Was there anyone you tried to get for Opal but couldn’t?
At one point I thought I would love to have Joan Armatrading on the label! I know that sounds a bit random, but I really admired her work. But I don’t think we ever made any approach to her. Mostly, it would be just people I already knew – like Jon Hassell, who was really one of a kind.
Hassell was another very uncompromising character…
Oh my gosh… I mean, we were very close friends, but bloody hell! He could have had such a happier life if he hadn’t been so paranoid. He worked with so many people who really believed in him and did everything to support him, and he always thought, ‘They’re trying to take over my life.’
That Joan Armatrading album from 1976. In my days as a student, in the second half of the 70s, music was delivering one milestone after the other. The golden age. So, sometimes you got a great record, but it didn‘t stay too long for a deeper relationship. You were riding the wave too fast.
From the two or three albums I then bought from her, this was one. I really loved. She could, in her own delicate style, dig as deep into personal affairs and other humans‘ stories like, say, Joni Mitchell. And now, by some special circumstances, I got this rather expensive vinyl remaster for free (from Intervention Records), and I put it on a really good record player – and I was smiling. Gosh.
This IS a stunner, with an unsurpassable, natural sound. The voice in the room, the instruments, their transparency! Not one of those albums craving for attention.
What a lovely interview with Brian. The comment on Jon Hassell is well described. A few good people were supporting him in so many different ways. The ones that didn´t nescessarily care were closer to him. While the ones who really loved him he pushed away. Peter Freeman, Jon´s loyal bassplayer was another person who really cared. I recently met with composer Elliott Sharp in Frankfurt who sent me the previously unreleased album by Peter. Elliott helped putting it out after Peter´s passing. Strange that Jon, Peter and Dino (J.A. Deane) all passed away within a period of a few months.
last weekend I also met Peter Schwalm at the F.I.M festival in Frankfurt . He was happy that Opal decided to reissue Drawn From Life. A thing of beauty.
3 Kommentare
flowworker
The whole interview with Eno on re-launching Opal Records and much more csn be read in the December edition of UNCUT.
The small excerpt I posted will get a its own little „epilogue“ soon.
m.e.
flowworker
EPILOGUE 1:
https://www.manafonistas.de/2023/03/01/summer-in-the-city-1990/
EPILOGUE 2:
From an old „Manafonistas Post“
That Joan Armatrading album from 1976. In my days as a student, in the second half of the 70s, music was delivering one milestone after the other. The golden age. So, sometimes you got a great record, but it didn‘t stay too long for a deeper relationship. You were riding the wave too fast.
From the two or three albums I then bought from her, this was one. I really loved. She could, in her own delicate style, dig as deep into personal affairs and other humans‘ stories like, say, Joni Mitchell. And now, by some special circumstances, I got this rather expensive vinyl remaster for free (from Intervention Records), and I put it on a really good record player – and I was smiling. Gosh.
This IS a stunner, with an unsurpassable, natural sound. The voice in the room, the instruments, their transparency! Not one of those albums craving for attention.
Jan Bang
Dear Michael,
What a lovely interview with Brian. The comment on Jon Hassell is well described. A few good people were supporting him in so many different ways. The ones that didn´t nescessarily care were closer to him. While the ones who really loved him he pushed away. Peter Freeman, Jon´s loyal bassplayer was another person who really cared. I recently met with composer Elliott Sharp in Frankfurt who sent me the previously unreleased album by Peter. Elliott helped putting it out after Peter´s passing. Strange that Jon, Peter and Dino (J.A. Deane) all passed away within a period of a few months.
last weekend I also met Peter Schwalm at the F.I.M festival in Frankfurt . He was happy that Opal decided to reissue Drawn From Life. A thing of beauty.
x
j