13 July 2017
After discussion with James Cassidy I’ve decided to forego the remix of the ‘Suits’ album. The original intention was for James himself to remix but he was honest enough to admit that he’s “ring rusty” when it comes to engineering and producing having been working in artist management for over 15 years now. It was put forward that a 3rd party should take over the mixes but I thought that defeated the purpose as in all honesty the original album works well and a polish in the remaster suite by Calum Malcolm will more than freshen it up.
Another factor was cost and with all the reel to reel tapes having to be transferred and a new engineer, unfamiliar with the album working without tracking sheets in a mixing studio in London the budget was far exceeding what the project could afford. It was becoming a step into the unknown and the question was whether the new mixes would bring something really worthwhile to the table. James and I decided it didn’t make sense.We would be tinkering with something that didn’t really need tinkering with.
The remastered original album with the B sides on CD1 is a good chunk of material and I have the following to use on Cd2 and3.
Suits CD2 Demos
Somebody Special 4.25 April 92
Pipeline 6.18 April 92
Out of My Life 3.39 May 92
Mr 1470 4.26 May 92
Pipeline 7.10 May 92
Somebody Special 4.21 June 92
Raw Meat 4.44 June 92
Lady Let it Lie 5.16 Summer93
Bandwagon 3.30 Summer93
Mr 1470 6.10 Summer93
Jumpsuit City 4.44 Summer 93
Somebody Special 5.08 Summer 93
Emperors Song 6.13 Summers 93
Lady Let it Lie 5.55 radio session, Haddington 7/94
Suits CD3 Live Versions
Mr 1470 6.30 Haddington Convention 28/5/94
Fortunes of War 6.27 Haddington Convention 28/5/94
Somebody Special 4.46 Waterfront, Norwich 21/6/94
Black Canal 7.04 Schuurr Club, Lucerne 28/11/95
Jumpsuit City 5.09 Schuurr Club, Lucerne 28/11/95
Pipeline 7.31 Schuurr Club, Lucerne 28/11/95
Emperors Song 5.52 Krakow P1 studios 11/10/95
Lady Let it Lie 6.05 Krakow P1 studios 11/10/95
Jumpsuit City 5.30 Haddington St Mary’s Church 26/8/06
Fortunes of War 6.37 Haddington St Mary’s Church 26/8/06
Raw Meat 9.55 the Blue Note, Poznan 30/3/2011
I think the overall selection and the wealth of really good demo material makes the remaster release special and following the format of the other releases it will have extensive sleeve notes and photos in the hardback book.
I’m starting writing the sleevenotes in the coming weeks and doing last minute searches of the archives just in case there’s any more wee gems around.
I have to admit it’s been interesting going through the fanzines and old notes on both this and ‘Songs From the Mirror’ as both projects ran consecutively and it was a very important period in my career when I moved from major labels to being independent with the Dick Bros label.I hope you find it as interesting as well.