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Going to Montserrat
was like going into a dream.
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It's always different.
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Reality's always different
from what you think it will be.
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I love the idea of wilderness
on the edge of civilization.
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I think the volcano itself is a kind
of presiding spirit over the island,
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and it definitely gives you a sense
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that you're living
on the edge of something seismic.
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When the volcano went off,
that was a pinnacle point of change.
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A point where nothing was ever
gonna be quite the same again.
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In the way we recorded,
in the way that music was dealt with.
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Those magical moments
are gonna be no longer.
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It was a glorious dream
that George Martin had.
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And it's so sad, as always,
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to see a glorious dream come to an end
and be destroyed.
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It's Atlantis now, isn't it?
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Montserrat's in the
Caribbean. It's very close to Antigua.
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But because it's so small,
it really is that hidden gem.
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They used to call it the Hidden Gem
and the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean.
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Montserrat was colonized by the Irish.
That's why the island is so different
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because it's just a really friendly
place, it's just got a magic about it.
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We had one big superstar.
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Mighty Arrow. Everybody around the
world would know Arrow, Hot Hot Hot.
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That's our music.
We call it soca music.
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Soca is a hybrid of calypso music.
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Calypso music originated in Nigeria
and came to the West Indies.
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These islands, you know,
they were part of the slave trade.
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And then you had the calypso carnivals.
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Montserrat is just a lovely place.
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There is an atmosphere in Montserrat
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that just makes you want to live
in Montserrat.
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There was no doubt
there was a magic on Montserrat.
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This island was kind of untouched.
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There were no big corporate signs
for chain restaurants.
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And here was no American money in there,
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just these old shacks and tin roofs,
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and brightly colored
and painted beautifully.
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And you felt
as though you were in a time warp.
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This little island had a heart
that you could feel, you know?
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It didn't have the
sophistication you'd feel straight away
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if you went to Antigua
or anywhere else like that.
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It was far more innocent, far more quiet.
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There's definitely a mystique
about the island.
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It's quite a place, actually.
It's really dramatic.
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These, you know, very sheer cliffs.
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And, of course,
the fertility of the island
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is a function of this volcanic ash
that comes down periodically.
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It hadn't come down for a long time,
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but the island was blooming
and blossoming, everything grew.
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I often wonder why George Martin
chose a volcanic island
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to put his beautiful studio on.
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Originally, Dad, he was a mad visionary
in lots of ways.
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I think always liked the idea
of pushing boundaries.
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Think about what he did
with the Beatles in the '60s.
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He pushed the boundaries
with the recording studios.
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He wanted to do something different.
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I bust a string straight away.
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There were some great moments singing,
Paul, but it wasn't the one.
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It's the second one
out of every three is the one.
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Do you want to hear any of it before you
do any more or go straight for another?
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They either say
that George Martin did everything
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or the Beatles did everything.
It was neither one, you know?
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He had a very great musical knowledge
and background.
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So he could translate for us
and suggest a lot of things.
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We'd be saying we want it to go...
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ooo-ooo and eee-eee.
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00:07:02,630 --> 00:07:06,259
He'd say, "Well, look, chaps,
I thought of this this afternoon."
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00:07:06,384 --> 00:07:08,971
Last night, I was talking to..."
whoever he was talking to.
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"And I came up with this."
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And we'd say,
"Great. Great. We'll put it on here."
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It's hard to say who did what, you know?
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I mean, he taught us a lot.
I'm sure we taught him a lot.
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A record producer
is not like a film producer.
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A record producer
is much more like a film director.
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One thing that was unique to George
that a lot of producers didn't have
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is that he was also the arranger.
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That's very often a completely
different person, different element.
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In George's case, his work as an arranger
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would be, for example, the strings
in Eleanor Rigby or something.
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00:07:39,375 --> 00:07:42,420
If you think of some
of the famous producers of our time,
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the wall of sound, Phil Spector,
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where he controlled
every note of every instrument
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and was just a tyrant and stuff,
George was not at all like that.
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But there was a serious element
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of just kind of good Pythonesque
British crazy in there.
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Just a lovely combination.
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He knew how to get from you
the best that you could give.
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Which was extraordinary,
in the most wonderful way.
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Elegant, gentlemanly,
loving, nurturing way.
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He would make any musician
a much better musician
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by spending five minutes with them.
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You can put a very soft flute
against a huge brass chord
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and still make it sound loud.
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And then cut up the tape,
threw it up in the air,
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until it settled down on the ground,
and joined them up again together.
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So it just became like a patchwork quilt.
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This is the kind of thing
you can do on a recording,
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which you obviously
couldn't possibly do it live
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because it is making up music
as you go along.
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He's largely responsible,
along with the Beatles,
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for giving everybody
that came after them in music a career.
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What the Beatles did with their albums,
no one will ever top that.
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00:09:04,001 --> 00:09:07,380
It is a moment in history
that may one day be known
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as the day
the British Empire was no more.
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00:09:11,217 --> 00:09:15,221
The Beatles have decided
to call it a day.
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00:09:15,346 --> 00:09:17,515
Well, a lot of things
happened at that time.
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Obviously, the Beatles broke up,
and so, George was free from EMI.
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So I guess he became his own boss.
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00:09:23,938 --> 00:09:26,859
But frankly, if you're known
as the Beatles' producer,
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anything you do after that,
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it's virtually impossible
to get anywhere near that.
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I think my dad was tired of the confines
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of a very rigid company structure,
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which was Abbey Road,
or EMI Studios as it was at the time.
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00:09:38,703 --> 00:09:41,623
And he wanted to build a place
which was more artist friendly.
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Abbey Road obviously created great music,
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but they always found...
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I mean, the fridge
was locked every night.
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They had to break in to get milk
for their cups of tea.
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Even the loo roll had Abbey Road on it,
so you wouldn't steal it.
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It was very much a...
It was like a proper English factory.
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There's no doubt
in my mind that George had a vision
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00:10:01,350 --> 00:10:04,730
of how recording could or should be done.
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00:10:04,855 --> 00:10:10,903
Through the '70s was a period
of great excess in the music business.
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00:10:11,403 --> 00:10:17,075
Um, it was an era when
there wasn't such a thing as a budget.
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00:10:17,201 --> 00:10:19,577
There was a need to make some music.
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00:10:19,702 --> 00:10:23,289
The '70s
was one of the most exciting periods
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00:10:23,414 --> 00:10:25,958
in musical recording time.
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00:10:26,083 --> 00:10:28,544
And a few times,
I've been in EMI, Abbey Road,
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00:10:28,669 --> 00:10:33,049
and normally I would bump into George,
but he wasn't there.
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00:10:33,174 --> 00:10:36,010
And I wondered what was going on,
and they said,
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00:10:36,135 --> 00:10:39,514
"He's making his own studio now.
AIR London it's gonna be called."
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00:10:47,188 --> 00:10:48,565
We had four studios.
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00:10:48,690 --> 00:10:51,400
Oxford Circus,
right in the middle of town.
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00:10:51,527 --> 00:10:55,113
And it was so successful,
you know, it was a hit factory.
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00:11:25,686 --> 00:11:28,563
There's a momentum shift
which happens with successful studios.
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00:11:28,688 --> 00:11:30,691
But I think my dad
wanted to do something different
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00:11:30,816 --> 00:11:31,817
in the recording space.
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00:11:31,942 --> 00:11:33,610
He wanted to record
in a different location.
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00:11:33,735 --> 00:11:35,903
Then he built AIR
and he thought, "Where next?"
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00:11:36,028 --> 00:11:39,032
George was looking for something,
you know,
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00:11:39,157 --> 00:11:41,201
which wasn't in the middle of London.
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00:11:41,326 --> 00:11:44,913
Somewhere where the people
could come and record,
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00:11:45,038 --> 00:11:48,500
and his plan was
there'd be a lack of hangers-on.
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00:11:48,625 --> 00:11:51,461
It would just be them and their families.
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00:11:51,586 --> 00:11:55,340
Then he had an idea
that he would put a studio on a boat.
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00:11:55,465 --> 00:11:57,801
He had a boat in line,
which we went and looked at,
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a great big, big boat, and we were
going to put a studio in the middle
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00:12:01,221 --> 00:12:04,015
so we could go to anywhere in the world
and record people.
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00:12:04,140 --> 00:12:08,312
Then he realized that just the diesel
generators would make a noise
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00:12:08,437 --> 00:12:10,188
in every single recording he made.
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00:12:10,313 --> 00:12:13,649
So then he looked at islands,
looked at Island Paradise,
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00:12:13,774 --> 00:12:17,070
looked at that idea about
building a studio and found Montserrat.
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00:12:17,196 --> 00:12:19,697
And suddenly, he comes up to me and says,
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00:12:19,822 --> 00:12:22,576
"Dave, we're flying out to Montserrat.
I want to show you something.
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00:12:22,701 --> 00:12:25,745
I've just bought a house
and I've bought an estate,
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00:12:25,870 --> 00:12:28,624
and I want you to build a studio there."
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I'd read about Montserrat
in a Canadian magazine.
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00:12:35,713 --> 00:12:38,049
They described it,
"The Emerald Isle of the Caribbean."
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00:12:38,174 --> 00:12:40,594
So, I went there for a few days
and fell in love with the place,
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00:12:40,719 --> 00:12:45,057
and with the people,
because they're such gentle people.
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00:12:45,182 --> 00:12:49,019
And I loved it so much,
I bought a place, simple as that.
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Montserrat, for George,
was something more
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than just a commercial operation.
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00:12:54,732 --> 00:12:57,068
He'd fallen in love with Montserrat.
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00:12:58,195 --> 00:13:00,447
And he had something else in his mind,
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00:13:00,572 --> 00:13:06,202
just to be able to tie in creativity
with being in a special place.
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00:13:06,912 --> 00:13:10,749
George's idea was
to take people out of an environment,
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00:13:10,874 --> 00:13:13,335
to put them into harmony with nature,
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00:13:13,460 --> 00:13:18,298
but also have time together
to talk, to have dialogue.
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00:13:18,423 --> 00:13:19,966
And what he knew would happen
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00:13:20,091 --> 00:13:22,970
was that for a lot of bands
who had never been in that situation,
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00:13:23,095 --> 00:13:29,475
that would evoke new ways of thinking,
and therefore, new musical ideas.
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00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:31,687
If you look at Montserrat on a map
or had visited it
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00:13:31,812 --> 00:13:34,105
at that stage in 1976, '77,
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you'd never think,
"Let's build a recording studios here."
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00:13:36,524 --> 00:13:39,360
In the same way you start
building the studios, you don't think,
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00:13:39,485 --> 00:13:42,655
"Let's get Rupert Neve to build
a custom desk and put it in this space."
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00:13:42,780 --> 00:13:46,201
The heart of any studio
is the mixing console.
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00:13:46,326 --> 00:13:50,538
Geoff Emerick was quite involved
in what was gonna go on in Montserrat.
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00:13:50,663 --> 00:13:57,044
So Geoff didn't want to use
a current type of Neve console.
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00:13:57,171 --> 00:13:59,423
So Rupert redesigned the desk.
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00:13:59,548 --> 00:14:04,260
He said, "It will wipe everything else
off the planet, this desk."
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00:14:04,385 --> 00:14:06,053
AIR Studios, part of AIR's fame
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00:14:06,179 --> 00:14:12,101
was that it had these three
incredible-sounding Neve consoles.
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00:14:12,226 --> 00:14:14,062
And they had one at AIR Montserrat.
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00:14:14,187 --> 00:14:18,066
Neve desks, to me, it sounded musical.
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00:14:18,192 --> 00:14:20,152
You could actually tune into something,
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00:14:20,277 --> 00:14:22,111
you could bring out
the character of something.
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00:14:28,118 --> 00:14:31,370
Putting a recording desk in a studios
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00:14:31,495 --> 00:14:33,164
in a big city has its own problems.
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00:14:33,289 --> 00:14:36,501
Putting a recording studio on Montserrat,
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00:14:36,626 --> 00:14:40,004
which really had no transport links
at all at that stage,
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00:14:40,129 --> 00:14:42,381
was the ultimate challenge.
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00:14:42,508 --> 00:14:47,303
And it was very brave of them, too,
because if something went really wrong,
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00:14:47,428 --> 00:14:51,265
your closest port of call was Miami.
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00:14:51,390 --> 00:14:54,852
You can imagine this huge two-ton box,
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00:14:55,979 --> 00:14:58,899
with the most extraordinary piece
of equipment inside of it,
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00:14:59,024 --> 00:15:01,567
with about 30 builders all round it,
200
00:15:01,692 --> 00:15:05,364
and they rolled it off the back
of the truck onto the oil drums.
201
00:15:29,388 --> 00:15:31,472
He's recognized
as the greatest record producer
202
00:15:31,597 --> 00:15:33,642
the industry has seen. George Martin.
203
00:15:35,394 --> 00:15:38,772
What are you up to right now?
You have an interest in a studio abroad.
204
00:15:38,897 --> 00:15:41,567
Recently, I built a studio
out in the Caribbean.
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00:15:41,692 --> 00:15:44,318
This reminds me of it, by the way.
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00:15:44,443 --> 00:15:46,238
So I spend quite a lot of time out there.
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00:15:46,363 --> 00:15:48,740
And that was Montserrat
in the West Indies.
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00:15:48,865 --> 00:15:50,491
I hope I get a lot of people there.
