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Time Past And Time Passing - Sweet Powder - Wedding Band - And Then There Were Three

Wrytree Drift 2010

Wrytree Drift named after the mine (now closed) halfway down the drive to the Chapman's farm, the same workings that inspired Michaels song Prospector from 1979. Michael alternates between electric and acoustic guitars with plenty of 'hows he doing that' moments. The music shifts and drifts from folk ballads to languid dub, dark electric blues and solo guitar work outs. The album opens with a wonderful observational song 'Another Song'. A classic Chapman track in the making. The album showcases a studio version of So Young a track recorded on Michaels live album with Alamo Leal, a dark revist of Soulfull Lady, and a great take on Mose Allison's Parchman Farm (inspiring the sleeve photo of Michael captured as if in a deep south jail sewing mailbags) and a beautiful acoustic folk rock version of Blue Season from Life On The Ceiling. Elements of the experimental music from Sweet Powder, the playing on Time Past and Time Passing and the textures of Plaindealer combine to make a highly recommended listen.

Memories and Farewells Diz Disley 1931 - 2010

Memories and Farewells - Lesley Duncan 1943 - 2010

Memories of NY Feb 2010

Memories of Michael and Andru's dates and time in NY click here to read more

And Then There Were Three Live in Nottingham 1977

These are now available via the secure shop page priced £9.99 plus postage with usual rates to UK, Europe and the Rest Of The World. click here

• In The Valley
• Rock ’N Roll Jigley/Party Pieces
• Kodak Ghosts
• The Hero Returns
• Among The Trees
• Dog’s Got More Sense
• How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live?
• Sea Of Wine
• It Didn’t Work Out
• Time Is Tight

Recorded at Nottingham’s Playhouse Theatre on July 23rd 1977 by Michael and a power house rhythm section in Lindisfarne bassist Rod Clements and former John Mayall drummer Keef Hartley, it includes some of his best-loved songs in “And There Were Three” (MSMCD151) - a jocular reference to Chapman’s shrinking band, described nonetheless by note writer Marc Higgins as a ‘beast with three heads’.

On ‘In The Valley’, Michael’s guitar, dexterous and assured, instantly recognizable, and new and strange, shimmers around the snapping beat. Chapman called them a nods ‘n winks band and telepathy is evident in the tempo shift from the frenetic ‘Rock ‘n Roll Jigley’ into ‘Party Pieces’ as his effected vocal and a treacherous rhythm evoke inebriation.

The anthems continue with ‘Kodak Ghosts’ and ‘Among The Trees’ as Chapman picks apart his regrets to find small crumbs of comfort. From ‘The Man Who Hated Mornings’, the album they were touring, comes ‘Dogs Got More Sense’, another exercise in simple truth through excess. This track sees Michael’s guitar solo and Clements’ on a very ‘lead’ sounding bass, blow apart any vestiges of folk.

‘How Can A Poor Man’, an oldie even then, documents the US dust bowl depression. Michael makes it relevant in the power starved, strike ridden ‘70s and it’s cuttingly current now.

The concert opener ‘In The Valley’ appears as a glorious flowing acoustic version on 2009’s “Time Past And Time Passing”  

‘Sea of Wine’ charted waters that Chapman, living the romantic ‘road weary musician’ lifestyle, knew like the back of his hand. Unfazed by the audience, the band push the song almost to breaking point, with a real sense in the middle, that even they haven’t decided where they’re going next.

Michael recalls concerts when he and Keef vacated the stand for the bar, leaving Rod to solo to the edge and beyond, just to see what would happen. Clements would, Chapman somewhat surreally claims, end up filling time by playing hymns.

‘It Didn’t Work Out’, a tight roaring tale of a failure to write a song, rises from the shards via a drum solo and some solo bass that stops just short of being ecclesiastical.
 
