Stephen Hague on bringing Big Blue Ball to the finishing line

I was given ruff-mix CDs of around 25 tracks, including alternate versions (some ‘songs’ were worked on over a few different Recording Weeks). From these I picked 12 or so I thought I could do something with. Richard Chappell then transferred all the original recordings over to digital format and sent them to my studio in Woodstock (New York), and I plunged in. Richard was there for all of the actual Recording Week sessions, did much of the engineering, and helped me keep in touch with the vibe and spirit of the collaborations as I tried to make some sense of the hours and hours of recordings.

I felt a bit like a prospector, sifting through finer and finer screens, trying to highlight the best elements of each track and all the individual performances.

‘Habibe’ started life as an 18 minute jam by Natacha Atlas and an amazing improvised string section over a drone and percussion track. I had a hard time coaxing it into any kind of shape until I introduced some chords to help support her melodies. Being a veteran of the pop wars, I can’t help but fall into a verse-chorus kind of arrangement. I asked Peter if I was straying too far from the original recording, but he liked what he was hearing and was very supportive, telling me he just wanted the best setting for the main performances, and to make a great record, wherever that led.

I spent about fives days on ‘Habibe’, and in the process set the tone for an overall approach to the album.

The original ‘Whole Thing’ was another fairly long-winded affair, a bit shapeless, but with a very strong melody. I knew there was a great Peter song lurking in there. After an initial shakedown, we re-recorded most of the vocals over the revamped structure and groove, and, as with most of the tracks, the final shape constantly evolved all the way through to the final mix.

The tracks on Big Blue Ball featuring lead vocals by Peter often had incomplete lyrics.  As the new versions took shape he settled in to finish writing the songs, often building on snippets of lyrics from the early sessions.

‘Burn You Up, Burn You Down’ had complete choruses, but no words in the verses, for instance.  Joesph Arthur and Karl Wallinger also went back in, armed with hindsight and the revised backing tracks, and touched up some lyrics and vocals.

The Recording Week sessions were all about vibe and momentum and the buzz of having all that talent in one place for only a short time. Work on one song often led to the start of a new collaboration, and a brand new track became that evening’s focus. There ended up being a lot of loose ends. I had a great fun helping to pull it all together —very rewarding— even if every time I thought I knew what the forest looked like I’d run into another tree.

I’m especially pleased that now that the album is finally finished, everyone who was actually there for those magical sessions feels that the spirit of ‘the big blue ball’ is alive and well.