- WWD Sample Medley
Technical Stuff
Full details of the La Rocka set-up (as it then was - it has since been demolished to make way for, get this, a housing estate) appear in the "Technical stuff" panel regarding "The La Rocka Sessions" album. The "What We Do" album was pieced together track by track, with loads of experimentation: different band members playing the parts they would not usually play, new sounds, even the creation of a synthesised brass section, instrument by instrument. Recorded on glorious, hot 1/2" analogue 16 track tape and mastered onto DAT, these were the first recordings we did that ever got onto CD. So there.
The album "What We Do" was a true labour of love. Recorded in down-time at La Rocka Studios over a period of some two years, it was entirely self recorded and self-produced. OK, so we didn't know how to use all the equipment at La Rocka when we went in, but, boy did we know it all by the end.
Track Listing:
- Fill 'er Up "The best song Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe never wrote" - that's how we used to introduce this song live. Rock 'n Roll bravado, with 100mph lyrics all wrapped up in chugging guitars, and crashing drums. Great chorus and uplifting verse melody. It doesn't get much better than this.
- Walk With Me Oooh, thoughtful "awakening-of-innocence" theme propelled by warm harmonies overlayed on a patient and alluring tune. Meaty synth break in the middle reminds us of the era-specific sonics which caught our attention at the time.
- Friday Night Tender love song about teenage emotions and the fight of good against bad…... young versus old. Dreams week-long lead inescapably to one conclusion: there's only one night which really matters at all - Friday Night.
- No Flies The self made man comes good. Nothing can touch him, and he's king of his patch. But how real is this dominoim over all he surveys? A theme to be revisited in later songs (for exmaple see: The Mighty Have Fallen, Your Father's Son) the roots are here in Thatcher's Britain of the early 80's.
- Wrong Place A classic tale of "...not me guv, you've got the wrong bloke. Honest". This song blends the insistent sax of honorary guest lemon, Marco Piantino, with a sparse pared down rhythm track of guitar/bass/drums
- T Shirt 'n Jeans That sax again. T Shirt 'n Jeans was for many years the song we used to audition new band members: if they could bring somthing new to this tune they were in. Here it is in it's mid-90s guise. This time an up-beat slab of pure pop.
- That Child's The Devil Gothic yarn of possession and exorcism… or is it really a metaphor for modern life in all its gory detail? Either way: atmospheric and sharp, gloomy and plaintive, keening and weary. Listen out for the build up following the cyclical guitar figure at the end.
- Waiting For Someone Love, actually. That's what this is about even if it sounds altogether about the opposite - an abject lack of love. Who has not been there? Waitign for that telephone call, that letter, that … acknowledgement. I only exist because you know I do. Just listen to that piano.
- The Edge of Reason On this album this old tune is presented in its heaviest version ever. Raw, gritty and downright revolting. Just like the subject matter. The universal truth is presented here in an unrefutable way - live or die. Survival of the fittest is what propels us all.
- Pillar of Society Another of those "king of the castle" conceits. Power is all, and so is the money that buys it. Unstoppable and perpetual. You scratch my back and I'll stab yours. Weirdy organ sound adds to the intrigue.
- The Edge of Reason A little out of our usual genre, this song encircles an aching relationship and bullet-points the steps we take to try to make it work, including lies and deception. We were especially pleased with the rich and textured arrangement, that we eventually settled on, especially the blended strings and guitars. Mega guitar solo… one of our finest. It's what we do.