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00:16:01,378 --> 00:16:06,091
We were, I believe,
the second band that recorded there,
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00:16:06,216 --> 00:16:09,135
and, you know, I love island culture
and I love the island people,
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00:16:09,260 --> 00:16:13,264
and I lived on my boat off and on
down there for 20 years.
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00:16:13,389 --> 00:16:17,144
So I didn't have to go back to London
or New York or Nashville to record it.
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00:16:17,811 --> 00:16:20,898
And I was able to take those songs
that were written there
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00:16:21,023 --> 00:16:24,942
and go into that studio
that was built by George Martin.
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00:16:25,067 --> 00:16:28,029
You couldn't get anybody who had
a better reputation at that time.
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00:16:28,154 --> 00:16:30,365
It was a lovely working environment
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00:16:30,490 --> 00:16:34,912
because you didn't leave,
I would say, the arena of creativity.
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00:16:35,037 --> 00:16:38,706
You were constantly involved
in the creation of this music,
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00:16:38,831 --> 00:16:40,667
as opposed to, like, being in Nashville,
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00:16:40,792 --> 00:16:43,961
because to me, there are
two ways that you go into the studio.
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00:16:44,086 --> 00:16:47,966
You can go in and look for perfection,
or you can try to capture the magic.
222
00:16:48,091 --> 00:16:50,469
I've always been
a "capture the magic" guy.
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00:17:13,406 --> 00:17:17,118
But then, we had a few problems.
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00:17:17,246 --> 00:17:19,704
At the time, they were not funny
225
00:17:19,829 --> 00:17:22,875
because there was
a bit of a colonial aspect to things
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00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:25,461
that did not fare well
with the American band.
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00:17:25,586 --> 00:17:28,882
We were in having drinks,
meeting everybody.
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00:17:29,007 --> 00:17:30,843
As we went to order the drinks,
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00:17:30,968 --> 00:17:33,554
you had to do it one at a time
and have a slip down,
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00:17:33,679 --> 00:17:36,097
you had to put it in
and pay for it at the time.
231
00:17:36,222 --> 00:17:39,643
And this did not go over well
with the Coral Reefer Band.
232
00:17:39,768 --> 00:17:44,272
So the studio manager at the time,
a guy named Denny Bridges, I remember,
233
00:17:44,397 --> 00:17:51,028
I said, "This is kinda odd for us, sir.
Can't we kind of speed this up?
234
00:17:51,153 --> 00:17:53,155
We can have fun here,
235
00:17:53,281 --> 00:17:55,909
but we're here for two hours
trying to pay for the drinks."
236
00:17:56,034 --> 00:17:57,786
He said,
"That's just the way we do it here."
237
00:17:57,911 --> 00:18:02,290
And I just said, "Why don't I just buy
the whole fucking bar?"
238
00:18:13,134 --> 00:18:14,928
The thing was when we first got there,
239
00:18:15,053 --> 00:18:17,890
we didn't know
what we were gonna call the record.
240
00:18:18,015 --> 00:18:19,307
And we saw the volcano.
241
00:18:19,432 --> 00:18:23,478
This was a dormant volcano
that was, like, a tourist attraction.
242
00:18:23,604 --> 00:18:28,025
You could walk from, like, here to you
and that was the vent of the volcano.
243
00:18:28,150 --> 00:18:29,984
It was...
244
00:18:30,109 --> 00:18:35,574
It was kind of fun to go up there,
and I was intrigued by that volcano
245
00:18:35,699 --> 00:18:39,411
that was, you know, sitting there
that was so accessible.
246
00:18:39,536 --> 00:18:41,246
The volcano.
247
00:18:41,371 --> 00:18:45,584
I don't think anybody gave the volcano
more than a sort of sideways glance
248
00:18:45,709 --> 00:18:46,835
when we went down there.
249
00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:52,132
There was this thing called a soufriere,
which was a bubbling sulfur springs,
250
00:18:52,257 --> 00:18:54,509
but it was seen
as one of the local tourist attractions.
251
00:18:54,634 --> 00:18:56,470
It wasn't seen as anything dangerous.
252
00:18:56,595 --> 00:19:00,097
I was always like, "Are you sure
you wanna be on this island with this?"
253
00:19:00,223 --> 00:19:03,268
Because the volcano
was always sort of not going off,
254
00:19:03,393 --> 00:19:07,730
but it was always, like, a possibility.
It was never, like, completely quiet.
255
00:19:07,855 --> 00:19:11,151
You'd sit on the veranda and just listen.
256
00:19:11,276 --> 00:19:15,948
And... I remember thinking a few times,
257
00:19:16,073 --> 00:19:19,451
"Well, what
if that volcano suddenly went off?"
258
00:19:19,576 --> 00:19:22,162
I'm from Chicago, we don't do volcanoes.
259
00:19:35,217 --> 00:19:36,718
When we went to Montserrat,
260
00:19:36,844 --> 00:19:38,427
we had been coming off
all those hit records,
261
00:19:38,554 --> 00:19:41,848
those big hits,
and we wanted to pull away from that
262
00:19:41,973 --> 00:19:46,144
and be grounded,
cos we were musicians first.
263
00:19:46,269 --> 00:19:48,896
So we wanted to go back to our roots
and just play some music.
264
00:19:51,900 --> 00:19:56,822
For us, the biggest thing was the whole
experience of just going there.
265
00:19:56,947 --> 00:20:01,993
And I had heard the ladies that were
working in the field with the machetes,
266
00:20:02,118 --> 00:20:05,955
when they were bringing our equipment
from the airport to the studio,
267
00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:09,500
you know, the big cases
with Earth, Wind & Fire on them,
268
00:20:09,625 --> 00:20:12,378
they had their machetes
and they dropped them and applauded.
269
00:20:13,380 --> 00:20:16,592
Cos they knew we were coming.
They just applauded the cases.
270
00:20:16,717 --> 00:20:19,845
We hadn't even gotten there yet.
And it was beautiful.
271
00:20:36,444 --> 00:20:40,907
If anything,
I think because of where it was,
272
00:20:41,032 --> 00:20:43,326
it touched our spirit
in a different kind of way.
273
00:20:43,451 --> 00:20:46,663
You didn't feel anything
other than just joy in the music.
274
00:20:46,788 --> 00:20:49,415
There was no rush either,
there was no clock.
275
00:20:49,540 --> 00:20:51,751
And by being away
from everything and everybody
276
00:20:51,876 --> 00:20:54,462
and from, "We need another hit record,
we need another hit record."
277
00:20:54,587 --> 00:20:57,465
And we just put that aside, and said,
"We're gonna do a double record."
278
00:20:57,590 --> 00:21:00,384
You know...
And we're just gonna play some music.
279
00:21:00,510 --> 00:21:04,556
And we actually mapped out
the whole record there.
280
00:21:04,681 --> 00:21:06,974
Top to bottom, just in conversation.
281
00:21:07,099 --> 00:21:10,354
It was the early '80s.
Record company budgets were reasonable,
282
00:21:10,479 --> 00:21:15,192
and afforded artists to go
and take over a studio for a while,
283
00:21:15,317 --> 00:21:16,567
a residential studio.
284
00:21:16,692 --> 00:21:20,321
So when you went to Montserrat,
it was yours.
285
00:21:20,446 --> 00:21:22,156
It was your environment.
286
00:21:22,281 --> 00:21:26,577
Your bar, your kitchen, your whole place.
287
00:21:26,702 --> 00:21:31,458
So it was something
that was really quite special.
288
00:21:31,583 --> 00:21:35,336
There weren't many residential studios
of that quality.
289
00:21:35,461 --> 00:21:40,259
It was like it was all one big band.
It was like everybody was in the band.
290
00:21:40,384 --> 00:21:44,387
George the cook was in the band,
the housekeeper was in the band.
291
00:21:44,512 --> 00:21:47,266
It just all kind of overlapped,
it was not separate.
292
00:21:47,391 --> 00:21:50,102
It was like one big beautiful thing.
293
00:21:50,227 --> 00:21:53,145
Earth, Wind & Fire were very lovely.
294
00:21:53,271 --> 00:21:55,941
They came right here in this house.
295
00:21:56,066 --> 00:22:00,570
I invite them to come for dinner.
Some of them came.
296
00:22:00,695 --> 00:22:04,115
And when they came,
I had a daughter, a pretty daughter.
297
00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:05,867
One of them wanted the daughter,
298
00:22:05,992 --> 00:22:09,328
but he didn't get that chance.
299
00:22:09,453 --> 00:22:12,958
The staff all had their own quirks.
300
00:22:13,083 --> 00:22:14,917
Blues, one of the drivers,
301
00:22:15,042 --> 00:22:17,837
whenever he wanted to say something,
he'd go, "Let me talk."
302
00:22:17,962 --> 00:22:20,757
Earth, Wind & Fire have a track
on that album called Let Me Talk.
303
00:22:20,883 --> 00:22:24,928
For a band to come in
and write a song about a driver,
304
00:22:25,053 --> 00:22:26,888
must've had an influence.
305
00:22:27,013 --> 00:22:29,473
I think in order to build a studio
that people love,
306
00:22:29,599 --> 00:22:31,518
it's all based around the staff.
307
00:22:31,643 --> 00:22:33,644
Montserrat was a bit like Fawlty Towers.
308
00:22:33,769 --> 00:22:36,147
It had these crazy characters
running around.
309
00:22:36,272 --> 00:22:40,568
Because it was a single studio space,
with no other bands there,
310
00:22:40,693 --> 00:22:43,614
the characters
that worked in the studios themselves
311
00:22:43,739 --> 00:22:45,656
became part of people's lives.
312
00:22:45,781 --> 00:22:48,576
Tappy Morgan, or George Morgan,
was the chef.
313
00:22:48,701 --> 00:22:50,037
He was great. He was very emotional.
314
00:22:50,162 --> 00:22:53,457
We all remember George, the chef,
I think.
315
00:22:54,374 --> 00:22:57,376
He was quite an imposing gentleman.
316
00:22:57,502 --> 00:22:59,587
That was the best job
317
00:22:59,712 --> 00:23:00,963
I ever had in my entire life.
318
00:23:01,088 --> 00:23:06,135
Every band... gave me a big tip.
319
00:23:06,260 --> 00:23:08,055
And you know the reason why?
320
00:23:08,180 --> 00:23:11,349
Because I made them good food.
And everybody was happy.
321
00:23:11,474 --> 00:23:16,104
Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger,
Keith Richards, Paul McCartney.
322
00:23:16,230 --> 00:23:21,984
All the guys liked the island.
They called it Strangers' Paradise.
323
00:23:34,830 --> 00:23:36,375
Do you want something else to drink?
324
00:23:54,183 --> 00:23:59,272
We would all be in the office,
and we had this telex machine.
325
00:23:59,397 --> 00:24:02,901
Remember we didn't have email
or any of this stuff in those days.
326
00:24:03,026 --> 00:24:07,071
We would be there, and suddenly
you would hear tap, tap, tap...
327
00:24:07,196 --> 00:24:10,241
And we would walk out there
and have a look.
328
00:24:10,366 --> 00:24:14,954
"Paul McCartney,
2nd February to 28th February."
329
00:24:15,079 --> 00:24:16,414
And that would be it.
330
00:24:21,627 --> 00:24:23,087
Something like that.
331
00:24:31,721 --> 00:24:34,473
I know what it is.
You need to go to the G.
332
00:24:38,228 --> 00:24:41,731
After the Beatles,
none of us wanted to work with George.
333
00:24:41,856 --> 00:24:44,776
It wasn't that we didn't want
to be produced by him.
334
00:24:44,902 --> 00:24:50,240
We all would have loved the discipline
and the expertise that George has,
335
00:24:50,365 --> 00:24:52,326
but it was that he'd been associated
with the Beatles.
336
00:24:52,451 --> 00:24:54,702
We were very
apprehensive about it to begin with,
337
00:24:54,827 --> 00:24:55,871
both of us I think,
338
00:24:55,996 --> 00:24:59,165
because although we've been
very good friends over the years,
339
00:24:59,290 --> 00:25:04,212
not having actually had
to have the hassles of working,
340
00:25:04,337 --> 00:25:07,007
we were all
a little bit not sure about it.
341
00:25:07,132 --> 00:25:11,886
At that stage, Paul
was working with my father near London
342
00:25:12,011 --> 00:25:14,765
on two albums,
Tug of War and Pipes of Peace,
343
00:25:14,890 --> 00:25:17,226
and my father persuaded Paul
to go to Montserrat.
344
00:25:17,351 --> 00:25:21,438
Because I was the chief engineer,
I got the call from George, like,
345
00:25:21,563 --> 00:25:23,231
"You built this place."
346
00:25:23,356 --> 00:25:27,109
If Paul McCartney's coming in
and it's a success,
347
00:25:27,236 --> 00:25:29,820
it's like getting
the housekeeping seal of approval.
348
00:25:29,946 --> 00:25:31,656
So, it better work.
349
00:25:31,781 --> 00:25:35,618
It's now 14 hours
since John Lennon was shot here,
350
00:25:35,743 --> 00:25:39,330
at the entrance to the Dakota Building
on West 72nd Street
351
00:25:39,455 --> 00:25:42,084
in the center of New York.
In those 14 hours,
352
00:25:42,209 --> 00:25:46,046
there has been a crowd here
standing in more or less silent vigils.
353
00:25:46,171 --> 00:25:49,048
The flowers have been piling up
at the gate.
