tollbooth music
permission track list notes
it's not always obvious from listening to a final track how a song may have gone through changes and developments over it's history.
many influences and contributions go to shape the final piece, and so it's important to credit those who gave so much of their time, energy and creativity and yet who may not heard on the final track but whose talents helped to make the album what it became. it is vital to note that just because a performance hits the cutting room floor, it is never a reflection of that performance, merely that the song changed direction.
belonging
acoustic guitar & vocal - helen turner
the opening
wine opening - helen turner
(hungarian merlot from the reka valley (szekszerd region) - a soft fruity red with a jammy blackcurrant character - £3.99 from the shop opposite helen & jane's house)
ly de dy
acoustic guitar & all vocals - helen turner
ambient electric guitars, e-bow guitars, bass - paul a davies
honest-to-goodness real drums - richard coates
additional sample drums - paul a davies
raynbird st
acoustic guitar & all vocals - helen turner
fretless & fretted bass - steve gale
piano - steve gale
violin & pitch shifted violin - emma clines
cello - erin ridley
string arrangement - h, pad, emma clines & erin ridley
helium
acoustic guitar & all vocals - h
chapman stick - jason bell
e-bow duel - jason bell & paul a davies
drum samples, guitar synth & keyboards - paul a davies
baritone guitar - paul a davies
fireproof
acoustic guitar & lead vocal - h
all 'doop' vocals - h
bass guitar - paul a davies
the cutting room: drums - richard coates; electric guitars & sample drums - pad
pegasus
acoustic guitar & vocal - h
all accordians - pete churchill
bouzouki, bass guitar & synth cello - paul a davies
peculiar deep b.vox - paul a davies
cutting room: before the accordian changed the feel of the song to a more acoustic feel, steve gale put down some very accomplished basslines for this track.
pleases me
acoustic guitar, 12-string guitar & all vocals - h
bass guitar & scratchy electric guitars - paul a davies
never got to cutting room: as a result of work on 'helium' we were looking at the possibility of d&b'ing a couple of other tracks, this being one of them. thanks are due to stuart gilbert for guidance and pointers, but we never got there with this one.
stuff it
acoustic guitars & all vocals - h
bass guitar - paul a davies
extremes
acoustic guitars & all vocals - h
bass guitar & synth bass - paul a davies
cutting room: oh, where to start! this song went through every musical style before the current very stripped back arrangement was settled on. devotees of kitsch will be fascinated by the full blown soca mix of this song that appeared one sunday afternoon at tollbooth, and very nearly ended a beautiful friendship. yep, we're talking bongos, wet bass, whistles, the whole 9000 yards!
spontaneous
12-string guitar & all vocals - h
chicken shake - h
acoustic guitar & bouzouki - paul a davies
cutting room: this track started much more 'rocky' and featured a whole stack of big demo distorted guitars, power drums and fretless bass - pad
forgive me
acoustic guitar, 12-string guitar & all vocals - h
bass guitar, synth strings, e-bow, bass guitar - paul a davies
grass is greener
acoustic guitar & all vocals - h
chapman stick - jason bell
acoustic drums & cymbals - richard coates
all violins - emma clines
cello - erin ridley
sample taiko drum & tympani - paul a davies
bass guitar - steve gale & paul a davies
string arrangement - pad & emma clines
cutting room: a lot of different passes at the stick and basslines went into this track, and thanks have to go to steve & jason for a lot of hard work that went into the track before their final versions hit the cd. steve also put a piano track down which was great and so nearly made it but for deciding to go with the more string based arrangement in the end.
experience
acoustic guitar & all vocals - h
all accordians - pete churchill
e-bow guitar, bass guitar & vintage synths - paul a davies
cutting room: before the ambient intro to the track, there was a thoroughly awful twinkly harmonic guitar thing put down by pad, then h suggested I think 'reminiscence & desparation', this came out.
think i do (what? you haven't found this track yet??)
breathy french cafe vocals - h
electric & classical guitars, bass guitar, synth strings - paul a davies
string arrangement - pad
cutting room: h put down the original guitars for this track, but due to a startling lapse of concentration, we ended up with click track on the miked channel, so the guitar parts got re-recorded on parker fly guitar about four hours before the cd was mastered.
cutting room special award: jane campbell put some exceptional woodwind parts down, including one on the most impressively loud instruments (used for scaring elephants in battle I believe). jane also singlehandedly changed my whole opinion on recorder as a musical instrument. the playing was brilliant, the arrangements inspired, but sadly they were on a song called 'the turning' which thanks to the confines of cd technology would not fit within the 74minutes available to us. but thank you.
jason bell also put down stick parts for a song called 'strangely familiar', which again never made it to the final cd. thanks also!
other production thanks: there were so many folk who helped this project come together by the time it came together, and as they say in the movies, i'm bound to have forgotten hundreds, and please forgive if i have; but here are some of the allstars...
bryn wildish & haris @ digital village in croydon - motu/mac mastering system support; paul o'brien @ roland uk; john waddington @ vs planet; james & paul @ eddie moors, bournemouth - vs recorder support; everyone @ joemeek; all @ turnkey, london; paul ganney @ eternal s&l; dave pick @ ffg; dave banthorpe for perserverence with cd-r drives; phil rainey; the studio neighbours; mike rimmer @ crossrhythms; james stewart @ britlinks; fred shortland; alan & anthony @ marketing matters; dds, birmingham; vince of secret archives of the vatican; jason bell; e&tg; miles cain; candy threats; all the friends that didn't see me; and su who thought i'd moved.