The set ends with Booker T’s ‘Time Is Tight’ and Chapman, rapping with the audience in Duke Ellington mode, an MC in every sense.

release date March 22nd 2010

First ever commercial release of a great live performance with band including Rod Clements (Lindisfarne) and Keef Hartley (John Mayall, Keef Hartley Band) Collectable 6-panel digipack with previously unpublished period photographs in a limited  pressing of 1000 units

more information - www.marketsquarerecords.co.uk

MH 01/10

Journeyman Workshop

click here to visit a report on the Journeyman Guitar Workshop that took place in Sheffield in November

Tim Hart 1948 - 2009

Tim Hart who as part of a duo with Maddy Prior was one of the original founders of Steeleye Span in 1969. Tim was a talented singer and instrumentalist. His distinctive vocals were part of Steeleye until his retirement from music in 1983. Apart from an appearance at a historic Span gig in 1995 and a turn with Maddy at the Electric Proms in 2008 Tim spent his time on the Canary Isles persuing an interest in photography.

MH 12/09

Jack Rose 1971 - 2009

Michael met Jack a few years ago and they clicked as people and as players. Kindered spirts in the way that they straddled genres and refused to be classified. Anyone what wants to hear cutting edge acoustic music and an inventive player should seek out his recordings. Michael and Andru, tonight in the Borders and Dublin respectively will be raising a glass to Jack who died earlier today following a heart attack

MH 05/12/0

215

Including new songs and a storming instrumental guitar workout 'Two Trains' that closed the show in Redbourn last week, Michael has a new album mostly recorded. As yet untitled but likely to be called 215 after the antique Gibson 215 electric guitar he recorded with. After the thick textures of Sweet Powder and the acoustic mastery of Time Past And Time Passing this promises to be an album of electric guitar with the jazzy ambience of the Gibson that has featured in live sets this year.

MH 11/09

In The Can

Michael has a number of projects on the go at the moment. He is putting together a limited edition 3 album set including a live album. The set in a metal box will be called In The Can and limited to 200 copies, more information when content and a release date is finalised.

In Concert Live Album "And Then There Were Three"

Market Square Records are releasing a live in concert cd of Michael Chapmans live trio that included Keef Hartley and Rod Clements. The set taped for Radio in Nottingham in the mid 70s includes band versions of In The Valley, It Didnt Work Out, Kodak Ghosts, Party Pieces, Among The Trees and others. CD will be released late 2009 early 2010 more information when we have it.

MH 09 09
“Journeyman” Develop your songwriting (explore origins of Michaels songs and inspiration) and your playing skills  

John Martyn 1948 - 2009

Life go easy on me....love don't pass me by

It was with great sadness and personal memories of sitting on the floor in the concert hall at Leeds Uni while that huge guitar sound crashed and echoed around us, that we heard this morning of the passing of John Martyn. John was a unique vocalist, a guitar master a writer of future folk standards and just like Michael the king of surreal between song banter. May you never indeed

Front Room Masters Fairview Studios

Available now is a double cd of tracks recorded at the legendary Fairview Studios where Michael recorded his first tracks and later recorded material for albums like Looking For Eleven. The CD features tracks by The Rats, Basil Kirchin, Mandy And The Girlfriends and others. Great sleeve notes and two exclusive Chapman tracks. There are no session dates on the CD, but I would date the versions of On My Way Again (only otherwise available as a session outtake from the1970 Window sessions on the German reissue of Rainmaker) and Goodbye To Monday Night from 1966-67. On My Way Again is a solo performance, Monday Night features backing from Fairview session players that I would guess include Rick Kemp.

to learn more and purchase cd

Happy New Year 2009

Happy 2009 from Michael and Andru

Time Past And Time Passing

Just when you thought you had it all figured out, along comes another release. Its title is a quote from Postcards Of Scarborough, the album is a stripped back guitar led showcase of new recordings of classic material. There are some new combinations and a new tune. Released on the Electric Ragtime label in the USA, this is a manifesto or a shop window to re-introduce Michael to a wider public in America. Currently only available in the US, or from Michael at gigs, we are looking at UK distribution. Michael has been very excited by the profile the release gave him there during his recent tour, being interviewed by and playing with Thurston Moore and going into CD shops and seeing a Michael Chapman section 'first time since I cant remember when'.