354
00:25:58,767 --> 00:26:01,435
I feel frightfully sorry
for Yoko and Sean,
355
00:26:01,561 --> 00:26:04,064
and all the people who loved him so much.
356
00:26:04,189 --> 00:26:07,901
I also feel very angry, that it's
such a senseless thing to happen,
357
00:26:08,026 --> 00:26:11,153
that one of the great people
that have happened this century
358
00:26:11,279 --> 00:26:14,365
can be just wiped out by madness.
I'm very angry about it.
359
00:26:21,455 --> 00:26:22,790
Paul came down to the island,
360
00:26:22,915 --> 00:26:25,877
sadly only a few weeks after Lennon died.
361
00:26:26,002 --> 00:26:28,881
And it was touch and go before Christmas
362
00:26:29,006 --> 00:26:31,549
as to whether this actually
was going to happen.
363
00:26:31,674 --> 00:26:34,595
They were very, very nervous.
364
00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:38,015
An entire security firm
from New York City flew down
365
00:26:38,140 --> 00:26:39,932
ahead of the band arriving.
366
00:26:41,018 --> 00:26:45,855
And they would go everywhere,
just to protect the band.
367
00:26:45,980 --> 00:26:49,317
And they didn't even have a good time,
because they were just being a nuisance.
368
00:26:49,442 --> 00:26:51,153
You don't need that security
in Montserrat.
369
00:26:52,028 --> 00:26:54,573
You need to understand,
that in Montserrat,
370
00:26:54,698 --> 00:26:59,994
if you're a cricketer or an athlete,
371
00:27:00,119 --> 00:27:02,079
people will be asking for your autograph.
372
00:27:02,205 --> 00:27:06,042
If you're a musician, they hear you
on the radio all the time, no big deal.
373
00:27:06,167 --> 00:27:08,336
So they sent
their security guards packing.
374
00:27:08,461 --> 00:27:12,508
They would chill out in Kinsale,
in Salem, at the local bars.
375
00:27:12,633 --> 00:27:14,550
Just chill out like how we are right now,
376
00:27:14,675 --> 00:27:17,304
and drink and get drunk and carry on
and all of that, no big deal.
377
00:27:52,923 --> 00:27:56,175
Paul turned up
with a whole entourage of stars.
378
00:27:56,300 --> 00:27:59,846
Through Carl Perkins
and Stanley Clarke on bass
379
00:27:59,971 --> 00:28:01,765
and Stevie Wonder, of course.
380
00:28:01,890 --> 00:28:03,851
I had this song called Ebony and Ivory,
381
00:28:03,976 --> 00:28:06,394
which is about harmony between races.
382
00:28:06,519 --> 00:28:08,271
Because it was Ebony and Ivory,
383
00:28:08,396 --> 00:28:11,275
I thought, "I'll be the ivory,
so I need an ebony."
384
00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:15,653
So, I thought my best choice would be
Stevie Wonder, if I could get him.
385
00:28:15,778 --> 00:28:21,159
So, I telephoned Stevie and said,
"Do you like the idea of doing this?"
386
00:28:21,285 --> 00:28:24,829
And he said, "Yeah."
So he came down to Montserrat.
387
00:28:47,769 --> 00:28:50,897
I think they liked the whole experience.
388
00:28:51,022 --> 00:28:55,943
When the recording was going well
and everything was happening,
389
00:28:56,068 --> 00:28:59,280
they'd take some time off,
and they wanted to go and play.
390
00:28:59,405 --> 00:29:02,659
So they'd go down to the local bar
and they would jam.
391
00:29:02,992 --> 00:29:05,578
There was one night, Stevie said to me,
392
00:29:05,703 --> 00:29:08,664
"I wanna go and play somewhere.
Can you fix it up?" I said, "Sure."
393
00:29:08,789 --> 00:29:13,377
I phoned up the Agouti and I said,
"Is your piano plugged in on the stage?"
394
00:29:13,503 --> 00:29:16,173
And they said,
"Yeah, but we're just about to close."
395
00:29:16,298 --> 00:29:20,259
And I said, "No, don't do that.
Don't you close tonight."
396
00:29:20,384 --> 00:29:22,471
And Stevie went down there and played.
397
00:29:22,596 --> 00:29:25,265
He played there till four in the morning.
398
00:29:37,818 --> 00:29:39,529
So, at the end of the night...
399
00:29:39,654 --> 00:29:42,324
At that time, we were playing
for ten percent of the bar.
400
00:29:42,449 --> 00:29:45,493
Whatever the bar take was,
we would get ten percent.
401
00:29:45,618 --> 00:29:48,329
That night, we got a lot of money
402
00:29:48,454 --> 00:29:52,542
because Stevie Wonder left US$5.000
in the bar for the band.
403
00:29:52,667 --> 00:29:55,878
So among the five of us,
we got about US$1.000 each.
404
00:29:56,003 --> 00:29:57,964
That was our biggest payday.
405
00:29:58,089 --> 00:29:59,674
For us, in Montserrat,
406
00:30:00,634 --> 00:30:05,012
it was just amazing.
There's not a word to describe that.
407
00:30:05,137 --> 00:30:08,808
And in someplace else,
you couldn't pay for it.
408
00:30:37,045 --> 00:30:41,008
I want everybody to say this.
Say it. Wait.
409
00:30:42,675 --> 00:30:43,719
Say it.
410
00:30:46,637 --> 00:30:48,015
Say it.
411
00:30:50,726 --> 00:30:52,560
Say it.
412
00:30:52,685 --> 00:30:54,479
When Stevie Wonder arrived,
413
00:30:54,605 --> 00:30:57,773
he and Paul were having
such a good time in the studio,
414
00:30:57,900 --> 00:30:59,609
the sessions were overrunning
415
00:30:59,734 --> 00:31:03,404
and Paul, I think he had
Air Force Two booked
416
00:31:03,529 --> 00:31:06,240
to go back from Antigua back to London.
417
00:31:06,365 --> 00:31:08,911
I can remember sitting next
to the telex machine
418
00:31:09,036 --> 00:31:11,454
and this huge great telex
comes rattling through saying,
419
00:31:11,579 --> 00:31:13,414
"If you don't get here
in the next two hours,
420
00:31:13,539 --> 00:31:15,541
we have to change the crews out again
421
00:31:15,666 --> 00:31:18,711
and it will cost you another $10.000",
or whatever it was.
422
00:31:18,836 --> 00:31:23,383
And I just kind of turned to John
at the time and just said,
423
00:31:24,343 --> 00:31:27,930
"That's about what we're charging him
a week, isn't it?"
424
00:31:32,601 --> 00:31:36,771
When the band finished,
we took them all to the airport,
425
00:31:36,896 --> 00:31:41,777
we loaded them on their planes,
waved our bye-byes, and they all left.
426
00:31:41,902 --> 00:31:45,989
We would all drive up to St George's Hill
427
00:31:46,114 --> 00:31:49,576
and we would all sit up there,
maybe having a beer,
428
00:31:49,701 --> 00:31:53,788
really not saying much,
just clearing our heads.
429
00:31:53,913 --> 00:31:56,208
And then, OK, back to the studio.
430
00:31:56,333 --> 00:31:59,877
And that was it.
Relaxation over and we'd get back.
431
00:32:00,002 --> 00:32:03,882
But that was special,
we'd just gotten through a gig,
432
00:32:04,007 --> 00:32:06,718
and everything was done,
everything was fine.
433
00:32:06,844 --> 00:32:09,637
Now we were going back
to get ready for the next one.
434
00:32:09,762 --> 00:32:14,768
1981, we didn't have a day off.
We worked back to back.
435
00:32:19,146 --> 00:32:22,901
We were coming out
of the punk scene in London,
436
00:32:23,026 --> 00:32:27,780
which went from about 1977 to about 1980.
437
00:32:27,905 --> 00:32:29,282
Then it sort of petered out.
438
00:32:29,407 --> 00:32:32,493
But it was a wonderful,
colorful moment in music history.
439
00:32:32,618 --> 00:32:36,330
It was the crucible for The Police,
that's where we started.
440
00:32:42,671 --> 00:32:44,923
The Police made three albums
441
00:32:45,048 --> 00:32:51,637
in dingy, sunless recording studios
in England and in Holland,
442
00:32:52,263 --> 00:32:55,976
where we would work
from ten in the evening till dawn.
443
00:32:56,101 --> 00:32:59,896
And we lived that kind of existence
for a couple of years.
444
00:33:02,941 --> 00:33:06,068
Welcome to MTV Music Television,
445
00:33:06,194 --> 00:33:10,199
the world's first
24-hour stereo video music channel.
446
00:33:10,324 --> 00:33:14,076
I think the success of The Police
really was a happy accident,
447
00:33:14,202 --> 00:33:18,624
because it was
the beginning of the MTV era,
448
00:33:18,749 --> 00:33:23,211
and we had a whole slew of videos
we'd already made
449
00:33:23,336 --> 00:33:28,634
and there was this channel,
custom-built to receive these videos.
450
00:33:28,759 --> 00:33:35,516
And we became a staple on MTV,
which, of course, added to our success.
451
00:33:36,474 --> 00:33:38,727
It's nice to be here in Athens.
452
00:33:40,729 --> 00:33:43,356
What d'you call the place?
Athena or something?
453
00:33:44,148 --> 00:33:46,359
By the third album,
we'd had a couple of hits
454
00:33:46,484 --> 00:33:47,903
and the record company are saying,
455
00:33:48,028 --> 00:33:51,531
"This is now going to be the big one,
if you get this next album right."
456
00:33:51,656 --> 00:33:54,367
And the record company
were there with us to ensure
457
00:33:54,492 --> 00:33:58,038
that we did not stray from the path
of commercial success.
458
00:33:58,163 --> 00:34:03,669
So, for the next album we went 12 hours'
flight away from the record company,
459
00:34:03,794 --> 00:34:07,213
down in the Caribbean,
at Montserrat Studios.
460
00:34:18,224 --> 00:34:21,978
And it just looked like
we would have died and gone to heaven.
461
00:34:22,103 --> 00:34:27,608
Because there was a tropical sea
and beautiful skies,
462
00:34:27,733 --> 00:34:31,822
and jungle and a swimming pool
right outside of the studio.
463
00:34:31,947 --> 00:34:36,076
And you could actually see
the daylight through the studio.
464
00:34:36,994 --> 00:34:39,579
This was sort of the rock-star dream.
465
00:34:39,704 --> 00:34:43,500
A fantastic state-of-the-art studio
in the Caribbean.
466
00:34:43,625 --> 00:34:46,003
I mean, this was it, this was like
the Beatles or something.
467
00:34:46,128 --> 00:34:49,882
We sort of reached the pinnacle
with going to those studios.
468
00:34:50,007 --> 00:34:51,675
George would come in occasionally,
469
00:34:51,800 --> 00:34:53,092
but he wasn't our producer.
470
00:34:53,217 --> 00:34:55,344
Our producer was a man
called Hugh Padgham.
471
00:34:55,469 --> 00:35:00,141
George was more of
a presiding genius around.
472
00:35:00,266 --> 00:35:03,686
He was rarely in the studio with us.
473
00:35:04,563 --> 00:35:07,273
The team were wonderful.
They looked after us.
474
00:35:07,398 --> 00:35:12,487
I would run up the hill every morning
from the villa and jump in the pool,
475
00:35:12,612 --> 00:35:16,617
and then write lyrics or write a tune,
and then make the album.
476
00:35:16,742 --> 00:35:19,702
I developed
a relationship with the island
477
00:35:19,827 --> 00:35:21,496
and the people who live there.
478
00:35:21,621 --> 00:35:26,668
I learned to windsurf on Montserrat.
I was taught by a guy called Danny.
479
00:35:26,793 --> 00:35:30,213
He was very patient with me
because I was a very slow learner.
480
00:35:30,338 --> 00:35:33,884
He's a very brilliant man,
very good friend of mine.
481
00:35:34,967 --> 00:35:36,177
Respects me much.
482
00:35:36,302 --> 00:35:42,184
He said, "Danny, you taught me something
that I'd never known how to do.
483
00:35:42,309 --> 00:35:45,061
The people teach me or taught me things,
484
00:35:45,186 --> 00:35:48,273
they are my hero,
and you are one of my hero."
485
00:35:48,398 --> 00:35:50,192
Right, the dance steps.
486
00:36:14,507 --> 00:36:19,262
We did some backing vocals
for The Police.
487
00:36:19,679 --> 00:36:21,097
It was quite funny, actually.
488
00:36:21,222 --> 00:36:24,934
Twice, I went into the studio
to do backing vocals.
489
00:36:25,059 --> 00:36:26,103
They're the same.
490
00:36:26,228 --> 00:36:28,396
Everybody come and sing.
-Everybody come and sing.
491
00:36:28,521 --> 00:36:31,983
They wanted, like, a choir.
-Sound like a choir.
492
00:36:34,652 --> 00:36:36,572
Hang on, stop.
493
00:36:36,697 --> 00:36:38,282
OK, I understand.
494
00:36:38,407 --> 00:36:41,201
By this time in our career,
our main songwriter had a technique,
495
00:36:41,326 --> 00:36:44,413
which is to not reveal his songs
until we needed them.
496
00:36:44,538 --> 00:36:49,793
And this song came in
and we heard the demo,
497
00:36:49,918 --> 00:36:51,628
and we all could hear right away
498
00:36:51,753 --> 00:36:55,298
that the demo Sting made by himself,
it's already a hit.
