Recently I came across a writeable CD of Phil’s bearing the title PHIL’S DEMO NOV 04 PROJECT. Phil often made demo tapes/CDs as well as written scores to give to musicians when he had written new material. It was a way to give a general impression of the whole arrangement of a composition and made sense of the individual scores. It was a good way to introduce new compositions so that a lot of time was not wasted when rehearsals were called as everybody had a good understanding of the piece. After I had played the CD I realised that the nov 04 project referred to the Conspiracy Theories CD which was recorded in 2004 at Eastcote Studios in London, which was owned and run by our friend Philip Bagenal who sadly is no longer with us. Here is Phil’s statement from the CD cover:
“The release of this CD introduces some new faces to the lineup of In Cahoots: the new brass duo of Simon Finch on trumpet and Simon Picard on sax haave been gigging with the group for a couple of years whereas Annie Whitehead, guesting here for the first time, has yet to join us live on stage. Didier Malherbe with whom I last gigged in SHORTWAVE with Pip Pyle and Hugh Hopper, reappears here on soprano sax, flute, doudouk and ocarina. Some more familiar faces: Doug Boyle of CARAVAN makes a welcome appearance on guitar as does my mate from HATFIELD & THE NORTH Richard Sinclair on bass guitar. Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin make a welcome contribution once more, alas only on record, never on stage. As always Fred Baker on bass, Pete Lemer on keyboards and Mark Fletcher on drums are the ever present backbone of the band. And they are all fantastic.” Phil Miller.
I thought it might interest some of you to hear the demo versions of Phil’s compositions next to the “real” recorded versions. I have presented them here:
As we had sold out of the Conspiracy Theories CD, I recently reissued a second edition. For those of you who have CD collections and don’t have a copy of this CD you can find this version on Discogs for £12 including postage (Europe only)
HERM