Today’s studio blog is about The Church.
https://willyoumeetmeonclareisland.wordpress.com/2022/09/16/the-studios-of-london-the-church/
A Victorian melodrama, a 1980’s duo, a singer songwriter……..and Bob Dylan.
by 12 Comments
Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Top report, as usual…I had no idea that Bob Dylan story was, well, maybe not quite true. Oh well, print the legend and all that.
Also didn’t know the church was originally part of the Agapemone. Now that is a tale worth telling, and your account is topsa. If anyone wants to hear more, here’s an interview with a woman who was a grand-daughter of the second Second Coming – it’s as if, were there rock stars in the 19th century, they’d have been like this (reckon this could be right up your street, kaisfatdad).
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/archived/spiritofthings/abode-of-love/3175302
Thanks. The story of the Agapemone just appeared as I researched the building. I knew nothing about them, so the story was great fun to write.
Marvellous stuff, as per. I’ve been waiting for this, as The Church is one of the studios I had the pleasure to visit, and lots of my faves were recorded there – Curve were fab. Toni is now an estate agent.
Another story you could have included is the Feargal Sharkey/Maria McKee/Benmont Tench triangle.
A pedant writes: (para 6) Sweet Dreams was the second Eurythmics album, as you correctly state later on.
I suggest that the Funky Estate Agents music from Homes Under the Hammer should be replaced with Split Into Fractions.
Ta. The Feargal Sharkey one was close to getting in. I didn’t know Curve at all but enjoyed discovering them. Correction made 👍
Curve were the proto-Garbage, vocalist Toni and Eurythmics bassist Dean, and a whole lot of guitar pedals.
The best way in is to start with the EPs, which were collected on the US-only compilation album Pubic Fruit. By the time of their debut album, they’d already released nearly an hour of music.
I can remember buying their debut EP at my local record shop. I was home from university on study leave, and wondered into town at lunchtime. Dave behind the counter said “I’ve been waiting for you to come in, have a listen to this” and, by the first chorus of Ten Little Girls, I’d slapped a fiver down on the counter.
Doppelgänger and Cuckoo were pretty good but they split for 5 years, guitarist Debbie joined Echobelly, and nothing after reforming was, frankly, as good.
I can provide ‘help’ if you need it.
Here’s my fave from Cuckoo, All of One:
No! Toni from Curve is an estate agent? They were really good. But never did take off.
She walked away from it all years ago. Dean is still releasing new noisy stuff and taking care of the Curve back catalogue – everything is on Bandcamp, including promo-only releases and suchlike, and even some live DATs.
I lived just a few streets away from The Church through most of the 90s and was very disappointed never to spot any musos loitering nearby while I was going about my business. If I went in the other direction, down to the Post Office, I used to to walk past Konk, which was even more exciting, even if I never saw a soul there either.
Yes, with all of the working studios I’ve visited during this, I’ve never seen anyone I recognised. Had a nice chat with an engineer outside British Grove but he wouldn’t reveal ‘who was in.’
Brilliant as always. Thanks
@paulwright thanks.