499
00:36:55,423 --> 00:36:57,134
Just put that sucker out right away.
500
00:36:57,259 --> 00:37:00,596
But that didn't suit
our self-image as a band.
501
00:37:07,603 --> 00:37:11,106
And we tried every way.
The punk version, the reggae version.
502
00:37:11,231 --> 00:37:15,152
And so, eventually, one morning
I arrived in the studio, "Fuck it!
503
00:37:15,277 --> 00:37:18,780
Just fucking play your fucked-up demo,
504
00:37:18,905 --> 00:37:21,867
just fucking... just tell me
where the fucking changes are!"
505
00:37:21,992 --> 00:37:25,036
I knew where the changes were,
because we'd tried it every which way.
506
00:37:25,161 --> 00:37:27,664
It's a complicated song
with a lot of different parts.
507
00:37:27,789 --> 00:37:30,541
And so, "OK, roll tape
and I'll play with the demo."
508
00:37:30,666 --> 00:37:33,545
And we did,
and the record that is the record
509
00:37:33,670 --> 00:37:38,342
is that morning recording
of that song in one take.
510
00:38:02,615 --> 00:38:05,369
Then we recorded in the studio.
511
00:38:05,494 --> 00:38:10,331
I think Andy was dancing
on George's prized mixing desk,
512
00:38:10,456 --> 00:38:12,251
which didn't go down well
with Mr. Martin.
513
00:38:12,376 --> 00:38:14,753
But he didn't harm it.
He was very light.
514
00:38:14,878 --> 00:38:16,505
We just had fun, it was a fun video.
515
00:38:29,684 --> 00:38:32,521
Being on an island like that,
you can be in the bungalow
516
00:38:32,646 --> 00:38:35,190
in a dry, dusty patch of sand
down near the beach,
517
00:38:35,315 --> 00:38:37,860
and you'll be on your own,
there is no one else.
518
00:38:37,985 --> 00:38:41,697
So it was kind of isolating, and it
brought out some really good things.
519
00:38:41,822 --> 00:38:44,490
Ghost in the Machine
was another major hit album,
520
00:38:44,615 --> 00:38:49,246
but my wife called me and said,
"I want to get divorced", that's it.
521
00:38:49,371 --> 00:38:55,210
In fact, I think was all three of us
probably got divorced
522
00:38:55,335 --> 00:38:58,713
or started divorce proceedings
during Ghost in the Machine.
523
00:39:02,342 --> 00:39:07,931
It was a period of stratospheric success.
524
00:39:08,599 --> 00:39:13,394
The part of that, the speed
and the size of that success,
525
00:39:13,519 --> 00:39:16,398
also distorts your perception of it.
526
00:39:16,898 --> 00:39:20,735
And we were so filled
with this forward momentum,
527
00:39:20,860 --> 00:39:23,989
we didn't really get a chance
to appreciate it,
528
00:39:24,114 --> 00:39:28,284
except for Montserrat,
which allowed us to calm down.
529
00:39:46,929 --> 00:39:50,224
Music is the liquid architecture
of our emotions,
530
00:39:50,349 --> 00:39:51,766
and George was a wonderful architect.
531
00:39:51,891 --> 00:39:55,646
He had a way of putting things in place,
in the right place.
532
00:39:55,771 --> 00:40:00,983
In a place that was comfortable
and a place that grew, it was fruitful.
533
00:40:21,463 --> 00:40:25,467
The first main wave of success
for Elton and the band
534
00:40:25,592 --> 00:40:32,592
was really from,
like, 1971, '72 till '76.
535
00:40:32,724 --> 00:40:35,268
Just a four-piece
with Elton, me, Dee and Nigel.
536
00:40:35,393 --> 00:40:38,105
We'd made
all those classic records in the '70s,
537
00:40:38,230 --> 00:40:40,940
and then there was a gap
where we weren't all together.
538
00:40:41,065 --> 00:40:42,985
We all did different things.
Elton retired.
539
00:40:43,110 --> 00:40:48,782
And he called me in '81 and said,
"I'm gonna put the band back together."
540
00:40:50,242 --> 00:40:51,242
I don't know.
541
00:40:51,367 --> 00:40:55,621
I was recording with Elton, in Paris,
542
00:40:55,746 --> 00:40:58,208
and we weren't getting much done.
543
00:40:58,876 --> 00:41:04,505
Um... that's the diplomatic answer.
544
00:41:04,630 --> 00:41:07,967
I spoke to Elton's manager.
545
00:41:08,092 --> 00:41:11,554
He went to see Elton,
and all of a sudden...
546
00:41:11,679 --> 00:41:15,559
This was, I think, on a Tuesday
and we were flying back to London.
547
00:41:15,684 --> 00:41:19,353
And I was told that we were actually
going to Montserrat on Friday.
548
00:41:22,608 --> 00:41:26,235
We arrived there, and it was
just such a shock to suddenly be there.
549
00:41:26,360 --> 00:41:30,157
It was like,
"Oi! What are we doing here?"
550
00:41:30,282 --> 00:41:33,534
We had a couple of days to get over
the jetlag, and then we were off.
551
00:41:33,659 --> 00:41:35,661
Montserrat was a whole different deal.
552
00:41:35,786 --> 00:41:39,081
The room was fantastic.
It just had a great atmosphere.
553
00:41:39,208 --> 00:41:42,960
It had George all over it, the studio.
It was just so cool.
554
00:41:43,085 --> 00:41:46,547
I hadn't got any material
before I arrived in Montserrat,
555
00:41:46,672 --> 00:41:49,175
and I wrote 12 songs there.
556
00:41:49,300 --> 00:41:51,677
It's always the danger
that you might not be able to write.
557
00:41:51,802 --> 00:41:53,137
So I quite like that.
558
00:41:53,262 --> 00:41:55,431
For the first half an hour
when I was trying to write,
559
00:41:55,556 --> 00:41:57,309
I couldn't write anything
and I was panicking.
560
00:41:57,434 --> 00:42:01,230
But the way we write, it's very strange.
With Bernie and I, it's something...
561
00:42:01,355 --> 00:42:03,815
It just works, there's a magic there.
562
00:42:03,940 --> 00:42:06,193
Until Too Low for Zero,
with Elton and Bernie,
563
00:42:07,193 --> 00:42:08,570
it had been all over the place.
564
00:42:08,695 --> 00:42:11,864
They hadn't been together much,
hadn't been writing together.
565
00:42:11,989 --> 00:42:15,034
And this was the first album back.
It was all Bernie.
566
00:42:16,077 --> 00:42:18,121
And all the original band.
567
00:42:18,246 --> 00:42:21,541
So it was quite a remarkable event.
568
00:42:21,666 --> 00:42:23,710
We were all on the same wavelength.
569
00:42:23,835 --> 00:42:27,172
We didn't have to tell each other
how it should be.
570
00:42:27,297 --> 00:42:32,385
And the beauty also was
that we heard the songs being written.
571
00:42:32,510 --> 00:42:34,512
So we were in there from the start.
572
00:42:45,398 --> 00:42:46,942
I remember the day
573
00:42:47,067 --> 00:42:49,652
that we wrote I Guess That's Why
They Call It the Blues,
574
00:42:49,777 --> 00:42:53,447
because to me, it's one
of the greatest love songs of all time.
575
00:42:53,574 --> 00:42:57,119
And we wrote it in 20 minutes.
Again, it wasn't like a big thing.
576
00:42:57,244 --> 00:43:00,289
It was like, "OK, this, this, this.
Yeah, that sounds great."
577
00:43:00,414 --> 00:43:02,248
And, "Let's get the guys in,
let's record it."
578
00:43:30,235 --> 00:43:32,778
There was something
about being on the same site.
579
00:43:32,905 --> 00:43:38,327
It has this strange effect
of bringing everybody together.
580
00:43:43,664 --> 00:43:46,918
One day, Elton said,
"Where'd did you go last night?"
581
00:43:47,043 --> 00:43:50,088
I said, "We went to this new place.
We found this new place."
582
00:43:50,213 --> 00:43:52,840
He said, "Where is it?"
I said, "I'll show you."
583
00:43:52,965 --> 00:43:55,677
So, we were driving along
584
00:43:55,802 --> 00:43:59,347
and we go past this totally rundown place
585
00:43:59,472 --> 00:44:02,016
with a bit of corrugated iron
over the top.
586
00:44:02,141 --> 00:44:04,519
And Elton goes, "I love places like that.
587
00:44:04,644 --> 00:44:06,396
Nobody ever invites me
to places like that."
588
00:44:06,521 --> 00:44:08,315
I'm going, "Yeah, sure!"
589
00:44:08,440 --> 00:44:10,817
It's, you know, the bloke
who lives in the Ritz all the time.
590
00:44:10,943 --> 00:44:12,693
So, we went there.
591
00:44:12,818 --> 00:44:17,032
All right now, this is
where we do portionable dining.
592
00:44:17,157 --> 00:44:20,244
The Village Place
was just like ordinary place,
593
00:44:20,369 --> 00:44:22,371
like in the ghetto,
594
00:44:22,496 --> 00:44:26,541
where everybody hangs around
and they serve chicken wings
595
00:44:26,666 --> 00:44:29,836
and you go into the bar
and have some bush rum.
596
00:44:30,253 --> 00:44:32,713
But I liked Elton John very much,
597
00:44:32,840 --> 00:44:35,925
because he makes
the whole place lively, very lively.
598
00:44:36,050 --> 00:44:39,554
Yeah, whenever he come here,
man, he just come out,
599
00:44:39,679 --> 00:44:41,514
and start dancing.
-He's a good guy.
600
00:44:41,639 --> 00:44:44,141
Just dancing in the yard.
601
00:44:44,268 --> 00:44:45,853
He was a good guy.
602
00:44:45,978 --> 00:44:49,106
He would take off his shades
and give it to whoever wanted it.
603
00:44:49,231 --> 00:44:54,110
Whenever he goes to the Village Place,
the bar is open until he leave.
604
00:44:54,235 --> 00:44:57,530
Open bar. Anybody who come here,
you get free drinks.
605
00:44:57,655 --> 00:45:02,034
He runs an open tab.
That's him. He's very generous.
606
00:45:02,577 --> 00:45:05,706
Guys that are down,
he brings them up, you know?
607
00:45:07,248 --> 00:45:08,750
After dinner,
608
00:45:10,251 --> 00:45:14,590
we would all congregate back into
the control room with pina coladas
609
00:45:14,715 --> 00:45:16,757
and sit back and listen to the album.
610
00:45:16,884 --> 00:45:23,014
And then, Elton would play it again.
And then, a third time.
611
00:45:23,139 --> 00:45:25,516
About a week into the album,
612
00:45:25,641 --> 00:45:30,981
everybody went to bed after playing
the album through only once,
613
00:45:31,106 --> 00:45:32,315
which upset Elton.
614
00:45:32,440 --> 00:45:34,902
He started ranting about
something about throwing...
615
00:45:35,027 --> 00:45:37,612
"It was a shit album.
I'm gonna throw the tapes in the pool."
616
00:45:37,737 --> 00:45:41,449
And Mike, very, very swiftly,
brilliant idea,
617
00:45:41,574 --> 00:45:45,494
gave him about six blank two-inch tapes.
618
00:45:46,079 --> 00:45:48,414
Elton went out and threw
the whole lot in the swimming pool.
619
00:45:48,539 --> 00:45:49,666
That could've been the album.
620
00:45:58,884 --> 00:46:01,052
When we were working on Too Low for Zero,
621
00:46:01,177 --> 00:46:03,554
Dee had been suffering from cancer.
622
00:46:04,056 --> 00:46:07,476
So he wasn't in the studio all the time.
623
00:46:07,601 --> 00:46:10,853
Then we got a phone call
one morning saying,
624
00:46:10,978 --> 00:46:13,815
"Nigel can't come in.
He's not very well."
625
00:46:13,940 --> 00:46:17,068
So Elton went, "What the fuck?"
626
00:46:17,193 --> 00:46:20,864
He said, "They're all dropping
like flies!"
627
00:46:20,989 --> 00:46:25,744
And over there in the distance,
there's a kind of shelf by the window
628
00:46:25,869 --> 00:46:27,663
separating the control room
and the studio,
629
00:46:27,788 --> 00:46:30,541
and there's this huge cloud
of marijuana smoke.
630
00:46:30,666 --> 00:46:33,168
And lying there, absolutely prone,
631
00:46:33,293 --> 00:46:38,047
was Adrian who was in charge
of all the logistics for the recordings.
632
00:46:38,172 --> 00:46:41,677
Out of this smoke this voice said,
"Well, I'm still standing."
633
00:46:41,802 --> 00:46:46,014
Elton and I just looked at each other,
we just collapsed with laughter.
634
00:46:46,139 --> 00:46:48,724
Then, the next minute,
Elton picked himself up,
635
00:46:48,851 --> 00:46:51,478
phoned up Bernie and said,
"I want you to write this song."
636
00:47:15,126 --> 00:47:17,253
George Martin came down
637
00:47:17,378 --> 00:47:19,547
when we were there
doing T oo Low for Zero.
638
00:47:19,672 --> 00:47:23,177
And later on, Chris told me
that George had said to him
639
00:47:24,344 --> 00:47:26,762
that he couldn't believe the chemistry
640
00:47:26,889 --> 00:47:31,143
that was happening between
the four of us in the studio. And...
