Stephen Duffy feat. Nigel Kennedy - Music In Colors (1993)

The press were labelling Stephen an under-achiever, which along with under-rated could quite easily sit as an epitaph. At this point, in June 1991, Stephen had no record company, manager, publisher or band. He had thought of little but the Lilac Time for five years. He went to France to be drunk and miserable. He spent the rest of the summer in a floatation tank picking stubble from his top lip with tweezers. Early autumn was spent going to all of the Aston Villa FC home fixtures with Nigel Kennedy. Stephen had been introduced to Nigel through a mutual acquaintance Brix E. Smith who was also on Creation with Stephen. Nigel was under pressure from promoters to fulfil his obligation to tour Australasia even though he had just had a serious neck operation. Mainly to give his neck a ten-minute break each night Stephen flew to Australia & New Zealand to play Black Velvet & Julie Christie with the Australian Chamber Orchestra every night of the 14 date tour that October. Stephen had never played with an orchestra before or since and admitted to being "overwhelmed" at the beautiful sound rising around him. By now Nigel had enjoyed visiting The Malverns so much he bought a house just around the corner from Stephen.

The new recordings were started at Audiodelic with a few demos, Holte End Hotel, It Sparkles! and Ghetto Child. John Leckie tidied them up in December at RAK studios. Each track was linked by a transitional improvised Violin piece provided by Nigel. The boys approached EMI mainly because Nigel was already an EMI artist and it was thought easier to deal with just one company. EMI gave the green light and recording started on February 7th at Air Studios. Mixing wasn't completed until November 24th. This was the main reason that Stephen did not appear live anywhere in 1992. He was having too much fun, something he looks back on as "The best and most magical experience I've ever had in a studio". Los Angeles saw a three day shoot for the promotional video to Natalie which appears on the re-issue.

Music in Colors finally appeared on May 4th 1993. An album that Stephen looks back on with something nearing fondness, an emotion he has difficulty with for his early solo & Lilac Time material. After years of discussion amongst fans this is probably the most Black & White of all of Stephen's albums, mostly due to Nigel's meandering violin. He either makes the album for you or he kills it... stone dead. Stephen describes Music in Colors as his "Pink Floyd album and progressive rock moment that came either 16 years too late or 5 years too early". Sadly the album was roundly ignored even though in 1998 Stephen called it his masterpiece.

In May 1993 a small 7-date tour was organized to do some promotion to coincide with the release but by then it was all too late and another album had stiffed, people just didn't get it. There were sound problems at every date, the PA couldn't cope with Electric Guitar, Violin and Cello at the same time. So the 90s had seen three albums on three labels and each was selling in progressively fewer numbers. This turned out to be the final straw for Stephen who in his own words "went off the deep-end and ran away as far as I possibly could". He did a couple of tracks for St. Etienne and in July fled for Boston and ultimately Alaska.

Essential listen: The stand out track for most people is... entirely a matter of personal choice. For me it is Charlotte's Conversations. A beautifully meandering 6 minute masterpiece and whatever your feelings about Nigel's contribution, this is one track where it truly stands out.

Essential buy: Until the re-issue in 2004 the only place to get the demos of Holte End Hotel & It Sparkles! was on the German CD single issue of the paean to Aston Villa "Holte End Hotel". In pre-internet days it was difficult for UK fans to get hold of, so P.O. Box 2 bought over a whole box of the single and did a roaring trade.

Chris

~ Click on the cover images for more details ~

	Artist/Composer	Title	Release Year	Format	Cat. Number	Label	Country	Length	Tracks
	Stephen Duffy featuring Nigel Kennedy	Music In Colors	1993	LP	LPPS 7361	Parlophone	United Kingdom	48:37	16
	Stephen Duffy featuring Nigel Kennedy	Music In Colors	1993	Cassette	TCPCS 7361	Parlophone	United Kingdom	48:37	16
	Stephen Duffy featuring Nigel Kennedy	Music In Colors	1993	CD	CDPCS 7361	Parlophone	United Kingdom	48:37	16
	Stephen Duffy featuring Nigel Kennedy	Music In Colors	1993	CD	TOCP-7783	Toshiba EMI	Japan	48:37	16
	Stephen Duffy featuring Nigel Kennedy	Music In Colors	2004	CD	CDSHSP 4130	Harvest/EMI Int'l	United Kingdom	57:15	19
	Stephen Duffy	Natalie	1993	7 inch	R 6339	Parlophone	United Kingdom	08:11	2
	Stephen Duffy	Natalie	1993	Cassette	TCR 6339	Parlophone	United Kingdom	08:11	2
	Stephen Duffy	Natalie	1993	CD single	CDR 6339	Parlophone	United Kingdom	15:43	4
	Stephen Duffy	Holte End Hotel	1993	CD single	7243 8 80831 2 6	Parlophone	Germany	16:42	4