Strangers Map of Texas / The Twisted Road Sometimes Fahey's Dance Ponchatoulah Dewsbury Road / That Time of Night Little Molly's Dream

In the Valley Caddo Lake Memphis in Winter Silverking / Dust Devils Vanity & Pride

"Chapman is an old-school hero of the British folk movement, right up there with John Martyn, Bert Jansch and Nick Drake. But unlike those guys the mind-blowing guitarist has always sounded as if he could've been born and raised in Texas or even Tennessee. With its Western-inspired soundscapes, Time Past & Time Passing is pure Americana. Chapman even has a raspy, time-worn drawl that would sound right at home in a campfire jam session with gritty dudes like Guy Clark and Kris Kristofferson."

Justin Farrar Rhapsody

A rather underrated figure here in the U.S., Michael Chapman is to my mind one of the essential figures to come out of the early seventies British folk rock scene, whose best work is easily on par with that of Bert Jansch, Roy Harper, John Martyn, Bill Fay, etc. His gruff and laconic singing style is instantly recognizable, and his skill on the guitar has only gotten better with age. He made a rare trip to the states a couple years back and recorded a session with former Other Music employee Rob Hatch-Miller for his WFMU program that totally bowled me over; I just could not get over how freaking great he still was, and a burn of that show ended up being one of the things I listened to most that year. I'm happy to report that he has an excellent new album of mostly solo acoustic guitar tracks, and I'll be frank, he can play circles around most of the current crop of fingerpickers. He's really become as good as Fahey was in his prime, and that's not just hyperbole.

Michael Klausman (October 10, 2008)

Michael Chapman was, in the late 60s and early 70s, a well-established figure in the Brit folk nobility along with a number of even larger figures like Roy Harper, Bert Jansch, and John Martyn. Chapman attracted the attention of high-level players along the lines of Mick Ronson (Bowie & Spiders), Paul Buckmaster (better known for arranging), Gus Dudgeon (big time producer), Rick Kemp (Steeleye Span), Rod Clements & Ray Laidlaw (Lindisfarne), and so on. For three major labels, he put out eight well-regarded LPs that slowly wended their way to a more rock-ish sound, Afterwards came a fade into the alt market where he returned to folk and composed much more instrumentally, which this CD emphasizes beautifully…to the surprise of cats like me who have his early output and hadn't expected it at all.

Chapman has a marvelous fingerpicking style that slips in between Jansch, Ralph McTell, Al Stewart, Peter Lang, John Fahey, and the more prosaic players favoring slowly evolving patterns and sonic stories rather than lightning riffs and bizarre tempi. The guy's now 67 and has developed a very masterful hand, confident, lithe, measuring itself by the richness and expressiveness of lines put through often trance-ily fascinating changes. There are, however, several vocal cuts, mostly in a sprechestimmish tone, redolent not only of worldliness but weariness as well, always a good combination in folk and blues.

Speaking of blues, a couple of times Chapman demonstrates the same raw and rootsy immediacy of a Bernie Pearl, especially when playing slide, though most of the album is serene, sometimes jazzily fractured, folk and quasi-classically chamberish, modern instrumentation with elder values. Since 1969, the guy has put out 32 releases, no small feat. On this one, as I also suspect is the case in much of his recenter output, you get just him and his guitars along with an effects pedal or two, and the result couldn't be more pleasing.

Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange Mark S. Tucker

Michael Chapman is one of those musicians I’ve long heard of but never actually heard. Wow, that’s been my loss, but also now a great discovery. Courtesy of my friend Howard Wuelfing comes Chapman’s newest album, Time Past  & Time Passing. It’s a stripped-down affair, with just Chapman on acoustic guitar and singing. The recording is intimate and warm with a sparkle of reverb here and there.

An extremely versatile player, Chapman is adept at “British-style” finger picking as well as Delta blues and slide, and his voice has a weathered, oak-y quality like a well-aged single malt whisky. That quality comes across markedly on the terrific “Sometimes,“ a visceral examination of life’s ups and downs with some nifty fretwork. Chapman can also get down and dirty on the axe, such as on the tribute to fellow fingerpicker and seminal acoustic guitarist John Fahey on “Fahey’s Flag,” a gut-bucket, slide blues workout. “Ponchatoula,” by contrast, is a peaceful, lullaby-ish interlude.

