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After recording all of our albums up to and including "First Under The Wire" in Melbourne, Australia, Little River Band decided it was time to record their next project overseas away from any of the usual distractions connected with recording at home. At the time we considered various producers and their studios of preference but it finally came down to George Martin, of The Beatles fame, and Air Studios on the island of Montserrat in the West Indies. Because of its remote location, Air Studios Montserrat was an all-inclusive deal, meaning that accommodation, food and transport on the island were all provided. The only way to get there was to fly on a major airline to Antigua and then catch a commuter plane to Montserrat. I fell in love with the place and seriously considered buying property there at the time. Some of the other personnel who worked at Air Studios already owned property there. The vegetation is a green I've never seen anywhere else in the world and the terrain is mountainous. Most of the villas are painted in bright colors and are built with their own private swimming pools. The windows are without glass because of the even island temperature year round and I can remember when it rained, the clattering sound it made outside my bedroom window sounded twice as loud to my ears. We burned mosquito coils at night to ward off the "mossies" and while we were at the studio recording, maids would come in and clean our villas.
Despite the fact that Time Exposure would give us three more top twenty hits, we were not a happy band at the time. We had recorded five studio albums in five years and toured nonstop to promote them. Glenn Shorrock had suggested we take a year off before going back in to record another studio album and in hindsight, I think we should have done just that. Whereas Graeham and I were able to be productive by continuing to write songs on the road, Glenn needed time off to write new material. The songs offered for this particular album were sub-standard in my opinion and it was very obvious that Glenn didn't connect with them.
The tension between us reflects the final outcome on the album. At first everything proceeded quite well as we recorded our basic tracks with George and Geoff Emerick, his recording engineer, but it wasn't long before the band split into several factions and came in to record only when required. George Martin worked most the day shift with Geoff Emerick. Ernie Rose, our long-time sound engineer both in the studio as well as on the road, worked the nighttime shift and from memory, I think most of our vocals were recorded at night with Ernie because we all felt totally at ease with him. Despite the fact that Geoff Emerick had been the Beatles' recording engineer, we were disappointed with the sounds we were getting on this new Little River Band album. We felt the sound was dated. However, despite all the turmoil, the experience of being on the island of Montserrat was absolutely magic. I joined the Martin family by going to church at Easter in a High Church of England service. The church, a magnificent old stone building, also without windows, was filled with the natives of Montserrat singing in their beautiful voices as the church leaders walked down the aisles from the back of the church to the altar, waving their incense-filled sconces. These are the kind of memories I will never forget.
Later, when I had recorded my song, "Guiding Light" for the album and George said he would score and record the string quartet for the song in London, he signed his book "All You Need Is Ears" to Donna and me. His inscription reads, "Beeb and Donna - hope you enjoyed my 'guiding light' as much as I have enjoyed yours - Judy and George Martin". Donna and Hannah flew in to join me once the band had completed most of the tracks and we have some wonderful memories of our time on Montserrat. |
