Tales From The Rock 'n' Roll Side Part 9

Unfinished  Business - 2002 Z Records

Well it was a long wait for the comeback album to arrive. I'm glad to say it was worth the wait. More often than not comeback albums are very dissapointing and they beg the question as to why the bands in question bothered. Unfinished Business should have been the follow up to "Excess All Areas", Shy's only hit album (Top 75)  and I wondered if it would have broken them into the U.K. top 40 ?Anyway better late than never, and boasting such a conistent level of songs, aor at it's best. Tony Mills sounds as great as ever and Steve Harris has introduced a new line in guitar solos, which explains the long running time for the album. I'm not complaining though, as I think they are excellent and Steve just proves what a great guitar player he is.

Breakaway was released as a 5 track E.P. to promote the forthcoming album Unfinished Business.

This cd included a second track from this new album, and 3 acoustic tracks exclusive to this cd.

An acoustic version of Emergency and Young Heart from Excess All Areas

And from Once Bitten/Brave The Storm - an acoustic version of the superb Reflections.

Stand out tracks include opener Skydiving, Storyline ,Whole Lotta Feelings and the high octane Breakaway.

Above is the centre pages from Unfinished Business. These 2 pages explain how the album came into

being, from signing with Z Records to recording, problems along the way and the final album mix.

Summary of Unfinished Business - The Making of....The following story is told by Steve Harris..

May 2000 : How long will it take to record new album?" - Mark Alger (Z Records )

Keel Services : M6 Motorway Restaurent:

Mark Alger meets Tony Mills, Steve Harris and Roy Davis. Tony Mills explains that the ablum should take 3 months to do, from December 2000.

May 2002: Finished Album

Mark Alger sits in the mastering room at Octagon Studios, Gateshead with Tony & Roy.

He is a changed man. We have turned him into a Sceptic....You almost fell sorry for him...

Besides he is getting the finished album , granted fifteen months late..

So why did it take so long?

..Tony and myself long talked about doing another album in the right circumstances..We were all

dissatisfied with the results of Misspent Youth..

Mark Alger just happened to make us an offer we could not refuse.

It was the opportunity we had been looking for....Naievely we  had believed we could finish the album in the same time

that it had taken to do previous albums when we had enjoyed the luxury of being able to devote all our time to those projects.

April 2001 - Sable Rose Studios

..with the album only half-complete Sable Rose, where we were recording had other artists booked to the end of the year.

What Next?

We were pencilled in October 2001, but again Sable Rose Studios became fully booked,,we seemed to have a different release date every week!  

However there were benefits of having the rough mixes so long

..It gave us the chance to come up with extra parts to fill thses songs out..I probably came up with twice the amopunt of solos..Also it gave us the advantage of deciding which parts we wanted to redo if we did not think they were up to scratch.

March 2002 - Recommenced Recording

.....Mixing and mastering both ran smoothly and Mark finally got his album. Hopefully it was worth the wait.

Two years in the making then.

Recording Problems

..The usual studio problems, the mixing desk  blowing up..tuning problems..I don't know how many hours we put in  the studio but I bet they fall short of three months worth.

Full Track listing as follows:

Skydiving

Change of Direction

Breakaway

Mary Anne

Communicate

Heaven Tonight

Whole Lotta Feeling

Storyline

Can't Stop Loving You

No Other Way

Steve's prediction for the next album

..So if we start on a new album this December (2002), you can pencil us in for a summer 2004 release..You never know we might even surprise you and then again.....

The new album Sunset & Vine is due out in Jan/February 2005 as it happens!