Waves (Waves album)

Last updated

Waves
Waves New Zealand album cover.jpg
Studio album by
Waves
ReleasedOctober 1975
Recorded Stebbing Studios, Auckland, 7–11 July 1975
Genre Folk rock, progressive folk
Length38:11
Label Direction Records
Producer Peter Dawkins

Waves was the debut album by New Zealand folk-rock band Waves. It was released in 1975 and reached No.7 on the New Zealand album charts. [1] The album, which became a sought-after collectors item on vinyl, was re-released in 2013 on vinyl and CD with a bonus disc, Misfit, a previously unreleased album recorded by the band in 1976. [2]

Contents

Three singles were taken from the album—"The Dolphin Song"/"Letters", "Arrow"/Clock House Shuffle" and "At the Beach"/Waitress".

Background

In 1975 Roger Jarrett, the editor of Auckland music magazine Hot Licks, introduced the band to Kerry Thomas and Guy Morris, co-owners of Direction Records, a chain of stores and a burgeoning independent record label. On 7 July 1975 the band began a five-day recording session for their debut album at Stebbing Studios in Jervois Rd, Ponsonby, across the road from the eight-bedroom colonial villa where Waves members lived.

Thomas arranged expatriate New Zealand producer Peter Dawkins, then living in Sydney, to return to Auckland to produce the album. Gash said: "Dawkins had five days, and he marshalled us through the procedures in a most efficient fashion. That was his job, and he did it well. He was tough though: one of our friends wasn’t cutting it quickly enough with his solo, and Peter made me go into the studio and fire him on the spot ... We freely availed ourselves of notable contributors. Some—Mike Chunn, Mike Caen, Roy Mason—were personal friends; others—Vic Williams, Murray Grindlay, Mike Harvey, Paul Lee—were introduced to us in the studio." He told The New Zealand Herald: "We were in a world we had dreamed of being in. It was a mix of excitement and terror." [3]

At the end of the week, Dawkins flew back to Sydney with the finished tapes to mix them. "No doubt, in his world this was standard procedure," Gash said. "However what it did was disengage us from the process. When the mixes came back to Auckland, we didn’t understand them. They were not the way we heard ourselves. We voiced our desire to remix the album. Almost miraculously, Kerry Thomas agreed, and gained my gratitude forever. We kept Peter’s mixes of "Waterlady Song" and "Arrow"; the rest the band remixed at Stebbings with (engineer) Phil Yule, and that is what appeared on the album." [2]

The band recorded a second album in 1976 for WEA Records, on which they began to explore a new direction with electric guitars. [2] [3] With recording almost complete, they were told that a WEA executive did not like the result and had ordered the multi-track tapes to be recorded over. [2] [3]

2013 re-release

In early 2013 the band was contacted by Roger Marbeck of Ode Records and music enthusiast and archivist Grant Gillanders to reissue the 1975 Waves album—by then a collectors' item fetching high prices—on CD and vinyl for Record Store Day in April, with the release launched by a live performance at the Real Groovy record store in Auckland. [4] Informed for the first time of the existence of a second album, albeit in a rudimentary form, Marbeck decided to release them both as a double CD. [2] Only then was it discovered the original master tapes for the Waves album had vanished with the collapse in the 1970s of Direction Records. [5]

"With the Waves album, we have never been able to find any tapes, so it came down to the small number of unplayed vinyls I had stashed away under the bed for the last 38 years," Gash said. "They were old, but mint, and I took them to Stebbings, where we ran them on a very high-end turntable and transferred it all to digital files. It worked superbly. We then mastered it there for vinyl with Steve McGough, pulling in the original engineer, Phil Yule, to listen as well. I then redid all the cover art and designed a new insert for photos and info, Kevin did a take on the original Direction label, and we sent it all off for cutting, pressing and packaging to United Record Pressing in Nashville." [2] He said: "It actually sounds good, if not better, than the original." [5]

For the previously unreleased 1976 album, McGough also took the single tape that existed of the unmixed recordings and transferred it to digital, while Marbeck succeeded in locating the multi-track tapes of "Vegas", the final song Waves recorded, in July 1977. Gash said: "They are the only multi-tracks we have of any of our material, and therefore the only song we had the opportunity to do an actual mix on." [2] The end result was the Waves album, remastered for both vinyl and CD, plus a bonus disc, Misfit, containing nine of the original 12 songs of the previously unheard second album. [2] [4] Five hundred copies of the vinyl album were pressed and 1000 copies of the double CD package. The band played at Real Groovy and signed copies of the new releases.