641
00:47:32,143 --> 00:47:37,356
The only thing that he could liken it to
was when he worked with the Beatles.
642
00:47:37,481 --> 00:47:40,527
When we heard that, it was like,
"Shit, OK, I like that."
643
00:47:40,652 --> 00:47:43,572
I've got the same people around me now
as I did 15 years ago.
644
00:47:43,697 --> 00:47:45,364
We've been through ups and downs.
645
00:47:45,489 --> 00:47:48,619
And the pleasure of it all is being
able to share it with these people,
646
00:47:48,744 --> 00:47:50,954
and after all that time,
still be with them,
647
00:47:51,079 --> 00:47:53,248
and I think we're playing better.
648
00:47:54,248 --> 00:47:55,541
And it feels fantastic
649
00:47:55,666 --> 00:47:58,545
to be able to get a second chance
at having that enthusiasm.
650
00:47:58,670 --> 00:48:01,840
And so, that more than anything else,
it means a lot to me.
651
00:48:15,646 --> 00:48:19,525
We did all have good,
fun times. He did three albums with us.
652
00:48:19,650 --> 00:48:23,152
One time, he said
that he was leaving at 21st December.
653
00:48:23,277 --> 00:48:27,324
We were all getting excited because
Montserrat's carnival is at Christmas.
654
00:48:27,449 --> 00:48:32,204
So, we're all thinking, "Soon as the
band have gone, we'll all be partying."
655
00:48:32,329 --> 00:48:35,581
And he's like, "I think I'll stay."
So he stayed.
656
00:48:36,500 --> 00:48:37,583
We had a fantastic time.
657
00:48:37,708 --> 00:48:40,711
It was like a big family, sitting
at the table, enjoying Christmas.
658
00:48:40,838 --> 00:48:46,134
So, maybe with Elton,
the excesses were very, very big,
659
00:48:46,260 --> 00:48:47,385
but it didn't make him happy.
660
00:48:47,510 --> 00:48:50,639
It might not have been
anything to do with Montserrat,
661
00:48:50,764 --> 00:48:54,934
but he did have an experience
that quite changed him, obviously.
662
00:49:04,443 --> 00:49:07,405
It was a place that was put there
663
00:49:07,530 --> 00:49:12,369
for people to understand themselves,
to inspire the world.
664
00:49:12,494 --> 00:49:16,914
Because there was a lot of stuff
came out of Montserrat that is forever.
665
00:49:17,039 --> 00:49:19,668
One, two.
-One, two.
666
00:49:20,626 --> 00:49:25,007
In London,
I was often overdubbing in the studios
667
00:49:25,132 --> 00:49:26,925
on work that had come from Montserrat.
668
00:49:27,050 --> 00:49:29,302
I would say sometimes,
"This is from Montserrat."
669
00:49:29,427 --> 00:49:30,846
They'd say, "How did you know?"
670
00:49:30,971 --> 00:49:32,972
I'd say, "I can hear it,
believe it or not."
671
00:49:33,097 --> 00:49:36,143
There's something in the air
that's surrounding these notes.
672
00:49:36,268 --> 00:49:39,813
There's a sympathy between the notes,
an understanding.
673
00:49:39,938 --> 00:49:41,773
That can only come
when you're working with George
674
00:49:41,898 --> 00:49:43,775
or in one of his environments.
675
00:50:00,291 --> 00:50:02,418
The '80s was probably
676
00:50:02,543 --> 00:50:07,215
one of the most inventive decades
for pop music.
677
00:50:07,757 --> 00:50:12,429
You'd had the punk movement in '76, '77,
then you had new wave,
678
00:50:12,554 --> 00:50:15,389
bridged the gap
from the '70s into the '80s.
679
00:50:15,516 --> 00:50:18,351
And then you had this thing
called the New Romantics,
680
00:50:18,476 --> 00:50:22,021
which was Duran Duran,
Spandau Ballet, Culture Club.
681
00:50:22,146 --> 00:50:24,190
And Duran were the biggest of the bunch.
682
00:50:34,034 --> 00:50:36,577
We'd just finished the Rio album,
683
00:50:36,702 --> 00:50:38,079
and we were chasing The Police,
684
00:50:38,746 --> 00:50:40,958
because they were
a little bit older than us.
685
00:50:41,083 --> 00:50:44,378
They were ahead of us in America,
and it was time to make another album.
686
00:50:44,503 --> 00:50:47,047
And then we thought,
"We can't go back to England."
687
00:50:47,172 --> 00:50:51,175
Because it was just a little too crazy
with all the hysteria at that point.
688
00:50:51,300 --> 00:50:53,512
We couldn't really move in the street.
689
00:50:53,637 --> 00:50:55,847
So we wanted
to get as far away as we could.
690
00:50:55,972 --> 00:51:00,726
AIR Studios Montserrat looked
very appealing from the brochures.
691
00:51:00,853 --> 00:51:04,856
And, of course,
having George Martin involved,
692
00:51:04,981 --> 00:51:08,235
we figured that everything's
gonna be perfect there.
693
00:51:14,032 --> 00:51:18,494
When we arrived, it was like
being in a surrealist painting.
694
00:51:19,371 --> 00:51:23,333
You go, and there's black sand
everywhere, and the volcano,
695
00:51:23,458 --> 00:51:26,711
and these giant iguanas.
696
00:51:26,836 --> 00:51:29,505
One thing that was a bit of a shock
697
00:51:29,630 --> 00:51:34,094
was that we were used to living our lives
698
00:51:34,219 --> 00:51:37,306
completely under media scrutiny.
699
00:51:37,431 --> 00:51:40,099
And it was days when you'd wake up
700
00:51:40,224 --> 00:51:44,061
and there'd be someone hiding
in your hedge in your front garden.
701
00:51:44,188 --> 00:51:48,567
You'd have to draw the curtains quickly
when you're having breakfast.
702
00:51:49,735 --> 00:51:54,072
So, suddenly there, there was no one.
703
00:51:54,197 --> 00:51:59,244
It was like suddenly going under water
and there was silence.
704
00:52:13,300 --> 00:52:16,010
In Montserrat, we had fun.
705
00:52:16,135 --> 00:52:18,889
We're not that straight-laced.
We're making rock 'n' roll.
706
00:52:19,014 --> 00:52:21,057
When we first arrived,
707
00:52:21,182 --> 00:52:25,728
and when we made it known
to the staff at the studio
708
00:52:25,853 --> 00:52:27,523
that we wanted some grass,
709
00:52:27,648 --> 00:52:31,777
within, I don't know, 15 minutes,
some kid arrived with a plant
710
00:52:31,902 --> 00:52:34,820
that he just uprooted
and stuck in a carrier bag.
711
00:52:35,530 --> 00:52:41,202
For Simon, he loves sunshine
and he loves being outdoors
712
00:52:41,327 --> 00:52:43,288
and he loves boats and water.
713
00:52:43,413 --> 00:52:48,043
So it was a dream to be able
to be at a studio in the Caribbean,
714
00:52:48,168 --> 00:52:53,297
do a few hours' work,
then go off and have fun in the sea.
715
00:52:53,422 --> 00:52:58,135
For me,
really hot climates and isolation,
716
00:52:58,262 --> 00:53:03,349
personally are not
so great for creativity
717
00:53:03,474 --> 00:53:07,103
when you wanna do something
with a little experimentation.
718
00:53:07,228 --> 00:53:12,150
And so I really had a bit
of personality clash with it creatively.
719
00:53:12,275 --> 00:53:16,905
And I ended up working
into the night mostly in the studio,
720
00:53:17,030 --> 00:53:20,576
because there was no disruptions,
people weren't running out of the door
721
00:53:20,701 --> 00:53:22,744
to jump in the swimming pool
every five minutes.
722
00:53:22,869 --> 00:53:25,121
And I could actually focus on things.
723
00:53:25,246 --> 00:53:28,000
But, having said that,
when we were there,
724
00:53:28,125 --> 00:53:31,545
we got the basis for
the Seven and the Ragged Tiger album,
725
00:53:31,670 --> 00:53:34,672
The Reflex and The Union of the Snake.
726
00:53:53,692 --> 00:53:57,945
Being in Montserrat, you certainly felt
isolated from the real world.
727
00:53:58,070 --> 00:54:03,202
It did end up feeling like
we were disconnected from the fans
728
00:54:03,327 --> 00:54:05,579
because we were just living in paradise,
729
00:54:05,704 --> 00:54:09,333
and that's why we decided
we need to finish the album in a city.
730
00:54:09,916 --> 00:54:14,170
We went to Montserrat
with all good intentions,
731
00:54:14,295 --> 00:54:17,132
and to George Martin's great credit,
732
00:54:17,257 --> 00:54:21,010
he pulled off something
that was pretty extraordinary.
733
00:54:21,135 --> 00:54:27,976
But I'm not sure
that we were in the right headspace
734
00:54:28,726 --> 00:54:31,396
to make the kind of record there
735
00:54:31,521 --> 00:54:35,567
that might have been
a little more chilled.
736
00:54:35,692 --> 00:54:38,445
We wanted
to make something full of energy.
737
00:54:38,570 --> 00:54:40,447
Duran Duran came, and they were young.
738
00:54:40,572 --> 00:54:44,326
As they were there, I think two of them
celebrated their 21st birthday.
739
00:54:44,451 --> 00:54:46,619
And they were
at the height of their fame.
740
00:54:46,744 --> 00:54:52,000
So, of course, they were probably
wanting to be in the jet-set place.
741
00:54:52,125 --> 00:54:53,835
So, it wasn't exactly right for them.
742
00:54:53,960 --> 00:54:57,922
We had some other bands like Ultravox.
They were young at the time.
743
00:54:58,047 --> 00:55:00,300
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark,
they came.
744
00:55:00,425 --> 00:55:02,052
But it was right for them
745
00:55:02,177 --> 00:55:04,679
because they were ready to enjoy
what Montserrat offered.
746
00:55:23,949 --> 00:55:25,784
We went to Montserrat once and recorded.
747
00:55:25,909 --> 00:55:27,327
That wasn't a good experience for me.
748
00:55:27,452 --> 00:55:31,331
Palm trees and the ocean
and the sand's too relaxing.
749
00:55:31,456 --> 00:55:32,666
I need to hear traffic.
750
00:55:39,422 --> 00:55:44,052
They sold Valium over
the counter, which was fucking insane
751
00:55:44,177 --> 00:55:46,597
because you'd walk into the store and go,
752
00:55:46,722 --> 00:55:49,724
"I'll have a bottle of shampoo,
packet of razorblades,
753
00:55:49,849 --> 00:55:51,851
50 Valium and a Mars bar."
754
00:55:56,273 --> 00:56:00,193
We got on this little plane,
propeller plane.
755
00:56:00,318 --> 00:56:03,822
And the pilot's got a joint in his hand.
756
00:56:03,947 --> 00:56:06,782
I'm going, "This doesn't look too safe."
757
00:56:12,164 --> 00:56:15,333
I've seen bands that came down and...
758
00:56:16,585 --> 00:56:20,713
changed, like, their work pattern.
759
00:56:20,838 --> 00:56:24,675
They say it themselves. "Wow!
We did such and such in two days.
760
00:56:24,800 --> 00:56:27,721
It's unbelievable. We've never done
that before. That was a six-week job."
761
00:56:32,266 --> 00:56:35,646
The place was like that.
It made you intense.
762
00:56:35,771 --> 00:56:39,650
It sort of intensified everything
that you were.
763
00:56:39,775 --> 00:56:44,612
But it also got a reputation for a place
where you could get things done.
764
00:56:44,737 --> 00:56:48,157
One of the things that happened
with a lot a very famous people
765
00:56:48,282 --> 00:56:51,744
was they lost sight
of how they became famous.
766
00:56:51,869 --> 00:56:53,789
Coming to an island like this,
767
00:56:53,914 --> 00:56:57,041
you were shoved
straight back into each other's faces
768
00:56:57,166 --> 00:56:58,710
and you had to go and make another album.
769
00:56:58,835 --> 00:57:00,920
But at the moment,
I want to have a fight.
770
00:57:01,045 --> 00:57:03,297
Much better television
than your questions,
771
00:57:03,422 --> 00:57:04,632
I promise you.
-OK.
772
00:57:04,757 --> 00:57:08,887
Shall we film me whopping Sting?
-Yes. That would be great.
773
00:57:09,012 --> 00:57:11,056
The Police, album one, album two,
774
00:57:11,181 --> 00:57:13,559
it was us against the world.
775
00:57:13,684 --> 00:57:16,769
By the time we got up to Synchronicity,
we were world-famous,
776
00:57:16,894 --> 00:57:19,981
everything had changed, and it was,
"Why should we be a band anymore?"
777
00:57:21,775 --> 00:57:23,360
Shall we tune the guitar for you, man?
778
00:57:23,485 --> 00:57:25,152
So when we got back to Montserrat,
779
00:57:25,278 --> 00:57:27,989
we were so isolated from each other,
780
00:57:28,114 --> 00:57:30,867
that it got really difficult to...
781
00:57:30,992 --> 00:57:33,704
you know, imagine being in the studio
and making a record.
782
00:57:33,829 --> 00:57:35,204
It was sort of icy.
783
00:57:35,329 --> 00:57:37,456
We went there for the isolation,
784
00:57:37,583 --> 00:57:40,293
but we soon found
that without anything else around us,
785
00:57:40,418 --> 00:57:43,045
we had only each other
to drive each other bananas.
