Best Of

[Ces]

If you were to do a CD featuring the best moments of your career so far - be it as a band member, sessioneer, producer etc etc, and indeed, etc - what would be on it?

[Maart]

Great question! And thank you! 

Well I’ve answered this question once, taking an hour and a half over it; O level Maart it was. I pressed the preview button, then hit the back button and it all disappeared. F***!

So I’m not going to go through all that again, so here it is in brief:

1 Whenever We See The Dark from my OX15 album. Ian Anderson guested on flute and Q magazine’s review said that it out-Tulled Jethro Tull. Gerry Conway on drums.

2 Metal Matty from the FC 25th Anniversary boxset. Okay, I nicked the intro off Dave Gilmour, but it’s FC’s rockiest moment.

3 The Wounded Whale from Five Seasons. Orchestral strings, heroic guitar solo.

4 Recognised by David Hughes. My bass sings. I’d written a really nice thing here for my bass but it’s gone. Dave and I go back a long way, about twenty years, when Mick Linnard was on lead acoustic and Eddi Reader was the vocalist. No, I have no recordings. Later we were a duo, Rogers and Hammersmith…

5 Diamonds Are Out, Rubies Are In by Mark Germino. Simon Nicol on rhythm guitar, Petere Vettese on keys, Russ Kunkel on drums. Paul Samwell Smith producing. It was me who played the bass solo.

6 Promise Me by Beverley Craven. DM on drums and Simon on guitar. It was me who played the bass solo.

7 Woodstock by Blue Tapestry. It’s only available to the people who played it, though you may remember it from when we played at Cropredy and won 3-1…

8 Colours Of A Shade by Robert Plant. I played all the instruments and he sang. He also gave me co-writer. What a hero!

9 Ardal Gymraeg from my Serving Suggestion. It means Welsh-speaking-area and I now live in one. I wrote it for the Sony Playstation game The Book Of Watermarks. It originally featured Martin Bell (Albion Band, The Wonder Stuff) on violin but he was out of the country at the time so Chris Leslie worked his magic on it.

10 Dancer To The Drum by Beth Nielsen Chapman. Simon Nicol played second guitar, Sir Russ Kunkel played drums and Sir Paul Samwell Smith  produced. I played bass and dulcimer. Beth is the best writer/performer I’ve ever stood next to onstage and one of the best humans I’ve ever met.

11 Promise Me by Beverley Craven. I played on the demo but when she made the album I was in USA with Jethro Tull. They kept my bass part though ¦:)

12 Flowers Of The Forest by Mairi Armstrong. A different tune from the FC version. Troy Donockley on low whistle and Mairi’s wonderful soprano voice flying overhead. Me on everything else. Top stuff. This album also features the best ever version of Loch Lomond.

13 Murfatlar from my Serving Suggestion. Started out as a trad tune from Romania but I made it my own. Parky on squeezy, CJL on violin, Paul Burgess on drums. Lots of Hammond and Mellotron.

14 New Breton from my Serving Suggestion. I lived in Brittany for a while and Jan and me are going back to visit next month. Home again. Can’t wait! Me with John Coghlan (ex-Status Quo) drums, Mick Bennion (GREAT young Banbury bass player).

Jan was trying to influence my decision in this but I told her to send her own list of a CD’s worth of tunes. I’d be interested to read what others think would make up a good selection of my work. There’s lots to choose from…

Maart, Saturday night, South African red wine…
xxx

[peluche (Chris)]

Excellent choice Maart - I'd buy it 

[Toerag]

I liked Beverley Craven fronting Fairport all those years ago(!). Promise Me twice and I'd still love to have that on in the car - especially after your notes, a bit like a DVD voice-over!

[Maart]

Having thought about it, I would like to substitute number five. Instead, I'll put in Broken Man's Lament by Mark Germino. Simon and me on acoustic guitars, me playing the Thompo-type part. Producer Paul Samwell Smith's favourite and also a fave of Beth Nielsen Chapman 

Maart

[peluche (Chris)]

Having thought about it, I would like to substitute number five.

Ah, but Maart, making corrections the day after a 'red wine' post is surely not acceptable !! 

[Ces]

Sympathies for the "lost post' sir (do I hear a lone bugler playing? ).