Track listing

Side one

  1. "Clock House Shuffle" (David Marshall) – 2:29
  2. "Wornout Rocker" (Graeme Gash) – 4:29
  3. "Thoughts From Venus" (Marshall) – 2:29
  4. "Waterlady Song" (Marshall) – 3:37
  5. "Letters" (Gash) – 2:02
  6. "The Dolphin Song" (Gash) – 3:58

Side two

  1. "Arrow" (Kevin Wildman) – 2:54
  2. "Ocean/Neon Song" (Marshall) – 3:05
  3. "Elouise" (Gash) – 3:48
  4. "At the Beach" (Gash) – 2:55
  5. "Waitress" (Marshall) – 2:38
  6. "Castle Gates" (Gash) — 3:47

2013 Reissue

Disc one

  1. "Clock House Shuffle" (David Marshall) – 2:30
  2. "Wornout Rocker" (Graeme Gash) – 4:23
  3. "Thoughts From Venus" (Marshall) – 2:26
  4. "Waterlady Song" (Marshall) – 3:31
  5. "Letters" (Gash) – 1:57
  6. "The Dolphin Song" (Gash) – 3:55
  7. "Arrow" (Kevin Wildman) – 2:54
  8. "Ocean/Neon Song" (Marshall) – 2:56
  9. "Elouise" (Gash) – 3:44
  10. "At the Beach" (Gash) – 2:50
  11. "Waitress" (Marshall) – 2:35
  12. "Castle Gates" (Gash) — 3:48

Disc two

  1. "Misfit" (Marshall) — 2:37
  2. "The Way They Smile" (Gash) — 5:09
  3. "Life Wrecks" (Marshall) — 1:37
  4. "Mrs X" (Gash, Marshall) — 7:18
  5. "Vegas" (Gash) — 3:42
  6. "Head Full of Stars" — 3:45
  7. "Cold Palisade" (Marshall) — 3:32
  8. "Schooners" (Gash) — 5:36
  9. "Jacob and El Tornado" (Marshall) — 7:14

Personnel

Additional musicians

Technical personnel

Related Research Articles

<i>Junta</i> (album) 1989 studio album by Phish

Junta is the debut studio album by the American rock band Phish. The album was self-released by the band in May 1989 without the support from a record label, and received a wider release when Elektra Records reissued it on compact disc in 1992. Junta was preceded by two demo recordings – The White Tape (1986) and The Man Who Stepped Into Yesterday (1987) – which circulated among the band's fanbase but did not receive an official release.

<i>Billy Breathes</i> 1996 studio album by Phish

Billy Breathes is the sixth studio album by American rock band Phish, released by Elektra Records on October 15, 1996. The album was credited with connecting the band, known for its jam band concerts and devoted cult following, with a more mainstream audience. The first single, "Free", was the band's most successful song on two Billboard rock charts, peaking at #11 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks Chart and at #24 on the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks Chart. The album itself became the band's highest-charting album on the Billboard 200, where it peaked at number seven.

Th Dudes

Th' Dudes are a New Zealand rock band that was formed in the late 1970s in Auckland, New Zealand. Hits include "Walking in Light", "Right First Time", " Be Mine Tonight" and "Bliss".

<i>Octave</i> (album) 1978 studio album by The Moody Blues

Octave is the ninth album by The Moody Blues, released in 1978, and their first release after a substantial hiatus following the success of the best-selling Seventh Sojourn in 1972. The album proved to be the last for the group with keyboardist Mike Pinder, who left during the album's sessions and declined an offer to tour with the group. He had just started a new family in California, and found that he was not getting along with his bandmates as he previously had. Pinder would be replaced by former Yes keyboardist Patrick Moraz in time for their 1978-1979 tour, beginning a new era in the band's history. Octave would also be the final studio album from the band produced by Tony Clarke.

<i>1969: The Velvet Underground Live</i> 1974 live album by the Velvet Underground

1969: The Velvet Underground Live is a live album by the Velvet Underground. It was originally released as a double album in September 1974 by Mercury Records. The September 1988 CD re-release was issued as two separate single CD volumes, with one extra track per disc. Since many of the band's studio albums were out of print in the United States from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s, 1969 was one of the more popular albums by the band, and is a fan favorite. Spin magazine's Alternative Record Guide included it in the top 100 alternative albums of all time in 1995.

<i>Mental Notes</i> (Split Enz album) 1975 studio album by Split Enz

Mental Notes is the 1975 debut album by New Zealand art rock band Split Enz. The album cover was painted by band member Phil Judd. Original vinyl copies featured Judd saying "Make a mental note" in the runout groove of the record's second side, causing the phrase to be looped ad infinitum on manual turntables until the stylus is removed.

<i>Frenzy</i> (Split Enz album) 1979 studio album by Split Enz

Frenzy is the fourth studio album by New Zealand new wave band Split Enz. Frenzy ventured even further beyond the band's art rock roots to more of a pop sound.

The Brunettes

The Brunettes were an indie pop or twee pop group from New Zealand formed in 1998 to 2009. The band consists of core members Jonathan Bree and Heather Mansfield, with additional contributions from part-time members such as Ryan McPhun and Princess Chelsea. The group had released several well-received albums such as Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks (2002), which received 4.5/5 stars from AllMusic. Signed to Lil' Chief Records, they had opened for bands such as Rilo Kiley and Beirut.

