More Album Information - Pt. III

PLAYLIST:

5. Sunny Afternoon

6. Terms & Conditions

7. Bye Bye Baby

8. The Price Of Love

"SECRET LIFE - A return to my roots as a jazz musician. I was working as a resident pianist at a hotel in central London playing a lot of Standards and arrangements of popular music. So I got the idea that maybe I should capture some of this on a CD. The arrangements vary quite widely from jazz to big-band swing and even a little bit of gospel thrown into the mix which I really enjoyed creating. The title track 'Secret Life' is my own composition and the album was recorded between RMS studios and my own home studio. As mentioned before I really enjoyed making it but unfortunately it had limited appeal to my usual fan-base I think..."

"THE STORY SO FAR - This box-set basically was initialised by the record company I was with at that time. As I was thinking about it I grew fond of the idea of bringing the music of my solo project all together to the fans that weren't aware yet that I still have a musical life outside of U.F.O. The copies of this one did sell out quickly, so I guess it was a good idea to release it ." 

"REWIND 50 - A retrospective of my recording and songwriting career as a professional musician which began way back in 1964 with Tony Jackson and the Vibrations. We got into the UK Top 20 with a cover of the Mary Wells song 'Bye Bye Baby'! That was my first taste of success and it had continued with varying degrees of success to this day. This album goes through a wide range of genres, following the path of my musical career. There is psychedelic pop with my band Plastic Penny, blues with Chicken Shack & Savoy Brown and of course hard rock or what is now referred to as 'Classic Rock' with U.F.O., MSG, Waysted and my own solo work the Paul Raymond Project." 

"UNDER THE RISING SUN - I moved to Japan in 1988 and was looking to do something different. I flew Frank DiMino out to do vocals as I was having trouble to find a singer who understood and could sing in English. Osaka guitarist Reibun Ohtani was terrific as was Masayoshi Yamashita from 'Loudness' on bass. But unfortunately back then this very first incarnation of 'PRP' didn't really get off the deck."

"RAW MATERIAL - 1990-1992 home production (hence the title)! PRP MK. II - Frank didn't come back to Japan but I was very fortunate to find a young Japanese vocalist who was perfect for the job: Aki Fukasawa. Around this time bands like The Black Crows and The Quireboys were really hitting their stride with their bluesy style of Rock'n'Roll. I got inspired and changed my direction slightly to go back to my roots... Rock'n'Roll piano, sleazy Hammond and slide guitars, pretty much the same as I had done with Savoy Brown. Unfortunately I didn't test the water to make sure that Japan was embracing that genre of music as much as the US, the UK and Europe were. Well, they weren't! But I still love these songs and included a couple of them in previous PRP live sets."

"WORLDS APART - This one was essentially a repackage of the first two PRP albums. The title I suppose was a reflection of my experiences of two so completely different cultures."

"MAN ON A MISSION - Engineered by Mick Jones and mixed by Andy Le Vien at RMS Studios, Selhurst, Surrey. Once the dust had settled after the Tokyo dust-up with Michael Schenker I woke up one morning to the realisation that there was no more U.F.O. and something had to be done! Enter Julian Artis a young entrepreneur and music fan who lived close by. Julian financed my next solo album and introduced me to a brilliant local guitarist, Andy Simmons, which was to become the beginning of a long friendship on both a musical and personal level." 

"VIRTUAL INSANITY - Almost ten years went by until Andy Simmons and I worked together again and of course it was magical. I asked him to do an instrumental for the song 'Edge Of Sanity'. What he came up with still up to this day touches my heart when I listen to it ('Edge Of Sanity - Reprise'). He always puts so many emotions into his guitar playing, it's simply beautiful. Another favourite track of mine on this album is 'Michael Caine' because I think he's one of the best British actors and movies like 'Alfie'; 'California Suite' and of course 'The Man Who Would Be King' inspired me to write this song." 

"TERMS & CONDITIONS APPLY - The title song refers to the collapse of the money markets that went on at that time. Andy Simmons created this brilliant rhythm track which I found so inspiring that I actually wrote the song in under 30 minutes, very unusual for me! 'The End Of Life As We Know It' on the other hand took me nearly 6 weeks but I think both of the songs are pretty good. Also I had a go at those Reality TV Shows full of nobodies: On 'C-List Celebrity' my ex-wife got in on the act somehow... All good fun! And of course there are the three bonus tracks, my original ideas for 'Fight Night': 'Villains & Thieves' and 'Forsaken' for the UFO albums 'The Visitor' and 'Seven Deadly' which I wanted to present in the way I wrote them."

"HIGH DEFINITION - I think this is my best solo work so far. It's my very own tribute to several very talented musicians & creative songwriters from different music genres and I have tried to give these great 'old' tunes a new spin and perhaps a Paul Raymond touch."