Hi
I've been to Paris on August 26 to meet journalist Gert Bruch for a joined
interview of keyboarder Jean Roussel at his home near Paris.
Jean is a cool guy with a very nice home.
He told us about his musical history and about recording demos with Sting
in the winter of 1980/1981.
One of the most entertaining stories was not about The Police, but about
recording No Woman No Cry for Bob Marley. This song was composed by another
guy and Bob wanted to do him a favour to earn some money. So - although he
didn't think the song was any good - he decided to include the song on his
album anyway. As the original recordings done in Jamaica were not good
enough to be released that way the songs for album were polished in London -
including Jean Roussel playing keyboards.
He had 45 minutes to do whatever he wanted on No Woman No Cry. When he had
finished the now legendary keyboard parts Bob listened to the new
recording and recognized that his original thoughts about the song were oh so
wrong. And his pal earned quite some money with the song he wrote.
Listen to the original studio version NOW!
About recording Every Little Thing with Sting. Sting was on vacation in
Canada - basically just for skiing. But the place up in the mountains where
he crashed was also a recording studio. So he did the obvious thing and
recorded demos. Jean was asked to join Sting and the owners of the studio for a
dinner and then Sting and Jean went into the studio to work on Every
Little Thing as Sting wanted to include keyboards.
Jean mentions that some studio guy interrupted the recordings and asked if
anybody wanted some tea. Jean is sure that his question can be heard on
the demo and probably on the Ghost recording as well.
Because when the Police tried to re-record Every Little Thing on
Montserrat they didn't get anywhere near the demo's quality. So they had Jean flown
in for a week, worked on that song together - still getting nowhere. Then
they used the original demo as a guide track and Stewart played his drums to
the existing sounds of the demo. (Andy probably did his guitar overdubs
later, as Jean doesn't remember Andy playing anything at all!).
So the question is - where on that track is this guy asking if anyone
wants some tea?
I've listened to the demo version and I guess I might have found the spot,
but I might be imagining things. It's not as you really understand words...
I've already arranged that a musician I know tries to filter out the
instruments at this particular spot to be able to hear voices a bit louder.
Maybe you want to listen to the demo and the Ghost recording, too - loudly
- on your headphone - and let me know if you hear anything ...
I don't want to tell you where I think this might be - so I won't
influence your perception.
OK, Paris - August 28 - Gert interviewed me about my experiences with The
Police and Stewart and filmed some memorabilia I had brought with me for
that occasion.
I showed some flyers, tickets, buttons, singles, Gateshead socks and the
MSG shirt. Doesn't smell anymore!
So Gert is still filming. I don't want to talk about his plans, but it's a
sign that he has not given up on eventually showing all the work he's been
doing over the past years to the public !
Dietmar