Chapman has the rare ability to write not just great songs but great instrumentals. Case in point is the phenomenal “Caddo Lake,” a heartbreakingly gorgeous guitar tune - one of my favorites ever. “Silver King/Dust Devils” is a joyous ragtime-like romp that recalls Piedmont pickers like the Reverend Gary Davis. “Vanity & Pride” is another instrumental that brings the album to a shimmering end, sounding something like Pat Metheny.

If, like me, you’ve never heard Chapman previously, this album is a great place to start. Then, you can go back to a substantial catalog, including celebrated albums such as 1970’s Fully Qualified Survivor, voted by legendary British DJ John Peel as his favorite record of the year. I’m looking forward to more discoveries.

classicrockmusicblog.com

Veteran British guitarist Michael Chapman produces a beautifully moving and harmonic little gem with his simply lovely latest album. Chapman’s wonderfully hoarse and weary voice conveys a wealth of hard-won wisdom and ragged emotion while his sharp, fluid and skillful guitar playing never hits a single false or flat note. Moreover, his songwriting has a maturity and thoughtfulness that’s a real pleasure to hear. The slowly trudging tempos and subdued, yet steady beats keep things laid-back, yet still tuneful throughout. Better still, such songs as “Sometimes,” “That Time of Night,” and “Memphis in Winter” have a serenely reflective and straightforward quality that’s downright sublime in its eloquent simplicity and delicate melodicism. A sparkling jewel of an album.

Jersey Beat

Sweet Powder

So History became history. Not wanting to make 'just another' Michael Chapman album Michael wanted to involve another producer. Alex Warnes owner of Phoenix Michael's prefered studios spent a night hunched over a hot studio desk, pouring on uniqueness to prove that he should be the another producer, strenghtening a working relationship that goes back 20 years. The concept of the history / simple stream of recording remains with revists of classic Chapman material and some covers of influencial material, but the sound on Sweet Powder is startling and contempory. It may devide listeners, it may turn out to be a classic it may appeal to a whole new set of new fans

click to visit secure online sales page - vist Sweet Powder page

The Wedding Band CD

Michael Chapman playing a funky electric with Roy Whyke and Jeff Betsworth (Drums and Pedal Steel) from his Americana and Plaindealer albums with Dave Lewis on Bass recorded live straight to DAT so digital all the way at The Maze in Nottingham Autumn 2006 Superb recordings of a live gig. Great playing with a great small band, superb interplay between the pedal steel and Michae'ls guitar. CD is brand new released on Michaels own Rural Retreat Records click to visit secure online sales page 05/07

How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times As These That Time Of Night Sometimes The Prospector Sea Of Wine Bon Ton Roolay Twisted Road Ramon And Durango Shuffleboat River Farewell Soulful Lady Geordies Down The Road Blue For You (Instrumental)

History CD

Michael's ongoing studio work has now become two albums. History is a studio album and Michael is so pleased with the live recordings from Nottingham that they are going to be their own as yet untitled album. Michael played with a trio (Bass Drums and Pedal Steel) and loud shirt and played an excellent set, so this should be well worth a listen.

Myspace - Fullyqualifiedsurvivor

Michael now has his own Myspace http://www.myspace.com/fullyqualifiedsurvivor. Couldn't have michaelchapman apparently that is already taken, as alternative fqs seemed to have the right resonance. We have a regularly changing selection of Chapman album tracks, live tracks and rarities to listen to.

Imaginational Anthem Volume Two Tompkins Square Records

1. James Blackshaw - River of Heaven 2. Peter Lang - Future Shot at the Rainbow 3. Jose Gonzalez - Suggestions 4. Jesse Sparhawk - Light Cycle/Tetrahedra 5. Michael Chapman - Leaving The Apple 6. Sean Smith - What Blooms in Summer Dies in Winter 7. Fred Gerlach - Devil's Brew 8. Christina Carter - Ascend Mem 9. Jack Rose - Cross The North Fork II 10. Billy Faier - New World Coming 11. Sharron Kraus - Looking For The Hermit's Cave 12. Robbie Basho - Kowaka D'Amour

Michael has contributed a typically atmospheric instrumental playing acoustic and electric lead to the 2nd volume of the cult US compilation Imaginational Anthem. The track leaving the apple was inspired by leaving New York.

