositionally, on The Infant Hercules. Furthermore, the demo recording of the album which we made prior to going into the studio was about 90% complete in terms of the final product. The immediate-impact stuff, the big vocal parts for example, were absent, but the detail of the album was all there.
Goodbye to the Age of Steam was released in Europe in 1994. Two years later the CD was licensed for a Japanese release with a bonus track, Two Poets Meet, taken from the sessions for the next album, English Boy Wonders.
Gregory Spawton
>>> Other Recordings