786
00:57:43,172 --> 00:57:47,175
And we all saw the irony of it,
787
00:57:47,300 --> 00:57:49,677
although we were screaming
and shouting at each other,
788
00:57:49,802 --> 00:57:55,184
that here we were in this paradise,
which we soon turned into a living hell.
789
00:57:55,309 --> 00:57:56,976
Yeah!
790
00:58:01,231 --> 00:58:04,025
I was the only one, personally,
the guitar player
791
00:58:04,150 --> 00:58:06,777
in the studio itself,
this recording room.
792
00:58:06,903 --> 00:58:10,782
Then there was the control room,
where the Neve desk was.
793
00:58:10,907 --> 00:58:15,996
Sting was in there playing his bass,
and Stewart was up in the dining room.
794
00:58:16,121 --> 00:58:18,289
We were playing together,
but weren't seeing each other.
795
00:58:18,414 --> 00:58:20,958
We were all completely isolated
and playing through headphones,
796
00:58:21,083 --> 00:58:22,210
which was sort of bizarre.
797
00:58:22,335 --> 00:58:24,505
What they all wanted in those days,
798
00:58:24,630 --> 00:58:27,340
this is a different period
of recording techniques,
799
00:58:27,465 --> 00:58:29,467
was perfect separation.
800
00:58:29,592 --> 00:58:30,844
And that's what we had,
801
00:58:30,969 --> 00:58:33,972
and that's what we were gonna be
as people too, perfect separation.
802
00:58:34,097 --> 00:58:37,016
I did not like recording
in the dining room,
803
00:58:37,141 --> 00:58:40,228
because it was lonely and grumpy.
804
00:58:40,353 --> 00:58:44,565
And it wasn't the feeling
of what I liked about the band,
805
00:58:44,690 --> 00:58:47,193
which was the interaction.
806
00:58:47,318 --> 00:58:50,364
That's what we did live
and what's so exciting.
807
00:58:50,489 --> 00:58:54,367
But it was quite miserable.
I couldn't wait to get off that island
808
00:58:54,492 --> 00:58:56,661
and put it behind me, and have it done.
809
00:58:57,454 --> 00:59:01,791
Well, the conflict in the band
is kind of storied
810
00:59:01,916 --> 00:59:04,001
and it may well be exaggerated.
811
00:59:04,878 --> 00:59:10,007
But for me, it was a function
of the creative process.
812
00:59:10,132 --> 00:59:14,471
You have three alpha males
trying to forge something
813
00:59:14,596 --> 00:59:17,306
that points in one direction
and not three.
814
00:59:18,809 --> 00:59:21,269
We weren't physically aggressive
with each other,
815
00:59:21,394 --> 00:59:23,230
but it got pretty heated in there
816
00:59:23,355 --> 00:59:28,150
but really because we cared passionately
about what each of us were doing.
817
00:59:28,902 --> 00:59:33,322
And, um... But it was not easy.
818
00:59:33,447 --> 00:59:37,159
It was great to have an environment
around us where you could escape to.
819
00:59:37,286 --> 00:59:40,289
I could go walking in the hills.
820
00:59:40,414 --> 00:59:42,748
In fact, I went up to the volcano
a couple of times.
821
00:59:42,875 --> 00:59:47,003
You'd come back smelling of sulfur.
People would think you'd been to hell.
822
00:59:47,128 --> 00:59:48,463
So, back to the top?
823
00:59:50,382 --> 00:59:55,387
It's OK. All right, yeah, it sounds OK.
It's C, F and A now, yeah.
824
00:59:55,512 --> 00:59:57,264
We got to a point fairly early on
825
00:59:57,389 --> 00:59:59,224
where we almost couldn't
speak to each other.
826
00:59:59,349 --> 01:00:03,436
It was tense, the atmosphere was tense,
like we shouldn't be doing this anymore.
827
01:00:03,561 --> 01:00:05,188
We need a producer.
828
01:00:05,313 --> 01:00:08,150
I said, "What about George Martin?
He produced the Beatles. Surely?"
829
01:00:08,275 --> 01:00:11,987
And we were up there,
so he'll probably take the job.
830
01:00:12,112 --> 01:00:14,989
Sting and Stewart said,
"Well, you go and get him then."
831
01:00:15,114 --> 01:00:16,490
So I said, "Right, I will."
832
01:00:16,617 --> 01:00:19,952
We sat down and he said,
"Would you like a cup of tea?"
833
01:00:20,077 --> 01:00:22,371
I said I'd have a cup of tea.
So we're having a cup of tea.
834
01:00:22,496 --> 01:00:24,791
I start to tell him
about the problems with the band.
835
01:00:24,916 --> 01:00:28,420
And I said, "We'd like you
to come over and produce us."
836
01:00:28,545 --> 01:00:30,422
He said, "Um... not sure."
837
01:00:30,547 --> 01:00:32,757
Maybe he wasn't
in the producing mood at that point.
838
01:00:32,882 --> 01:00:35,760
He said, "I think you can sort it out.
You're grown-ups."
839
01:00:35,885 --> 01:00:39,222
Come on, I think you can do it.
There's a lot at stake here."
840
01:00:39,347 --> 01:00:43,018
So, we had a very nice time
having tea and chatting.
841
01:00:43,143 --> 01:00:46,355
I walked all the way back
across the valley in the beating heat,
842
01:00:46,480 --> 01:00:49,023
and we were all incredibly polite
to one another
843
01:00:49,148 --> 01:00:51,400
and very nice for the rest of the album.
844
01:00:51,527 --> 01:00:52,568
That cured it.
845
01:01:21,556 --> 01:01:23,391
Every Breath You Take was very different
846
01:01:23,516 --> 01:01:25,184
from most of our other recordings,
847
01:01:25,309 --> 01:01:27,728
because it was pieced together
bit by bit.
848
01:01:27,855 --> 01:01:32,525
It was another song
that we knew was a huge hit.
849
01:01:32,650 --> 01:01:38,072
Do not mess with it,
do not get in the way of a big hit.
850
01:01:38,197 --> 01:01:43,202
So every element was recorded
completely separately.
851
01:01:43,327 --> 01:01:46,123
And the result is actually kinda cool.
852
01:01:46,248 --> 01:01:49,960
It's very composed,
all the parts are very composed.
853
01:01:50,418 --> 01:01:54,922
And at the same time,
emotionally very powerful.
854
01:02:25,077 --> 01:02:28,373
You know, maybe the best music
comes out of this sort of tension.
855
01:02:28,498 --> 01:02:29,583
I've always believed that.
856
01:02:29,708 --> 01:02:34,213
I think that The Police
had three distinct personalities
857
01:02:34,338 --> 01:02:37,757
which were not the ideal bedmates,
because we weren't mellow guys.
858
01:02:37,882 --> 01:02:43,722
But I think that firecracker complex
is what sort of fuels the music.
859
01:02:43,847 --> 01:02:47,059
In hindsight, it was worth it,
and we could all see...
860
01:02:47,184 --> 01:02:52,105
When we had calmed down, left the island
and we went back to the real world,
861
01:02:52,231 --> 01:02:53,606
all those battles that we'd fought
862
01:02:53,731 --> 01:02:57,152
and arguments about what we were gonna
do and how we were gonna do it,
863
01:02:57,277 --> 01:03:00,364
they were worth it, because
it really did light the thing up.
864
01:03:00,489 --> 01:03:03,951
And we all can say
that if I'd had my way every day,
865
01:03:04,076 --> 01:03:06,619
it wouldn't have been
a great album that it was.
866
01:03:06,744 --> 01:03:09,789
If we had let Sting get away
with every commandment,
867
01:03:09,914 --> 01:03:14,168
and if Andy had put in
every guitar solo, uh...
868
01:03:14,293 --> 01:03:15,963
it wouldn't have been the same thing.
869
01:03:16,088 --> 01:03:20,967
We kind of needed each other
to restrain and incite each other.
870
01:03:35,565 --> 01:03:38,485
Synchronicity was our biggest success.
871
01:03:38,610 --> 01:03:40,487
It had songs like Every Breath You Take,
872
01:03:40,612 --> 01:03:44,615
and King of Pain
and Wrapped Around Your Finger.
873
01:03:44,740 --> 01:03:49,829
But I did decide during that recording
that I didn't want to do this again.
874
01:03:49,954 --> 01:03:54,083
That we had achieved everything
we set out to do as a band,
875
01:03:54,208 --> 01:03:58,797
and achieved it tenfold, a hundredfold
more than our expectations,
876
01:03:58,922 --> 01:04:03,260
and so, after that, I figured
it would just be diminishing returns.
877
01:04:03,385 --> 01:04:08,347
So I wanted to use the momentum
we'd gained to set out on my own.
878
01:04:08,472 --> 01:04:13,436
After we finished the Police album,
Sting stays there for a bit of a holiday
879
01:04:13,561 --> 01:04:18,400
and the next band in is Dire Straits,
and the rest is history.
880
01:04:26,742 --> 01:04:28,827
I want my MTV!
881
01:04:28,952 --> 01:04:34,333
I've seen on MTV
The Police doing an ad for it.
882
01:04:34,458 --> 01:04:39,630
And I thought, "If I stick that
to Don't Stand So Close to Me,
883
01:04:40,838 --> 01:04:43,050
those notes, that would fit."
884
01:04:43,967 --> 01:04:48,514
Anyway, we were recording
Money for Nothing,
885
01:04:48,639 --> 01:04:51,934
and I said to somebody,
"I wish Sting was here."
886
01:04:52,059 --> 01:04:55,103
And somebody said,
"Well, he is here, he's on holiday."
887
01:05:07,865 --> 01:05:08,909
Ow!
888
01:05:30,806 --> 01:05:33,016
Trudie said to me,
"That's gonna be such a huge hit."
889
01:05:33,141 --> 01:05:36,644
I said, "I dunno, it's OK."
890
01:05:36,769 --> 01:05:40,565
Of course, it was the biggest hit
of that year, so I was very...
891
01:05:40,690 --> 01:05:43,110
very proud to have been on that,
but it's purely a function
892
01:05:43,235 --> 01:05:45,987
of just being in the right place
at the right time.
893
01:05:57,416 --> 01:06:00,543
There'd been something
going on with the other albums.
894
01:06:00,668 --> 01:06:05,715
There'd been a sort of a build-up,
because we were playing live
895
01:06:05,840 --> 01:06:09,177
and there was a big demand
to see the band live.
896
01:06:09,302 --> 01:06:13,347
Because the feeling was
that not only could we do it all live,
897
01:06:13,472 --> 01:06:16,351
but it was better
than playing the records.
898
01:06:16,476 --> 01:06:19,271
That was reaching
a sort of critical mass.
899
01:06:26,235 --> 01:06:28,405
Mark wanted to try something different
900
01:06:28,530 --> 01:06:30,824
in the approach
to recording Brothers in Arms.
901
01:06:30,949 --> 01:06:34,119
After we did Love Over Gold,
we were both displeased
902
01:06:34,244 --> 01:06:37,289
with how analogue tape would change
the sound of our recordings
903
01:06:37,414 --> 01:06:38,539
while we were doing it.
904
01:06:38,623 --> 01:06:41,168
Dire Straits' manager
was conscious of that
905
01:06:41,293 --> 01:06:45,005
and encouraged Mark to record the album
digitally and mix it digitally.
906
01:06:45,130 --> 01:06:49,717
So, it was an all-digital recording
ultimately winding up on CD.
907
01:06:49,842 --> 01:06:52,179
And it was one of the first records
to be done that way,
908
01:06:52,304 --> 01:06:56,182
and I think he wanted the time
and the peace and quiet of Montserrat
909
01:06:56,307 --> 01:06:57,684
to do it there.
910
01:07:15,952 --> 01:07:19,956
If you come into a studio
from Oxford Circus,
911
01:07:20,081 --> 01:07:21,708
you'll be slightly hyper.
912
01:07:21,833 --> 01:07:24,210
You've come out of the Tube,
or wherever you've come from,
913
01:07:24,335 --> 01:07:28,005
and you're in a different mental place.
914
01:07:28,130 --> 01:07:32,802
When you come from the track
up to the studio in Montserrat,
915
01:07:32,927 --> 01:07:34,679
you go in the kitchen, you see George
916
01:07:34,804 --> 01:07:36,889
and you get a cup of coffee
and you're wandering around.
917
01:07:37,014 --> 01:07:40,059
And it's just more of a home studio vibe.
918
01:07:40,184 --> 01:07:44,231
But there's no getting away
from the fact that that kind of life,
919
01:07:44,356 --> 01:07:48,277
a rum-punch evening
and a later start kind of a thing,
920
01:07:48,402 --> 01:07:53,155
it will start to worm its way
into your work methods.
921
01:07:53,282 --> 01:07:55,784
It would be a lie
to say we came away from there
922
01:07:55,909 --> 01:07:59,621
without being touched deeply
by the place.
923
01:07:59,746 --> 01:08:03,666
The sound of the island
does come across on the record.
924
01:08:20,850 --> 01:08:23,311
I mean, it was almost too chill in a way.
925
01:08:23,436 --> 01:08:27,774
I remember, we were doing some track
a couple of weeks into the record,
926
01:08:27,899 --> 01:08:31,278
and I was looking out
and everybody was in a towel
927
01:08:31,403 --> 01:08:34,614
with sun cream on the nose, sunglasses.
928
01:08:34,739 --> 01:08:37,451
They were playing,
like, 40 beats per minute.