Volume One brought together guitar players like Jack Rose, the incredibly dexterous Kaki KIng and veterans like John Fahey. Volume One had a later UK release, but vol 2 is currently only available in the US, but can be purchased on the internet. Got mine via ebay. The lavishly packaged collection (nice photo of Michael tending the cows, doing his best to look as unlike a legendary acoustic guitarist as possible) brings together expansive instrumentals that range from pastoral to decidedly avant gaude.

More Reissues - Millstone Grit - Lost

I have just completed collaborative sleeve notes with John Tobler for BGO's reissue of Millstone Grit following on from their excellent reissues of Rainmaker, Fully Qualified Survivor, Window and Wrecked Again. BGO Records.

Michael is also releasing via his own Rural Retreat Records a set of lost recordings from the early 90s. These include big production band versions of Geordies Down The Road, Elinkine, Falling From Grace, Fool In The Night and others. The recordings feature some stinging electric lead playing from Michael in what he called Carlos Santana mode and beautiful acoustic as always.

The version of Geordie is unique, with samples, programming and evil guitar, sounding like it was recorded in a foundry. Titled Lost after its current state this unique document is available now

MH 07 06

40 Years On The Road Tour

To celebrate 40 years of playing live professionally Michael is doing what he is calling the 40 Years On The Road tour. Michael is practicing some of the material he played on his first dates and is threatening to revisit some obscure material. Keep checking the concerts page as dates are still being added.

Tour T Shirts from The Bus Pass Mini Tour are available via the online sales page. See you at The Half Moon Putney

Michael Chapman's Albums of the Year

On the stereo this at the Farm recently have been Bill Frisell's East West (an amazing live cd recorded on the east and west coasts of the USA, mix of Frisells own originals and some surprising covers - great deconstructed version of I Heard It Through The Grapevine). Mary Gauthier, Filth And Fire ( fine vocalist and songwriter, Christmas In Paradise is a great festive song), Bobby Charles, Last Train To Memphis, Arvo Part, Fratres, Buddy Miller, Universal House Of Prayer, Jimmy Giuffre, The Easy Way, Dwight Yoakam, Dwight Live, Charlie Christian, The Genius Of The Electric Guitar. How does this compare to your list

Words Fail Me

Following his dates in the US, playing a set of slightly avant garde instrumental dates Michael has recorded a double album of his instrumental pieces, revisiting his material as far back as Thank You PK 1944. The recordings are solo guitar recordings with no over dubs. Michael notes that fired up from a runs of American gigs his playing was top notch, the tracks were laid down quickly and included many first takes. The album is to be called Words Fail Me.

We are now also selling the Live At The White Swan cd of Michael live with Alamo Leal on second guitar. This is available on the online sales page.

mh 12 05.

Bus Pass Tour

Michael is already putting together a few dates around his 65th Birthday (24 01 41) for what he is calling the bus pass tour

mh 02 08 05

CD Re-releases

The rights for Navigation (1995) and The Twisted Road (1999) have just reverted to Michael. Both are excellent albums and both will be available here via the online sales page from late August. Michael is currently ammending the sleeve art and working on the masters. Also in the pipeline is a live cd of solo Michael Chapman taken from a very rare double live cd he did with Alamo Leal the blues guitarist and singer. There were only a handful of copies of the cd made up by Fairview Studios with three being auctioned for charity last summer. These recordings will feature just the tracks where Michael is playing solo and should be available again via the secure sales page later this summer

mh 02 08 05

Chapman rarities of the future.

