The Froom/Blake magic

[Silver Sonya]

As a young fan, I had the pleasure of spending a couple of days fly-on-the-walling a Froom/Blake/Sexsmith session at the Magic Shop a decade ago. It was a life-changing experience for me.

I went into it expecting to learn a lot of technical information but instead came away with a lot of philosophical information.

Because of the majesty of your achievements, I had expected a very precise and deliberate process. But what I felt instead was a very playful, loose, improvisational energy in the room. Arrangements were radically re-invented on the spot. Songs were torn inside out, multiple approaches were auditioned. It was exhilirating. There was an authoritative freedom to the whole process. The final take sounded radically different than the take right before it. The band (which included Pete Thomas, my favorite drummer on the planet) seemed really confident and flexible. I was impressed with how delicately everyone played their instruments, which allowed you to amplify them vividly.

Mitchell was the chief arranger and you were the sonic alchemist. The respect between the two of you was strong, beautiful and largely unspoken.

I consider both you and Mitchell to be geniuses in your own ways. And I recognize that you have both done great work without each other. But I feel that there was a unique, mutually empowering dynamic between the two of you. Not that different from a songwriting team like Lennon/McCartney, Jagger/Richards, Strummer/Jones, etc.

Can we ever expect another stream of collaborations between you and Mitchell? I recognize that you now work with Peter Gabriel(!!), have a lovely wife, and life is good... but are you ever nostalgic for the Froom/Blake period of your work?

Chad

[tchadb]

Originally Posted by Silver Sonya

As a young fan, I had the pleasure of spending a couple of days fly-on-the-walling a Froom/Blake/Sexsmith session at the Magic Shop a decade ago. It was a life-changing experience for me.

I went into it expecting to learn a lot of technical information but instead came away with a lot of philosophical information.

Because of the majesty of your achievements, I had expected a very precise and deliberate process. But what I felt instead was a very playful, loose, improvisational energy in the room. Arrangements were radically re-invented on the spot. Songs were torn inside out, multiple approaches were auditioned. It was exhilirating. There was an authoritative freedom to the whole process. The final take sounded radically different than the take right before it. The band (which included Pete Thomas, my favorite drummer on the planet) seemed really confident and flexible. I was impressed with how delicately everyone played their instruments, which allowed you to amplify them vividly.

Mitchell was the chief arranger and you were the sonic alchemist. The respect between the two of you was strong, beautiful and largely unspoken.

I consider both you and Mitchell to be geniuses in your own ways. And I recognize that you have both done great work without each other. But I feel that there was a unique, mutually empowering dynamic between the two of you. Not that different from a songwriting team like Lennon/McCartney, Jagger/Richards, Strummer/Jones, etc.

Can we ever expect another stream of collaborations between you and Mitchell? I recognize that you now work with Peter Gabriel(!!), have a lovely wife, and life is good... but are you ever nostalgic for the Froom/Blake period of your work?

Chad

Thanks for all that.
It was great and I hope we work together again but that was then and bands + business were different. We would have never got those sounds if it weren't for those artists.
I'm movin on, I want to discover new sounds with all this new gear that's out there.
So little time..........