Many thanks to Gerry Conway for chatting about the good old days as regular drummer for Cat Stevens as well as his regular session work at Sound Techniques, Chelsea with musical giants such as Sandy Denny, Fotheringay, Fairport Convention, John Cale, Steeleye Span, The Incredible String Band… the list goes on and on…
It was Gerry who recommended Sound Techniques, Chelsea to Cat Stevens when Cat asked if anyone knew of any good studios to try for his next album, The Buddha & The Chocolate Box (1974). Cat probably did not know at the time but this was not the first time he had recorded on a Sound Techniques console, his previous album Foreigner (1973) was recorded at Dynamic Sounds in Jamaica. This is another example of Sound Techniques having a global impact on the music industry in the 1960’s & 1970’s.
As with our other contributors to The Parts You Don’t Hear Gerry seems to regard Sound Techniques, Chelsea with special fondness. The time and place of our golden period of music, the hungry learning environment for those starting off in the industry as well as the relationships between musicians, engineers and producers no doubt resulted in some magical times. Many thanks to Gerry as well as his lovely partner Jacqui McShee (in our filming blog last week) of Pentangle for generously allowing us in their home for the day. Gerry continues to drum on many projects still, taking him around the world. Many thanks also to our regular and lovely cameraman Marco Windham for filming once again.
