Music: Songs.

Instrumentals

Country Jogger

Little Britley

From “Slick”

Calliope Theme

Songs

The Taxmen

The Butterfly Effect

X-It

Solo Work

From “Slick”

Humorous Songs

Jesus…

(is gonna save me).

Hesser and Darke’s

House of Nutters.

Saddam, bad man.

The Bush Tango.

The Stinky-Pants Fairy.

 

 

 

Back in the band days, coming over all Woody Allen in Egypt.

 

The Taxmen.

Gigging 1999-2001.

This was my final attempt at being a rock star!  A fourpiece band consisting of me, Ben Francis, Neil Shervell, and Chris Gambold.  The tracks I’ve selected also feature guest musicians too numerous to mention other than to say they’re all super chaps and it wouldn’t sound half as good without them.

   

Listen to “Beautiful”.

Listen to “Nightingale”.

Listen to “The Love I Have”.

 

The Butterfly Effect.

Gigging 1992-1995.

We came so close to a deal with the Butterfly Effect: Six record labels interested, a large following, and a band tightened by playing across Europe.  There were two songwriters, myself and Alex Street, who co-wrote some of the below.  The band was rounded off by Fogan on drums, Dave on bass and my sister Ali whose angelic tones can be heard on many of the tracks on this page.  Like the White Stripes, only bigger.

   

From Caned and Able:

Listen to “I want to be free”.

Listen to “Each and Every Time”.

Listen to “Stupid People”.

Listen to “Unshaken”.

Listen to “Twisted”.

Previously Unreleased:

Listen to “Turn Off Your Screen”.

Listen to “White Funky Saviour”.

Listen to “Twice Divine”.

 

X-It.

Gigging 1988-1991.

My first proper band (the only one I was the right age in).  The production’s clunky and loose – it was all analogue back then and the studio used to run on steam – but there’s a vigour to the music that more than makes up for it, and by the time we recorded these songs for our third self-released album “Are we having fun yet?”, we were working as a tight unit.  The personnel were Mark Johnston, James Davis, and Steve Greene, all brave men and true.

   

Listen to “Adult Love”.

Listen to “Always in your Arms”.

Listen to “Ha Ha Ha”.

Listen to “Sgt. Major”.

 

Solo Work.

Written but (as yet) unsold..

These two pieces are here because the first one is my personal favourite of all my songs, and the second is an example of my writing for other lyricists – it’s a section of the Odyssey set to music for a stage production.  Both these tracks feature my sister’s startling vocals.

   

Listen to “You don’t know what love is”.

Listen to “Siren Song”.

 

Songs from Slick

From “Slick”, 1992-1995.

Slick, which was written with James Spink, was a response to the first Gulf War.  I feel this project is even more relevant today (2003) with a second Bush in the White House, and the oil-men in charge in Iraq.  The first two songs are from Act One (the comedy act) and the second are from Act Two (where things get suddenly very serious).  The two singers on “Promise Me” are Ben Francis and Lorna Forsythe.  Some of the recordings are hissy with age, but it’s the song that counts!

   

Listen to “Saddam, Bad Man”.

Listen to “The Bush Tango”.

Listen to “Promise Me”.

Listen to “Liberate Kuwait”.