Twinball Slave CD - Import

JUDGE SMITH WRITES:In August 2006, I was on a volcanic Greek island, walking on a remote, deserted, sun-baked promontory, jutting into the Aegean. I wandered to and fro looking at fossilized trees whose stone trunks, some composed of solid agate, emerged vertically from the ground where they had once stood as living trees, 20 million years ago. In this primordial and archaic landscape, it suddenly seemed quite probable to me that Pan or maybe Dionysus, perhaps with a few Dryads in tow, would appear over the rise. It certainly felt as if someone, or something, was approaching. What happened instead was that I 'got' a song. Within the space of a few minutes, a killer riff, a strange and compelling chorus melody, and a set of decidedly odd lyrics had arrived in my head; unplanned, un-worked-for and totally unexpected. Like many, much greater, composers, I have long been conscious of the weird phenomenon of 'Artistic Inspiration', and I have been its beneficiary on more occasions than I really deserve. However, most of these bits of Inspirational Fairy Dust consist of a little riff, or a part of a tune, or two or three chords, which I have to fashion into completed songs by the sweat of my brow; so for me to receive a complete song; words, music, arrangement, the works, in one chunk, was extraordinary. This song was 'I Am The Light of the World', and I was surprised and delighted to be given it. However, I got quite freaked-out when the same thing happened, in the same place, the next day! This second song, 'I Don't Know What I'm Doing', wasn't quite so complete; there was one small bit of the tune that I had to write myself later, and I only came home that night with half the lyrics, but the two songs were certainly intended to be part of a single package.

(Intended by who? Search me!) Both featured spoken verses and sung choruses, and the speaking voice was undoubtedly American. Both featured similar sounds; there was a screaming saxophone trading bars with a hard rock guitar, there were elaborately multi-tracked vocal choruses, and there were cellos all over the place. It seemed obvious to me that I was supposed to record and release these songs as a single, and once I got going, things fell into place with surprising ease. Finding a really exciting lead guitarist for the project was a no-brainer; John 'Fury' Ellis was clearly the man. His career began as a punk guitarist and founder member of iconic punk band The Vibrators in 1974, and he played on albums and tours for Peter Gabriel and Peter Hammill before joining The Stranglers.