Alex at Phoenix Studios, where Michael records, has added the website address to the already reworked sleeves of The Black And White Album, Plaindealer and Live And Unhinged. This means that there are about 20-30 copies of Black and White in existance with the picture of Michael in the Jimmie Rogers Museum on gatefold sleeve but without the web address at the base of the sleeve. OK so a bit anoraky, but it does make you think.

mh 02 08 05

Online Sales Summer 2005

www.michaelchapman.co.uk is now set up for secure online sales. At the moment the Plaindealer Michael Chapman Shop (no prizes for guessing where I borrowed the graphic from) is stocked with Plaindealer, Michael Chapman The Black And White Album, Live And Unhinged and some unplayed signed vinyl copies of Heartbeat on the Coda label. The CDs are £12 with different rates of postage for UK, Europe and ROW (rest of world). Secure payment is through paypal and you will need to be set up with them to send payment (70 million worldwide users they say). We are also selling copies through ebay if you are set up with them but do not wish to use paypal then you can pay via cheque, postal orders or cash.

michael chapman shop

visit our pages on ebay - search on ebay for michael chapman (UK) - search on ebay for michael chapman (international)

Plaindealer

Michael''s latest is now titled Plaindealer after an American newspaper he found and is released through his own Rural Retreat Records. The album is available at gigs and is available here with secure online payment

click here for a track by track review

MH

Bare Knuckle Records Compilation with Michael Chapman track

have found an otherwise unreleased / unavailable Michael Chapman track on a compilation by a Jersey based label called Bare Knuckle Records.

http://www.bareknucklerecords.com/new_bomp.htm

at the bottom of this page there is a running order and a link to a streamed (but thin sounding) version of the track to whet your appetite the track must date from michaels live dates on the isles.

Dont attempt to use paypal to buy the cd, the company no longer exists and so obviously doesnt mail out

Wrytree Drift

The latest on Michael's album is that the sessions have grown to 2 albums. The first is an album now titled Wrytree Drift Interestingly the drift is the mine mine that runs close to Michael's farm. Life On The Ceiling's Prospector was written around its origins and now this album's title marks its closing a couple of years ago. This one is almost finished except for some tweeking on Deportees recorded with vocals by Maddy Prior that doesnt sound ethereal enough yet.

Streamline train (trad) a homage to the vipers Where does that leave me Anniversary a very early song long forgotten rediscovered by Michael via the Growing Pains albums Ramon and durango Georgia Gibson Deportees (Woody Guthrie)

Midnight ride an ancient bbc session recorded at last Three Sisters Youth is wasted on the young Victory and defeat Bon ton roolay a new recording where Michael samples the bass part off an earlier unreleased version from his album with Richie Close Whispered Evidence

Michael has also lined up studio time for Simple a album of covers recorded solo just guitar and vocals. Tracks lined up include Nick Drakes Which Will originally recorded for the first album and I Want A Little Girl by Jimmy Rushing

October 2005 Singer Songwriters In The Round - Peter Bruntnell Michael Chapman & Janis Haves

After the amazing successes of the Singer Songwriters In The Round gigs last year. High profile gigs and excellent reviews. Janis, Michael and Peter are teaming up again. Dates are being booked now by Adrian Melling (MD of Planet Records who released Navigation in 1995 and who now runs Pendle Hawk Music Distribution) 01282 866 317

Simple by Rod Clements

Posted by Rod on 22/3/2005, 12:00 pm,

Oh, all right then! On January 24th (Michael Chapman's birthday, as it happens) I answered his summons and went via his house (to collect him) to his friendly local recording studio in Brampton, Cumbria. The recordings I was to play on were 90% completed but Michael wanted me to add some electric slide to a couple of tracks and a bass part (replacing his own original) to one of them. This I did, using my Strat and a bass that was hanging on the studio wall. As I'd brought the dobro (just in case), Michael identified an additional track that it could work on, so I played on that as well. I don't know what any of the songs were called but they sounded fine. If you're an MC fan you won't be disappointed, and if you haven't heard him yet you should check him out.

Job done, we went back chez Chapman and thence to the Centre of Britain in Haltwhistle for a birthday tea in a party which included Andru (Mrs MC), Marie, Maddy Prior and Rick Kemp, and a grand time was had by all.

This is reprinted from Rod Clements' own website which is well worth a look

rod clements site

very vibrant notice board

MH 30 03 05

Simple (anything but no doubt)

Michael is currently in the studio recording a new album. Titled after an instrumental it features some new songs. Some covers including Woody Guthries deportees, which I saw Michael play with Dave Gardner, . A studio version of Anniversary and a reworking of Bon Ton Roolay. Jeff Betts again appears on pedal steel and hopefully Maddy Prior and Rose Kemp will add vocals to Deportees.