929
01:08:37,576 --> 01:08:41,204
I was like, "We're making a record here!
What is this?"
930
01:08:41,329 --> 01:08:43,372
It was too mellow.
931
01:08:43,497 --> 01:08:47,586
At any time in the studio,
it's very easy to lose perspective,
932
01:08:47,711 --> 01:08:50,713
especially when you're locked up
and it becomes your whole world.
933
01:08:50,838 --> 01:08:53,132
In fact, George Martin,
down in Montserrat said to me,
934
01:08:53,257 --> 01:08:56,970
"You know, Neil,
a producer can either drive the bus
935
01:08:57,095 --> 01:09:01,934
or he can sit next to the driver
with the roadmap, you know?"
936
01:09:02,059 --> 01:09:06,729
And it was up to me
to sort of keep that energy higher,
937
01:09:06,854 --> 01:09:08,731
because the record, I think,
was suffering.
938
01:09:08,856 --> 01:09:12,819
Neil would be one of
the most important people in my history.
939
01:09:12,944 --> 01:09:16,948
You know, it's due to him
that we got back on track.
940
01:09:17,073 --> 01:09:21,203
We were there a long time
before trying to get it going, but...
941
01:09:22,037 --> 01:09:27,376
Once we hit a groove we recorded
the album very quickly, really fast.
942
01:09:27,501 --> 01:09:31,337
All the Brothers in Arms album
was done in a few days.
943
01:09:43,307 --> 01:09:47,104
In a lot of our spare time,
we used to go down to the beach,
944
01:09:47,229 --> 01:09:49,856
and we soon noticed
there were a couple of windsurf boards,
945
01:09:49,981 --> 01:09:52,775
and that Danny was offering
to teach windsurfing.
946
01:09:52,900 --> 01:09:56,363
I becomes friends
with the Dire Straits band.
947
01:09:57,154 --> 01:09:59,867
That's after I had taught Alan Clark
and Guy Fletcher to windsurf.
948
01:09:59,992 --> 01:10:04,121
So one day after I and Alan Clark went
windsurfing and come out, Alan said,
949
01:10:04,246 --> 01:10:06,582
"I'm taking you up to the AIR Studios
for lunch."
950
01:10:06,707 --> 01:10:09,208
I said, "OK", and I went up
951
01:10:09,333 --> 01:10:12,837
and they're there,
and they're mixing the music they did.
952
01:10:13,713 --> 01:10:17,426
I started dancing to the music,
and then he said to me,
953
01:10:18,676 --> 01:10:22,639
"You know I wrote a song
on you dancing?" I said,
954
01:10:22,764 --> 01:10:28,936
"Mark, that's going to be
a damn big recording hit for you.
955
01:10:29,061 --> 01:10:30,898
I'm predicting to you,
956
01:10:31,023 --> 01:10:34,859
that is going to be your biggest album
that you ever make."
957
01:10:34,984 --> 01:10:37,820
Now, it's one
of the biggest album in the world.
958
01:10:37,945 --> 01:10:39,739
Everybody loves the song Walk of Life.
959
01:10:51,918 --> 01:10:54,546
Brothers in Arms was one
of the first all-digital recordings,
960
01:10:54,671 --> 01:10:59,467
and that in tandem with MTV
blowing up at the same time,
961
01:10:59,592 --> 01:11:01,386
I think that's a huge reason
962
01:11:01,511 --> 01:11:03,971
why everything changed for the band
at that point.
963
01:11:04,096 --> 01:11:06,140
OK, best British LP.
964
01:11:06,265 --> 01:11:08,226
Brothers in Arms, Dire Straits.
965
01:11:11,896 --> 01:11:14,858
I didn't have a clue about
how successful the album was.
966
01:11:14,983 --> 01:11:18,110
I don't think we did.
Never thought about it.
967
01:11:18,237 --> 01:11:23,574
When Philips invented the CD
and then brought it out,
968
01:11:23,699 --> 01:11:26,869
that just coincided
with the release of Brothers.
969
01:11:26,994 --> 01:11:32,000
So they took that and used it as,
"This is what CD sounds like."
970
01:11:32,125 --> 01:11:35,503
And then, they used all
their sales outlets to play the record.
971
01:11:35,628 --> 01:11:40,425
So that was an additional thing
that just happened by a fluke, really.
972
01:11:40,551 --> 01:11:43,386
In the '80s, somebody smart figured out
973
01:11:43,511 --> 01:11:46,097
that you can make a boatload
of money in the record business.
974
01:11:46,222 --> 01:11:48,766
And with the cheapness of CDs,
975
01:11:48,891 --> 01:11:54,605
to make a CD, to fully manufacture,
everything was less than a dollar.
976
01:11:54,730 --> 01:11:57,400
So, there was a calculation there,
977
01:11:57,525 --> 01:12:01,697
and like everything in the modern world,
it quickly became monetized.
978
01:12:02,154 --> 01:12:07,077
There was a lot of excitement
associated with the coming of the CD.
979
01:12:07,536 --> 01:12:08,871
The consumer loved it.
980
01:12:08,996 --> 01:12:12,748
As a result, the record industry
exploded at that point.
981
01:12:21,132 --> 01:12:23,217
It was a real shot in the arm,
coming to Montserrat.
982
01:12:23,342 --> 01:12:26,345
It was a real special event for us.
983
01:12:26,470 --> 01:12:30,975
It still is, it's in our memories,
it's still our favorite album.
984
01:12:40,527 --> 01:12:43,613
For us, the Rolling Stones
coming to the studio was a big thing.
985
01:12:43,738 --> 01:12:47,993
Because obviously, George
is more associated with the Beatles,
986
01:12:48,118 --> 01:12:52,122
and we'd had Keith Richards in doing
the X-Pensive Winos and it was fabulous.
987
01:12:52,247 --> 01:12:55,458
I was talking to Keith Richards before,
988
01:12:55,583 --> 01:12:57,668
when he came to do his solo.
989
01:12:57,793 --> 01:12:59,671
He did a solo record.
990
01:12:59,796 --> 01:13:00,922
I was talking to him
991
01:13:01,047 --> 01:13:04,842
and I told him, "The Rolling Stones
is one of my favorite bands."
992
01:13:04,967 --> 01:13:07,679
I asked him
if they were coming back together.
993
01:13:07,804 --> 01:13:12,391
And he said to me, "I am the only man
who could put the band back together,
994
01:13:12,518 --> 01:13:15,229
and I'm going to put it back together
and we'll come here and record."
995
01:13:15,354 --> 01:13:17,730
And they did come to Montserrat.
-Yeah, man.
996
01:13:17,855 --> 01:13:21,400
Keith has always insisted
that Mick is the lead singer,
997
01:13:21,527 --> 01:13:24,488
as he is in the Rolling Stones,
and he shouldn't do anything else.
998
01:13:24,613 --> 01:13:26,030
They just weren't getting on.
999
01:13:27,740 --> 01:13:29,826
We might as well start
by posing the question
1000
01:13:29,952 --> 01:13:31,953
of whether the release
of a Mick Jagger solo album
1001
01:13:32,078 --> 01:13:33,747
means the end of the Rolling Stones?
1002
01:13:33,872 --> 01:13:39,502
I'd done stuff with other people
and the odd thing here and there.
1003
01:13:39,627 --> 01:13:43,215
I'd obviously played with other bands
and jammed around,
1004
01:13:43,340 --> 01:13:45,259
but I thought it was a good moment
1005
01:13:45,384 --> 01:13:48,136
to break the pattern
of just doing a Stones album
1006
01:13:48,261 --> 01:13:52,349
and just do something of my own
for a change and step out a bit.
1007
01:13:52,474 --> 01:13:57,020
If Mick's albums had have been
blockbusters, so to speak,
1008
01:13:57,145 --> 01:13:59,730
whatever that means, uh...
1009
01:14:01,483 --> 01:14:05,654
it would be very unlikely
that I would be leaving tomorrow,
1010
01:14:05,779 --> 01:14:08,073
to start making a new Stones album.
1011
01:14:15,788 --> 01:14:17,082
Going down to Montserrat,
1012
01:14:17,207 --> 01:14:19,208
I was quite fearful
of going down with the Stones,
1013
01:14:19,333 --> 01:14:24,256
because working on four or five albums
with them previously,
1014
01:14:24,381 --> 01:14:27,842
I knew
that they were very much city bound.
1015
01:14:32,389 --> 01:14:37,810
I think they were quite amazed
how normal everybody was, really.
1016
01:14:37,935 --> 01:14:41,606
It's like when a band like the Stones
suddenly appears on the island,
1017
01:14:41,731 --> 01:14:47,404
the expectation can be something so big,
it can freak you out.
1018
01:14:47,904 --> 01:14:51,533
Keith Richards, all the guys,
1019
01:14:51,658 --> 01:14:56,662
they drink a lot,
they smoke a lot, they eat a lot.
1020
01:14:56,787 --> 01:15:00,000
As I say,
they were a whole set of good guys.
1021
01:15:06,256 --> 01:15:09,217
Don't go mad on the drums though, OK?
1022
01:15:09,342 --> 01:15:11,511
Looking at the body language
1023
01:15:11,636 --> 01:15:14,389
between, especially Mick and Keith
in Montserrat,
1024
01:15:14,515 --> 01:15:16,390
it was very different to what I'd seen,
1025
01:15:16,516 --> 01:15:21,896
and this was one of the most friendly
and warming atmospheres
1026
01:15:22,021 --> 01:15:23,689
I've seen between Mick and Keith.
1027
01:15:31,657 --> 01:15:34,326
We both agreed
the best thing for the both of us
1028
01:15:34,451 --> 01:15:35,993
is to get together. Like, nobody else.
1029
01:15:36,118 --> 01:15:39,497
And it's very strange
that it's easy between the two of us.
1030
01:15:39,622 --> 01:15:42,751
It's when other people are around
that it can be a problem.
1031
01:15:42,876 --> 01:15:45,628
I think after the second day,
we had three or four songs already.
1032
01:15:45,753 --> 01:15:48,631
When you start off on a roll like that,
it helps, you know?
1033
01:15:49,591 --> 01:15:53,679
Peter Mensch and Cliff Burnstein
came down,
1034
01:15:53,804 --> 01:15:56,515
and we were listening back
to Mixed Emotions.
1035
01:15:56,640 --> 01:15:58,391
Peter Mensch was talking to Keith
1036
01:15:58,516 --> 01:16:01,811
suggesting that an arrangement change
should be made.
1037
01:16:01,936 --> 01:16:06,608
At which point,
Keith delved into his doctor's bag,
1038
01:16:06,733 --> 01:16:09,944
one of these beautiful
old leather doctor's bags,
1039
01:16:10,069 --> 01:16:14,615
and bought out a knife
and pinned it between his legs,
1040
01:16:14,740 --> 01:16:17,953
and said to Peter
something in the terms of,
1041
01:16:18,078 --> 01:16:22,373
"Listen, sonny, nobody tells
the Rolling Stones how to write a song."
1042
01:16:22,498 --> 01:16:26,670
Which I thought was classic, wonderful.
And the arrangement never changed.
1043
01:16:26,795 --> 01:16:29,965
If I get up there,
we need another chord in there.
1044
01:16:30,090 --> 01:16:34,761
I think we have to take another minor.
-Yeah, one more minor, F, F and G.
1045
01:16:48,065 --> 01:16:49,150
I like it.
1046
01:16:49,275 --> 01:16:55,407
Montserrat was a huge part
of rebooting the Stones,
1047
01:16:55,532 --> 01:16:59,036
helping them get back together,
particularly Mick and Keith.
1048
01:16:59,161 --> 01:17:01,662
It was pretty sad when we all left
1049
01:17:01,787 --> 01:17:05,876
because they hadn't been that close
for such a long time.
1050
01:17:06,001 --> 01:17:08,503
There was a sense of, um, you know,
1051
01:17:08,628 --> 01:17:11,506
when you finish school
for the first time and you all break up.
1052
01:17:11,631 --> 01:17:14,176
It was a bit like that,
breaking up for the summer holidays.
1053
01:17:14,301 --> 01:17:16,470
They weren't going to see each other
for a long time.
1054
01:17:16,595 --> 01:17:18,262
One, two, three.
1055
01:17:46,750 --> 01:17:48,210
Good morning, everybody.
1056
01:17:48,335 --> 01:17:51,755
We're very pleased to announce
that we are doing a big tour this year.
1057
01:17:51,880 --> 01:17:55,050
And we've got a new album which comes
out and that's called Steel Wheels.
1058
01:17:55,175 --> 01:17:57,469
The first single's called Mixed Emotions.
1059
01:17:57,594 --> 01:17:59,220
I know you're dying to ask questions,
1060
01:17:59,345 --> 01:18:01,890
like, "Will this be
the last tour you ever do?"
1061
01:18:02,474 --> 01:18:06,185
Well, the Stones were
the last band to record in Montserrat.
1062
01:18:06,310 --> 01:18:10,064
There's been a few studios that they've
been the last people to record in,
1063
01:18:10,189 --> 01:18:13,527
but they're not the reason
that they've closed down.
1064
01:18:13,652 --> 01:18:16,070
It's always an act of God.
1065
01:18:16,195 --> 01:18:19,240
The thing about the Stones
is that they do this thing
1066
01:18:19,365 --> 01:18:21,909
where, in the old days,
they used to trash things.