Anyways - come on Jan....let's see your selection as opposed to Maarts!

[Maart]

This is from Jan

Jan here.  So…you want to know what I would choose for a CD of Maart’s best performances?

O.K.  I’ll try, but many of the chosen tracks are bound to be the same….and I wasn’t trying to influence Maart’s choice – I was just firing off suggestions of ones I thought were brilliant!  I’ll start with the duplicates.  Maart says only fourteen are allowed but I always break or bend rules as a matter of course.  Anyway, you could discount the duplicates and put mine as the second disc in a  double CD – forever pushing my luck!  He didn’t realise that he’d put ‘Promise Me’ down twice – well, he has now.  Can he put another one in?

It’s a delight to go through Maart’s music but please understand that I don’t know it all – he’s done so much.


1. Whenever We See the Dark – from OX15.  I love this because it was the first song that Maart wrote and is special.  Ian Anderson’s contribution adds to the Tull effect.  Tull were the first band I saw in 1969 (I think) just after ‘Living in the Past’ was released.  I then became a convert and went off in the direction of Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, etc. etc. and Tull of course who I saw on several occasions again.  Funny how life turns out!

2. Metal Matty – from FC 25th Anniversary.  I have to have this for so many reasons and memories.  I also went in the FC direction and Matty Groves was the second song I ever learned to play – only two chords! 

My brother and I were always very competitive so I did a beat the intro thing with him some years ago.  It was Metal Matty and he went for Pink Floyd or Black Sabbath.  Then his wife said, ‘Sounds like Matty Groves to me.’  He was a bit miffed.

I dragged a friend to an FC concert and she wasn’t very enthusiastic (being very into rock music) until Maart started the intro.  All she could say all the way through was, ‘WOW!’

3. Promise Me – Beverley Craven.  What a bass!
 
4. Woodstock – Blue Tapestry.  It was such a wonderful
performance every time and, especially, at Cropredy.  I think it’s good enough for TOTP2 (well, better really).  Could be a hit all over again – even better this time.  I think it’s the best version ever.  Look out for the Blue Tapestry tour in April – I can’t wait!

5. Colours of a Shade – Robert Plant (Fate of Nations).  Two of my heroes together.  I’m playing it now and Squiggle is very excited and is meowing (spell check version) along. He’s now jumped in front of the screen and is treading on the kjy ba dnf d …..uuuummmmpf. 

6. Crash Polka – OX15.  It always makes me laugh.  Maart loves to put humour into music especially when he’s playing  live.  When he performs ‘The Touch of Fear’ with Kieran (Halpin) the instrumental is always a surprise and Kieran never knows what may come next.  It can include anything from ‘Rhiannon’ to the theme from ‘James Bond’.

7. Jangle – one of Kieran’s from the album of the same name. Great live.  Maart puts so much energy into his acoustic performance. He plays most of the instruments on the album.  Kieran always jokes that it was cheaper than hiring several musicians but the bar bill was still the same.

8. The Christian Thing – also from Jangle.  A family favourite. My niece and nephew love this.  They were in Corfu a few
years ago when they were about seven and ten.  They couldn’t communicate verbally with all the children they played with, who were of various nationalities, but my niece taught them the words and had the whole group dancing round singing.  Maart plays fretless bass like a lead guitar when playing this live.

9. Imagine – from Eleanor Rigby’s Silly Love Songs   It’s just Maart and Tina McBain.  Maart’s acoustic guitar is something to be heard.  It’s a very beautiful version which BBC Radio Merseyside really took to.

10. The Islands – from Jewel in the Crown.  Maart wrote this with Ralph McTell.  It’s so atmospheric.  It’s difficult to choose tracks from Jewel in the Crown as so much of it is influenced by Maart in terms of arrangements, etc.  It was this or Red Tide.

11. This Kiss – Beth Nielsen Chapman.  As far as we know, Beth has never recorded this herself but it was an international hit for Faith Hill (on the soundtrack for ‘Practical Magic’ starring Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock).  I came home from work one day to find Beth sitting on our living room floor in front of our amazing view with her guitar and Maart playing acoustic bass.  They were playing This Kiss as part of Maart’s audition for Beth’s band.  He got the job about five bars in!  Maart recorded it there and then.  It was a very
special moment and it’s lovely to have it preserved. But it’s not available. You have to imagine.


