80sography - 80s music interviews

2nd part of the chat with Producer/Mixer/Engineer, Phil Harding 6. PET SHOP BOYS 7. STOCK AITKEN WATERMAN (pt 2) 8. MISCELLANEOUS SINGLES 9. CHARITY SINGLES 10. 12" MIXES 80SOGRAPHY QUICK FIRE ROUND Phil can be found  Website: philhardingmusic.com Twitter: @phardingmusic Facebook: Phil Harding 80sography@gmail.com Send us a text

Phil Harding had his hands in as many hits in the 80s/90s as anyone you care to mention. We will only concern ourselves with the better decade as we look into his career as producer/engineer and mixer. 1. THE EARLY YEARS (Pre-1980-83) How Phil got into the business in the 70s, working with the likes of Gerry Rafferty (Baker Street!), The Walker Brothers (No Regrets!) and The Clash (White Man in Hammersmith Palais!), etc. Phil moves into the 80s with KIlling Joke and a very unique contribution to Sign of The Times by The Belle Stars. There is discussion on the differences (and similarities) between mixing pop and rock. 2. MATT BIANCO/BASIA (1984-88) Working with Peter Collins leads to engineering Matt Bianco's first album which leads to Phil producing the follow up and mixing Basia's first solo LP.  Through Peter connections are made with Pete Waterman. General chat on Phil's approach to mixing a track. 3. STOCK AITKEN AND WATERMAN (PT 1) (1983-87) Phil enters the world of SAW. Talk of who did what within the team and experiences with Lamont Dozier, Princess, Mel & Kim and early Rick Astley. Further talk on who had "Woolworth's ears" and why SAW didn't produce Pet Shop Boys. 4. DEAD OR ALIVE (1986-88) Let's face it, this section is almost exclusively about You Spin Me Round, the first SAW number one and an iconic 80s hit. 5. BANANARAMA (1986-88) Working on Venus, Bananarama wanted the Spin-Me-Round hi NRG treatment, leading to a number of massive pop hits.   Also discussed is the Bananarama vocal approach and how it was decided who at the Hit Factory worked on what. EITHER/OR  | Does Phil have the Terminator listen to Prince on his ghettoblaster or Robocop listen to MJ on his walkman? Phil can be found  Website: philhardingmusic.com Twitter: @phardingmusic Facebook: Phil Harding 80sography@gmail.com Send us a text

Second part with Bill discussing more great LP/single artwork courtesy of Bill Smith Studios... 6. QUEEN (1984) BSS work with Queen on The Works LP and associated singles.  Also discussed is other work in the rock world; AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and Shakey. 7. LOOSE ENDS (1985 - 88) Location! Location! Location! Bill draws the short straw and shoots some Loose Ends covers all over the world. It's a tough life... 8.  KATE BUSH (1985-89) The utterly iconic Hounds of Love LP cover is discussed as well as the associated single sleeves. Then the greatest hits, the box set and Sensual World LP are also covered. 9. ERIC CLAPTON (1982-89) BSS first worked with EC on the Timepieces best of compilation. Then talk leads on to the Journeyman and Unplugged LP artwork. 10. MISCELLANEOUS (1980-89) A-ha! Heaven 17! (not in the book, if I had known the work he did, this would have been a chapter) The B-52s! Van Morrison! And more Shaky! (can't have too much) And we end with the Quickfire Round as per the norm. Bill can be found on Facebook. 80sography@gmail.com and Twitter/Blue Sky                                      I'm a-gettin' ready to meet the saints  Send us a text

From the audio to the visual, we delve into the wondrous world of the album sleeve with Bill Smith, of Bill Smith Studios, responsible for some wonderful images in the 80s.  1. THE JAM (1977-1981)  After getting his foot in the door at Polydor in the 70s, Bill has a breakthrough with The Jam. He is responsible for the artwork for all their albums up to and including Sound Affects as well as a number of single sleeves. More importantly, he has one shot at the iconic The Jam logo. RIP Rick.  2. THE CURE (1979-80) From mod to goth, Bill moves from the immediacy of The Jam to the more surreal, indie world of The Cure. Bill discusses working on their first three  LP's. One a bit of an outlier in their back catalogue,  the other more typical. But which household appliance WAS Robert Smith?? 3. GENESIS (1980-83)    Another contrast, this time the prog-rockers entering their 80s pop period with some truly iconic sleeves for Duke, Abacab and Genesis. Fortuitious accidentslead to the iconic Abacab sleeve. AI won't/can't do that shit. Discussion moves onto discussing copyright and who owns the rights to artwork; the artist or the designer. Then talk on the general LP artwork package; sleeve, back sleeve, inner sleeve, disc labels, etc ending on why he didn’t do the cover to Invisible Touch. 4. THOMAS DOLBY (1981-82) A very special collaboration with former guest, Thomas Dolby, leads to uniquely brilliant artwork for The Golden Age of Wireless and related singles. 5. NOW THAT'S WHAT I CALL MUSIC (1983) Nowt more iconic in the UK than the Now series and Bill was there from Vol 1. billsmithstudios.com 80sography@gmail.com Twitter @80sography Blue Sky @80sography Send us a text