ENGLAND GARDEN SHED LP (1977)

ENGLAND G A R D E N S H E D (March 1977, summer 1977, or October 1977) LP English progressive rock band from East Sussex/western Kent, southeast of London originally released as ARISTA RECORDS [UK] ARTY 153 Side One 0:00 Midnight Madness (Webb) (6:56) 6:56 All Alone (Webb) (1:52) (Introducing) 8:48 Three Piece Suite (Webb) (12:59) Side Two 21:47 Paraffinalea (Webb) (4:14) [released as a UK single 8- or 25-February-1977 or 11-March-1977] 26:01 Yellow* (Leigh) (5:25) 31:26 Poisoned Youth (Holland) (16:17) [based on The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891) by Oscar Wilde] Written, Arranged, Performed & Produced by England:⚊ Martin Henderson (Bass, Vocals) Franc Holland (Guitar, Vocals) Robert Webb (Keyboards, Vocals) Jode Leigh (Percussion, Vocals, *Bass) Executive Producer: St. George Engineer: Robin Freeman [the ‘live’ backtrack was recorded with The Rolling Stones Mobile Studio in The Hazlitt Theatre in Maidstone, Kent, and the rest at Konk Studios, AIR Studios and Morgan Studios, London produced by David Hitchcock at Konk and AIR, then engineered by Robin Freeman at Morgan Studios Robert Webb was the main vocalist and played MiniMoog, Mellotron MkII, Hammond RT3 organ, Bösendorfer grand piano, Fender Rhodes electric piano (tuned to the second harmonic), Hohner Clavinet D6, harpsichord, and acoustic twelve-string guitar on “Yellow” taken from the 1997 remastering, found on: THE FORWARD ORGANISATION [UK] RWE 004cd (1997) Si-Wan Records [South Korea] SRMC 1042 (1997) Garden Shed Music [UK] (2005) Special Edition Garden Shed CD and booklet.] “The group would wrap themselves around the composition, so the final product was a performance-composition. Of course, we played and rehearsed a lot, so we knew what each of us might do. We would often discuss things during rehearsals and listen out to what the other musicians were doing. Jode and I particularly had a spontaneous performance dynamic. We dwelt on this aspect a lot.” - Robert Webb “The backtracks were all recorded with the band playing live together (this gives it its great power), none of the keyboard parts were re-done. Spontaneous performance was our joy! As soon as we knew we had a good backtrack, I would immediately double track the Mellotron part — exactly as played but with a fractional change in the tuning (on the varispeed).” - Robert Webb