12. And There You Are  - from Serving Suggestion.  Thingshappen when I leave the house.  I only popped out shopping
and when I came home the room formerly known as the kitchen had become a recording studio.  Maart had written and recorded the song whilst I was out.  He played it to me and I thought the keyboards were beautiful.  It’s a very personal song for Maart.

13. Hafelekar – from Serving Suggestion.  It’s about a mountain outside Innsbruck – a very tall one.  I hate heights but Maart persuaded me to take a trip up to the top – well, persuaded is possibly an exaggeration, dragged under protest is a more accurate description.  The music begins quietly which reminds me of the ride up in the cable car (I just looked at the floor) and then when the guitar kicks in it’s that amazing view that unfolds.  Every time I hear it, my tummy turns over as I remember stepping out of the cable car and my jaw dropped.  That wasn’t the end of it.  We then went up the  final, very, very steep rise to the top.  I was terrified.  Maart
took pictures of me at the top and my knuckles are white.   My face was even whiter coming down, that was the scariest part.  At least I can say I did it – eh, Kieran?

Maart and Kieran were in Innsbruck for two gigs so Maart  and I went to Italy for lunch on the second day.  It was a beautiful journey and we passed the Olympic ski jump run.  Are these people completely mad? (Yes - ed.)

14. Right in the Balkans – WAZ! Fully Chromatic.  Very strange time signature (15/16 – ed.).  I went to see WAZ! at Blaxton with friends just after it was released.  I was sitting on the front row and couldn’t believe Maart could play this (Hey, even the farmers can dance to this in Bulgaria! - ed.). He does like the tricky ones.

15. Coyote – Blue Tapestry.  Although Maart didn’t play the original bass part, this is an extraordinary performance.

16. Red Tide – I’m having this anyway!

17.  Free – Beth Nielsen Chapman (from Look).  I would choose the live versions that Maart played on during the gigs in Ireland in July and here in October.  We don’t have a recording of it unless there’s one on the video that I filmed for Beth’s son in Kilkenny.  As it was my first attempt at doing any filming, I wouldn’t be too hopeful.

Maart had to learn five of Beth’s albums in three days before going to Ireland.  Like Kieran, Beth doesn’t have a set list.   It’s all spontaneous so Maart had to be prepared for any  song which, of course, he was.  He had a great time touring with Beth.  She is a stunning performer and her songs are superb.

So those are my choices.  I could go on for another 17.

Jan….with uninvited assistance from Squiggle
In incredibly wet and windy Harlech.

[Ces]

Nice one Jan! I think a lot of us would agree with a number of choices made by you and Maart. Though, personally, to be honest...I've never heard ANYTHING by Kieran Halpin , so can't comment on his tracks at all. I MUST have seen him at Cropredy but, er, must have ate something dodgy or, er, something cos I can't remember a thing 

Shall have to rectify that soon, I suppose!

Also, would normally be envious of you coming home to find top-notch musos creating great music in the living room, but even more so at the moment, as I got in earlier to find the puppy creating modern art via stripping the paper off the wall in ours (she'd hopped up over the sofa, settled down on the sill and just chewed!...which was nice )


Cheers, Carey (In PERMANENTLY wet n windy Ammanford )

[Paul]

Thanks Jan, it is great to have your personnal contribution as well as Maart.

Sounds like an idealic life, although I ma sure there are downsides.

Paul

[Toerag]

Lovely to hear from both of you, and it just reinforces my desire to get more of these albums. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! 

[Maart]

I didn't mean to put Bev's Promise Me on twice. I did say at the end that there had been red wine involved...

So that gives me one more track, right? I think Jan went for a Bumpers style double abum, but I like to keep it all on the one CD.

So I'll replace 11 with Native Son by Dan Ar Braz. Dan's favourite track of the six albums we made together. We'll be seeing Dan in a month's time. Can't wait - what a hero.

Maart

[Amethyst (Jenny)]

BUMPERS...  I remember BUMPERS... anywhere I can get a copy???

Thanks for all the tracks Maart and Jan...  There are a few I don't know...  I agree with loads of them ...  I love  OX15!

Amy

[Maart]

Before your time