40 years ago: Phil Collins and Eric Clapton record their little-known duet in Montserrat

It's a familiar story: A global pop/rock icon who was prominent in the 1970s is now struggling to find a place among the new sounds and technologies of the 1980s and is experiencing a dip in sales. Who are you going to call? The answer is Phil Collins.  Eric Clapton, having departed RSO Records after ten years…

Knopfler’s ‘Money for Nothing’ and ‘Walk of Life’ Guitars are for sale.

A unique opportunity has arisen to own some of Mark Knopfler’s guitars and amplifiers, most notably the guitars played on the Dire Straits hits Brothers in Arms, Money for Nothing, and Walk of Life. 112 Guitars and 10 amps are being auctioned off on 31st January by Christie's in London. The most valuable is an…

40 years ago this month: OMD recorded the quintessential AIR Montserrat Album

At the end of 1983, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, or OMD for short, came to Montserrat to record their Junk Culture album. I've always thought of this as being the quintessential Montserrat album because of the way it fits into several of the narratives that surround artists who recorded there. It's a band that had enormous…

Duran Duran’s The Reflex: One of the biggest hits to come out of Montserrat

One of the biggest hit records to come out of Montserrat was Duran Duran's The Reflex, recorded in Montserrat 40 years ago this month. Or partially recorded there, anyway. Before they decided to move on, the bass and the drums were put down, along with percussion, backing voices, and other rhythms. But creating a monster…

Danny Sweeney on UK TV: Another Montserrat Documentary

I've discovered that a week before the much-hyped Ben Fogle documentary on Montserrat's Buried City was shown on Channel 5 last month, there had been another film about Montserrat broadcast. Episode 1 of series 11 of Abandoned Engineering went out on the Yesterday channel on May 15th and featured Danny Sweeney giving a tour of…

40 years ago: James Taylor in Montserrat

James Taylor is known to have visited Montserrat twice; the first time in 1979, during the recording of Jimmy Buffett’s Volcano. He has said subsequently that he drank heavily, became depressed and remembers very little about it. Taylor has been open about his struggles with depression and substance abuse throughout his career, and although his…

40 years ago: Did Status Quo end in Montserrat?

Above: Alan Lancaster Forty years ago, it was Status Quo's turn to record in Montserrat, where they recorded what bass player Alan Lancaster described as their worst ever album. It was Lancaster's last album with the band, so he was saved from some of the band's later efforts, but Back to Back, their 16th album,…

Brian Sallerson’s History of AIR Studios Montserrat: Book Review

I have finally got around to reading Brian Sallerson's recently published Island Music: The History of AIR Studios Montserrat, and what a remarkable book it is. The book captures anecdotes gathered from around 50 people who worked there or had some connection to the studio at the time. It's a history that would have been…

It’s the Music for Montserrat show tonight: Some pre-screening thoughts.

Tonight is the delayed anniversary showing of the Music for Montserrat concert, first broadcast from the Royal Albert Hall 25 years ago - Or just over 25 years. This showing has been delayed as the actual anniversary fell during a period of official mourning for our former Queen. The concert, the best of its type…

40 Years ago this Month: Wind Beneath my Wings

Call me a sentimental old fool, but I rather like Wind Beneath my Wings. Most people will know the Bette Midler version that bagged the Grammy for Best Song in 1990, but one of the earliest recordings was made by Sheena Easton 40 years ago this month in Montserrat. Easton is less interesting than some of…

Watch Under the Volcano: The Police Segments

The rather wonderful Under the Volcano, a 2021 film about Air Studios Montserrat, devotes about 16 minutes of its running time to the two Police albums recorded here. Those two sections have just appeared online, so I thought I'd share them. Ghost in the Machine https://vimeo.com/642949514 2. Synchronicity https://vimeo.com/645999355 And if you haven't read my…

The Under the Volcano Premiere: Sheena Easton Wanted How Much?

A friend of mine once responded to a match report of a Montserrat World Cup qualifier I wrote by saying that only a man could write up a football match he wasn’t at. I’m sure that’s not true, and I was mainly writing about the fact I wasn't at it. But maybe it’s a talent.…

The Calliope Crashed to the Ground: Under the Volcano – A Film Review

Sting Interviewed for the Under the Volcano in 2018 The producers managed to get all three members of the Police to appear in this documentary, along with Mark Knopfler, and Sir George Martin's family. It was a bit of a coup, and without these, it may not have been half the product that it turned…

Recorded 40 Years Ago in Montserrat. A Song for Today

I've mentioned before how I first discovered Montserrat. The Police were recording Ghost in the Machine, their first Montserrat album, in the summer of 1981, and the BBC filmed a documentary about it with a ridiculously precocious Jools Holland presenting. It's now almost exactly 40 years later, and Jools is a permanent feature on British…

The Best 1980s Albums Recorded in Montserrat

What is the best album ever recorded at Air Studios? And how do you decide? My opinion doesn't count for much, and I wouldn't impose my musical tastes on anyone. They are pretty mainstream, and whoever I like, I tend to like their earlier stuff better, which rules out a lot of Air Montserrat recordings.…

When Stevie Wonder Invented the 1980s

As Paul McCartney almost wrote: “It was 40 years ago today”. 28th February 1981 to be precise. The day Stevie Wonder recorded Ebony and Ivory with Paul McCartney in Montserrat. He was only here for a few days but helped create one of the decade's biggest-selling songs. It's hard to believe the record's success looking back…