1067
01:18:22,034 --> 01:18:26,957
They said, "This is what we usually do.
On the last day, we trash the place."
1068
01:18:27,082 --> 01:18:28,917
In a way, Hurricane Hugo did it for them
1069
01:18:29,042 --> 01:18:32,880
because as soon as they'd gone,
the hurricane hit.
1070
01:18:33,796 --> 01:18:37,466
Hurricane Hugo wiped
us out, it wiped the island out almost.
1071
01:18:38,342 --> 01:18:40,761
There are only 12.000 people
living on the island,
1072
01:18:40,887 --> 01:18:44,975
and 11.000 of them lost their homes.
It was pretty devastating.
1073
01:18:45,100 --> 01:18:47,019
But they picked themselves up
1074
01:18:47,144 --> 01:18:49,313
and it took a year,
or a bit more than a year
1075
01:18:49,438 --> 01:18:51,355
to get back anything like normal.
1076
01:18:54,359 --> 01:18:58,322
I wasn't able to get to Montserrat
after the hurricane
1077
01:18:58,447 --> 01:19:00,282
until after about six weeks.
1078
01:19:00,908 --> 01:19:03,493
So I got a flash lamp
and I went into the studio
1079
01:19:03,618 --> 01:19:05,787
to see how that had fared.
1080
01:19:05,912 --> 01:19:09,750
Went over to the piano
and opened the keyboard,
1081
01:19:09,875 --> 01:19:15,171
and all the ivory keys
were covered in green mold.
1082
01:19:15,296 --> 01:19:18,759
And I realized then we were done.
1083
01:19:24,765 --> 01:19:29,394
By the time the hurricane hit,
it was becoming a burden to them.
1084
01:19:29,520 --> 01:19:33,231
The kind of budgets that people had
were long gone.
1085
01:19:33,356 --> 01:19:37,069
The accountants were really starting
to dig into the music business,
1086
01:19:37,194 --> 01:19:41,198
and it wasn't the era
that we built it for.
1087
01:19:45,452 --> 01:19:47,871
I think technology
changed, things moved to digital.
1088
01:19:47,996 --> 01:19:50,248
And so, just the equipment levels...
1089
01:19:50,373 --> 01:19:52,542
Recording studios started changing a lot.
1090
01:19:52,667 --> 01:19:54,336
They became more accessible,
1091
01:19:54,461 --> 01:19:56,755
album budgets started getting cut.
All of these things.
1092
01:19:59,800 --> 01:20:02,469
Recording studios,
they all have a shelf-life,
1093
01:20:02,594 --> 01:20:09,350
because in the end, they are ruled
by forces that are bigger than us.
1094
01:20:09,475 --> 01:20:11,435
I think the demise of the album
1095
01:20:11,561 --> 01:20:15,189
is directly related
to the shift from analog to digital.
1096
01:20:15,314 --> 01:20:19,278
A lot of the restrictions we dealt with
in recording analog
1097
01:20:19,403 --> 01:20:24,615
were lovely parameters
to keep the reins kinda tight.
1098
01:20:24,740 --> 01:20:27,243
And with digital came unlimited options,
1099
01:20:27,368 --> 01:20:30,788
and I think things took
a pretty serious shift at that change.
1100
01:20:32,541 --> 01:20:35,210
It's as if there is something there
1101
01:20:35,335 --> 01:20:38,212
that drew all that music,
drew all that creativity,
1102
01:20:38,337 --> 01:20:40,465
and then it was like,
"The power's gone now."
1103
01:20:40,591 --> 01:20:42,509
So, that's finished and move on.
1104
01:20:50,934 --> 01:20:52,935
We heard that our volcano was dormant,
1105
01:20:53,060 --> 01:20:56,606
but we never understood
until our volcano started erupting
1106
01:20:56,731 --> 01:20:59,443
that dormant
actually meant potentially active.
1107
01:21:00,444 --> 01:21:02,237
And so, I was in the studio.
1108
01:21:02,362 --> 01:21:07,158
One of the technicians came and said,
"Rose, the volcano is erupting."
1109
01:21:33,685 --> 01:21:38,564
I sat before the microphone, I said,
"Everybody, I know that you are scared."
1110
01:21:38,689 --> 01:21:42,485
If you feel like praying, pray.
If you feel like crying, cry.
1111
01:21:42,610 --> 01:21:45,863
But I'll be here,
I'll be here with you all the way.
1112
01:21:45,988 --> 01:21:49,784
All the time, I'll be here, just keep
listening to the radio station.
1113
01:21:49,909 --> 01:21:53,704
"This is Rose. It's gonna be OK.
Just stay with me."
1114
01:21:58,292 --> 01:22:00,045
The sky was just, like, frightening.
1115
01:22:00,170 --> 01:22:03,340
Especially,
I can remember the first ash plume
1116
01:22:03,465 --> 01:22:05,132
that went up about 60.000 feet.
1117
01:22:05,259 --> 01:22:07,761
The whole island,
you have bright sunshine like this,
1118
01:22:07,886 --> 01:22:10,721
and suddenly it's like night,
you can't see a thing.
1119
01:22:11,974 --> 01:22:13,475
No one's here.
1120
01:22:13,600 --> 01:22:18,104
For me, it was a very,
very bad experience, it was very scary.
1121
01:22:18,229 --> 01:22:21,024
Because one night,
they tell you to go back home.
1122
01:22:21,149 --> 01:22:23,777
Before the night is out, you gotta move
in the middle of the night again,
1123
01:22:23,902 --> 01:22:28,282
and the next day you don't know
what to do, where you're gonna sleep.
1124
01:22:28,407 --> 01:22:32,034
Because all your mind, "Should I go home?
1125
01:22:32,159 --> 01:22:33,494
Should I stay in the shelter?"
1126
01:22:33,619 --> 01:22:35,329
You don't know what to do.
You're confused.
1127
01:22:56,018 --> 01:22:59,813
And you know, we didn't
understand the magnitude of an eruption,
1128
01:22:59,938 --> 01:23:01,230
what it can do to an island.
1129
01:23:01,355 --> 01:23:05,694
It entirely changed the entire landscape
in Montserrat and the whole country.
1130
01:23:05,819 --> 01:23:08,822
And I was amazed what could happen.
1131
01:23:12,743 --> 01:23:17,079
Many, almost all Montserratians
were displaced.
1132
01:23:17,831 --> 01:23:20,626
Whether they were
on that side or this side,
1133
01:23:20,751 --> 01:23:23,252
it was a rough time for everyone here.
1134
01:23:23,377 --> 01:23:26,756
And you just had to go somewhere else
and start over.
1135
01:23:27,341 --> 01:23:28,759
I hate the volcano.
1136
01:23:28,884 --> 01:23:32,720
I hated the fact
that it did so much to Montserrat.
1137
01:23:40,103 --> 01:23:42,439
I remember sailing past Montserrat
1138
01:23:42,564 --> 01:23:45,484
a few years after the volcano erupted,
1139
01:23:45,609 --> 01:23:48,110
and sailing past Plymouth
1140
01:23:48,237 --> 01:23:52,032
and just seeing
what looked like a nuclear winter.
1141
01:23:52,157 --> 01:23:54,283
It was covered in white dust.
1142
01:23:54,408 --> 01:23:59,206
This thriving, bustling Caribbean town
was a ghost town.
1143
01:23:59,331 --> 01:24:02,667
And it was frightening and upsetting,
1144
01:24:02,792 --> 01:24:05,253
because I had so many happy memories
of that place
1145
01:24:05,378 --> 01:24:09,006
with my bandmates,
my children, my family.
1146
01:24:09,131 --> 01:24:15,055
It makes me actually kind of tear up
when I think about it because...
1147
01:24:15,972 --> 01:24:20,394
it's a special place that was taken away,
1148
01:24:20,519 --> 01:24:24,355
that will never be the same again.
1149
01:24:24,480 --> 01:24:29,735
You can never go back
and get that same energy again.
1150
01:24:29,862 --> 01:24:32,655
And for the people that lived there,
1151
01:24:32,780 --> 01:24:38,244
for them to lose everything
in just one fleeting instant,
1152
01:24:38,369 --> 01:24:39,872
it devastates me.
1153
01:25:07,149 --> 01:25:09,775
Most of us cried,
because we lost our town.
1154
01:25:10,903 --> 01:25:14,405
We'd lost that important,
integral part of our history.
1155
01:25:15,740 --> 01:25:18,452
And I can close my eyes
and I'm still back there.
1156
01:25:24,248 --> 01:25:28,462
But since the volcanic activity,
Montserrat has grown in size,
1157
01:25:28,587 --> 01:25:32,966
and for me, I consider it to be
a pleasure to be around at this time
1158
01:25:33,091 --> 01:25:35,551
to see my island grow.
1159
01:25:35,676 --> 01:25:39,972
Because look at all the ash
and the new fertilizer it has brought.
1160
01:25:40,097 --> 01:25:44,603
And so, I consider the volcano
to be a perpetual part of who we are.
1161
01:25:52,694 --> 01:25:55,488
You can't really walk
around the estate now.
1162
01:25:56,739 --> 01:26:00,786
And so, I feel it was of a time.
1163
01:26:01,494 --> 01:26:05,541
And now it should slowly go back
to the jungle where it came from.
1164
01:26:12,005 --> 01:26:14,966
The '80s are like
a hundred years in the rear-view mirror.
1165
01:26:15,091 --> 01:26:20,221
It was a very special time,
and quality of studio, and vibe-wise,
1166
01:26:20,346 --> 01:26:24,768
the '80s was like the Renaissance,
the golden era of studio recording.
1167
01:26:29,105 --> 01:26:32,693
Those studios
are kind of an era that has gone.
1168
01:26:32,818 --> 01:26:36,738
Some types of music
are best recorded in a big room,
1169
01:26:36,863 --> 01:26:40,868
but you just get your drums
in that big room for a day,
1170
01:26:40,993 --> 01:26:44,787
and then you go back home and fiddle
with it on your own gear at home.
1171
01:26:44,912 --> 01:26:47,791
It's just not the way
artists make records anymore.
1172
01:26:51,086 --> 01:26:54,297
There's footage of that place,
there are photographs of that place,
1173
01:26:54,422 --> 01:26:58,510
there are living memories of that place.
That's history.
1174
01:26:58,635 --> 01:27:02,139
Whether it's around today,
1175
01:27:02,264 --> 01:27:05,266
it's something
that we still carry with us,
1176
01:27:05,391 --> 01:27:07,853
the ones who were lucky enough
to experience it.
1177
01:27:07,978 --> 01:27:11,105
It's still vibrant and alive to us.
1178
01:27:14,400 --> 01:27:16,528
As technology has evolved to the point
1179
01:27:16,653 --> 01:27:20,532
where, unbelievable, and people make
whole albums on their phone.
1180
01:27:20,657 --> 01:27:25,746
But I think the actual ingredients,
when you conceive of something,
1181
01:27:25,871 --> 01:27:29,582
head, and your heart,
your hands to play an instrument,
1182
01:27:29,707 --> 01:27:32,377
you use some kind of a recording device
to put it down,
1183
01:27:32,502 --> 01:27:34,671
those elements haven't changed.
1184
01:27:45,556 --> 01:27:48,100
It's like seeing something you've created
1185
01:27:48,226 --> 01:27:51,020
falling into disrepair.
1186
01:27:51,646 --> 01:27:53,856
But it's like everything in life,
isn't it?
1187
01:27:53,981 --> 01:27:55,943
Everything has a period.
1188
01:27:56,068 --> 01:27:59,404
You know, you bring something
out of nothing,
1189
01:27:59,529 --> 01:28:03,408
and it always goes back
to nothing again, whatever.
1190
01:28:04,701 --> 01:28:06,912
My father was a man
who got enormous pleasure
1191
01:28:07,037 --> 01:28:10,207
from other people's happiness.
He passed away years ago,
1192
01:28:10,332 --> 01:28:13,585
but he passed away as a very content man
with what he'd done with his life.
1193
01:28:13,710 --> 01:28:16,003
And Montserrat
was a huge part of that life,
1194
01:28:16,128 --> 01:28:19,757
and a huge part of a dream that
he fulfilled in doing something amazing.
1195
01:28:20,175 --> 01:28:25,721
I think that it had its natural end,
and that it was closure for him.
1196
01:28:31,561 --> 01:28:33,438
Shall we tune the guitar for you, man?
1197
01:28:33,564 --> 01:28:36,817
George knew the space between the notes
1198
01:28:36,942 --> 01:28:40,319
was as exciting as the note you played.
1199
01:28:40,444 --> 01:28:45,576
That rhythm that keeps us alive,
the heartbeat, it's in all of us.
1200
01:28:45,701 --> 01:28:47,953
It's the heartbeat
you hear in your mother's womb
1201
01:28:48,078 --> 01:28:49,537
that entices you out to dance.
1202
01:28:49,662 --> 01:28:53,332
And we need that. We need to touch base
with what we do as human beings.
1203
01:28:53,457 --> 01:28:57,378
And what better an example
than making music?
1204
01:28:57,503 --> 01:28:59,172
And it's about collaboration.
1205
01:28:59,297 --> 01:29:04,511
It's about the dream that George had
of that wonderful space in Montserrat
1206
01:29:04,636 --> 01:29:07,847
where you had the sun, the sea, nature,
1207
01:29:08,849 --> 01:29:11,393
each other's company and music.
1208
01:29:14,393 --> 01:29:18,393
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