The New Album "Vision On"

April 2005

Monty, Tim, Keith, Fudge

Fudge looking somewhat manic?!

Despite my precarious financial situation, we have begun work on the next album. What a brilliant start! Two days in March knocking old and new ideas around with Fudge. Then in April, a couple of weeks intense writing and preparation at home in Brighton, culminating with four days with the band in Church Road Studios, Hove.

Generally speaking we are following the same creative model for this album as with Finding New Ways To Love. There are 13 possible tracks so far, of which 9 are already in very good shape. Most of the material has been written over the last year, although there are also a few re-workings of old solo Burness and Burnessence tracks that we never quite did justice to before.

August 2005

Would you trust these men to be the backbone of your creative outpourings?

Monty

Keith and Fudge

Another five excellent days in Church Road Studios with Julian "Rehabilitating Services For Musicians" Tardo. The basic backing tracks for the album are finished. All acoustic drums, drum loops, bass guitar, some guitar, some keyboard parts and a couple of saxophone solos from Tim Herman are complete. All being well, the next recording sessions will be with the help of Mister Tim Hooper.

My intention is to improve on the last album in several areas.
1. A bit harder and heavier.
2. More of a band vibe.
3. Stronger songs.
4. Better production, more layering of guitar, keyboard and vocal parts.
5. Broader range of lyrical themes.

At one stage we had about 17 possible tracks. So far the titles below have presented themselves as likely contenders for the album.

1) Everyone Hears Voices Popsong about the normality of mental illness that didn't quite make it on to the last album.
2) "Random Blocks" An instrumental return to some of my progressive rock roots.
3) All Through Your Life After several attempts at recording over the last 20 years, this may be a decent version at last!
4) "Gabrielesque"
5) Barriers New song with a bit of a Coldplay feel, apart from the 9/8 section at the end.
6) "Living Without Love" Another new song that I am very excited about, a bit different for me, based around a haunting Korg Triton sound.
7) "Slow Choir Instrumental" Fudge and Keith fly over a drum'n'bass pattern.
8) Broaden Your Horizons Another Burness song that has been knocking around a while. Reminds me of many appearances at The Mean Fiddler Acoustic Room in the early nineties.
9) Transitory Experience Keith and Fudge get to do a bit of a Toto groove, I get to sing about astrology for the first time.
10) Questions And Answers A re-working of an old Burnessence track.
11) "Radiohead/Pink Floyd" With some suitably depressing provisional lyrics sketched out.

December 2006

Over the last year, there's a been a few days here and there in both the Hove studio and in Cambridge with Tim Hooper. I'm now booked in with Julian for several days in February and March.

May 2007

The bad news: The February and March sessions were cancelled. The good news: Just had an exhausting but brilliant few days with Julian and we are now completely back on track with more sessions booked for June and July.

December 2007

It's been a hectic few months, with a few more small gigs too. I was determined to get the album out by the end of the year, and I've just managed it. Helped by Julian discovering the joys of Fonejacker on YouTube during the final mixes, "Vision On" has finally came together. It's a more than worthy successor to 2004's "Finding New Ways To Love", a definite improvement in many ways. Compared to last time, quite a few more people know me around the world now. I am excited and rather nervous, but early responses to two of the tracks on MySpace have been very positive indeed. A return to my progrock roots!

1. Can You Hack It?
2. This Is Life
3. Space And Time
4. Undercurrents
5. All Through Your Life
6. Here Comes The Great Collapse
7. Broaden Your Horizons
8. Undercurrents II
9. Everyone Hears Voices
10. Triumph Of The Soul