| | The year was 1982 and Tacoy Ryde had gradually become a full-fledged reggae band, touring across Canada with considerable followings in several major cities. With the assistance of Gordon Sinclair, a long time friend and business advisor, we collectively decided it was time to make a record. The next step was to decide on a studio and producer.
It was Jerry Woolsey who first suggested Claire Lawrence as a producer he would like to work with. At that point in time Claire had many records in his resume including Bim, Valdy , Sheri Ulrich and the Hometown Band as well as his extensive experience with Chilliwack. Claire initially met the band in Banff and came to Edmonton to do pre-production at Homestead Recorders. Eventually, in early 1983, we started recording the bed tracks at Damon Studios with Gary McDonall engineering. Claire wasn't in his element so we moved the whole production out to Vancouver's Pinewood Studios and started the project over with ace engineer Alan Perkins (who received an award for his work on Tubular Bells during one of our sessions).
The recording process was a joy and a grind because our previous recordings were all done more casually and were for the most part self-produced. We were in new territory with efficient people propelling us along with radical new ideas like sequencing a keyboard line and doubling or tripling vocal parts. We learned and it was fun.
The people that owned and ran Pinewood were very British and the studio was very homey and comfortable. There was always baking, coffee and a crock-pot of homemade soup in a little gallery so if you weren't part of the current session you could hang out comfortably and maybe meet some other artists who had projects on the go. (Prism, Leona Boyd, Roy Forbes ...)
All the tunes are originals with the exception of the Marley classic "Could You Be Loved" and Tacoy Ryde's show closer "Now that We've Found Love", written by Motown writers Gamble & Huff. The album was mastered in New York by the infamous George Marino of Sterling Sound and was shopped and rejected by the major labels in Toronto. It was time to make a decision about the future of the album. Without management and resources to press, distribute and promote the project we were running out of options. We began pursuing management which ended up with Gordon, along with Scott Andrews, forming Parallel One Artists Inc. This resulted in setting the Pinewood project aside and a new beginning as JATO.
Although this album has never been heard until now, it is a very important blip on the radar screen of Tacoy Ryde. There is nothing but praise for everyone who had anything to do with this production. Please feel free to send us an opinion or comment on this project or anything else that relates to the band. |
| | THE BAND
Paul DiCola: percussion
Kim Glanville: drums, vocals
Dennis Meneely: keyboards, vocals
Barrie Nighswander: guitars,vocals
Duane Smith: fretless bass, vocals
Jerry Woolsey: lead vocals, sax | | ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS
Nancy Nash, Rachel Paiement, and Mary Saxon: background vocals
Nancy is the voice on "Far Away" | |
| | PRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced by Claire Lawrence - Engineered and mixed by Alan Perkins - Recorded at Pinewood Studios, Vancouver - Several basic tracks recorded by Garry McDonall at Damon Studios, Edmonton - Mastered by George Marino of Sterling Sound, New York - Executive Producer: Gordon Sinclair. |