Last time I spoke to Michael, he said that Rod Clements had been adding some guitar and bass parts to the tracks for the album. Rod & Michael first played live together during the 70s and recorded together on The Man Who Hated Mornings and Looking For Eleven.

Ramon and durango Where does that leave me Anniversary Streamline train (trad) Simple (instrumental) Deportees (Woody Guthrie)

Midnight ride Which will (Nick Drake) Youth is wasted on the young Victory and defeat I want a little girl (Jimmy Rodgers) Bon ton roolay

 

John Peel 1939 - 2004

John Peel dj at Radio one since the begining and unerring champion of the alternative side of ccutting edge music has died while on holiday in Peru. John was a champion of Michael Chapman in the early days. Such was the frequency with which Michael sessioned on the Peel show or the regularity that John played Chapman tracks that people wrongly presumed they were great mates. The music was their only connection and Michael recalls only ever meeting Peel once.

John listed Fully Qualified Survivor among his three favourite albums of 1970, Postcards Of Scarborough was listed in his Peelenium a look back at the 20th ccentury in music. More recently John had played Postcards one of his wife Sheila's favourite tracks as a get well while she herself had being recovering from serious illness.

full obituary and more news within bbc site

mh 26 10 04

reissues: Rainmaker Fully Qualified Survivor Window Wrecked Again

BGO records' Rainmaker / Fully Qualified Survivor double cd set is now in the shops. The set features new comprehensive sleeve notes, excellent quality remastering and an excellent reproductions of the sleeves.

BGO link

Window the final chapter....

Bizarrely some 34 years after EMI accidently pressed it up unfinished Michael has gone back into the studio to 'finish' Window. It was he says a strange experience listening to 'dead people on the between track studio chatter (Gus Dudgeon producer, Robin Cable engineer and Richie Dharma drummer are all no longer with us). The resulting cd features extensively tweeked recordings with Michaels guitar restored (contempory reviews of the album commented unfavourably on the thin or invisible guitar. Changes have been made to Among The Trees and other tracks. 6.15 has some of the more 'relaxed' vocals removed, Michael couldnt even find Andrus and Arthur Dog's vocals on the track masters, suggesting that EMI may not have even used the correct masters anyhow.

Also added are unreleased takes of On My Way Again substantially different to the version released as an extra track on the Rainmaker cd in 1998 and a solo recording of Hobo's Lamentations recorded at the sessions. The completed tapes are with Michaels publishers but there is no release date or label as yet

Simple

After a long block Michael has starting writing songs again. Out getting coal a song recalling touring in Spain dropped into his head. He excitedly reports having other bits of songs on the go and having rediscovered 'Youth is wasted on the young' and another song he recorded with Thurston Moore and Jim O'Rourke for the Thurston and English project. Michael is booked into the studio at the end of this month to work on an album he has titled 'Simple' after a new instrumental piece

reissues: Michael Chapman Dangerous When Sober An Alternative History

Sanctuary Records are putting out a Michael Chapman compilation on 23 08 04. It is titled Michael Chapman Dangerous When Sober An Alternative History. It is an excellent title, the double set features photos from Michaels personal collection and images from my own archives, but it is as a glance at the running order below will show a tasteful cherry pick through the 3 albums that Michael released through Mooncrest (Growing Pains Volume One, Growing Pains Volume Two and the expanded reissue of Pleasures Of The Street.

So an excellent set with some fine photos if you dont have the Mooncrest cds or like me are a completist. But otherwise it contains fine material (acoustic live stuff from the late sixties and early seventies), the Fairview demos - Michaels earliest available recordings, fine mid seventies live recordings from Hamburg and the studio live set by a version of the Chapman big band, taken from the Mooncrest cds. Michael is talking to Sanctuary / Castle Music about putting out Growing Pains Volume 3 a collection of collaborations with people like Rick Kemp and Maddy Prior as a future possibility. Sanctuary with their excellent distribution and high presence may result in a raised profile for Michael and some good reviews though

MH 07 04

link to Sanctuary Records Group