The Huntingtons American punk band

The Huntingtons are a punk band from Baltimore, Maryland which formed in 1993 or 1994 in the Maryland and Delaware area by Cliff Powell, Mike Holt and Mike Pierce. The band is heavily influenced by the Ramones.

<i>Fall in a Hole</i> 1983 live album by The Fall

Fall in a Hole is a live album by the Fall, recorded in Auckland in August 1982 and released in December 1983 on the Flying Nun label of New Zealand.

<i>Live It Up</i> (Crosby, Stills & Nash album) 1990 studio album by Crosby, Stills and Nash

Live It Up is the tenth album by Crosby, Stills & Nash, their fourth studio album in the trio configuration, released on Atlantic Records in 1990. It peaked at No. 57 on the Billboard 200 with current sales of 300,000. It is the first of their studio albums not to gain either a gold or platinum certification by the RIAA. It was issued in all formats at the time and was later released for streaming.

<i>Scented Gardens for the Blind</i> 1975 studio album by Dragon

Scented Gardens for the Blind is the second album by New Zealand group Dragon released in February 1975 on Vertigo Records before they relocated to Australia in May. Scented Gardens for the Blind, along with their first album Universal Radio, is in the progressive rock genre—all subsequent albums are hard rock/pop rock. "Vermillion [sic] Cellars" was released as a single in March and was followed by non-album singles, "Education" in May and "Star Kissed" in August but neither albums nor singles had any local chart success.

<i>Phish</i> (album) 1986 demo album by Phish

Phish is a demo album released by the American rock band Phish on cassette in 1986. Often cited as the first Phish "album", The White Tape was originally a collection of original material that the band used as a demo/sample tape for venues, and was sometimes labelled "Phish" or simply "Demo". The album was widely circulated among Phish fans for more than a decade before being officially released in 1998.

The Velvet Underground American rock band

The Velvet Underground was an American rock band formed in New York City in 1964. The original line-up consisted of singer/guitarist Lou Reed, multi-instrumentalist John Cale, guitarist Sterling Morrison, and drummer Angus MacLise. MacLise was replaced by Moe Tucker in 1965, who played on most of the band's recordings. Their integration of rock and the avant-garde achieved little commercial success during the group's existence, but they are now recognized as one of the most influential bands in rock, underground, experimental, and alternative music. The group's provocative subject matter, musical experiments, and often nihilistic attitudes also proved influential in the development of punk rock and new wave music.

<i>Universal Radio</i> 1974 studio album by Dragon

Universal Radio is the debut album by New Zealand group Dragon released in June 1974 on Vertigo Records and produced by Rick Shadwell. Universal Radio, along with their second album Scented Gardens for the Blind are in the progressive rock genre—all subsequent albums are hard rock/pop rock.

The Growlers

The Growlers is an American band from Southern California. They began their career in the Orange County city of Dana Point, California in 2006. They are currently based in Costa Mesa. The band is currently composed of singer Brooks Nielsen and keyboard player/guitarist Kyle Straka. They have released seven albums, several EPs and a number of singles. The band's sound has been described as "a trademark style of music that somehow combines surf, pop, rock and beat" which has been labeled "Beach Goth".

Waves was a New Zealand folk rock band that recorded a top-selling self-titled album in 1975 before disbanding in 1977. Its lineup emerged from an acoustic trio, Rosewood, which originally included Geoff Chunn, who later joined Split Enz. Despite making only sporadic live appearances—one of which was a double billing shared with Split Enz—their singles gained major airplay on Auckland radio and the Waves album reached No.7 on the New Zealand album charts, later becoming a sought-after collector's item.

Stebbing Studios is a recording studio in Auckland, New Zealand. Artists who have had their work recorded over the years, include: Ray Columbus & The Invaders, Bill & Boyd, Gary Havoc & The Hurricanes, The Human Instinct, and Waves.

Waiata : Maori Showbands, Balladeers & Pop Stars is a compilation album of historical performances by various artists released on compact disc in 2001 by the His Master's Voice and EMI labels. It features recordings by Prince Tui Teka, the Maori Volcanics, the Howard Morrison Quartet, The Quin Tikis, Billy T. James, and John Rowles.

J. D. Blackfoot is a rock musician from Ohio, United states who has been recording since the early 1970s. Along with a couple of hit singles, he won an award for his album The Song of Crazy Horse.

References

  1. ↑ Sergent, Bruce. "Waves". New Zealand Music. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Reekie, Trevor. "Moments Like These: Graeme Gash". NZ Musician. 17, No.6 (April/May 2013). Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 Kara, Scott (13 April 2013). "70s band Waves set to gain new generation of fans". The New Zealand Herald. Auckland. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  4. 1 2 Reid, Graham (4 October 2013). "On the crest of new waves". Elsewhere website. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  5. 1 2 Street, Danielle (19 April 2013), "Waves of vinyl roll in from the 70s", Auckland City Harbour News, retrieved 17 June 2014
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.