This was the introduction Phil wrote for the CD “All That”:
“The idea for this CD was conceived in August 2002 at the inaugural Progman Cometh festival in Seattle, where In Cahoots performed at the invitation of our good friend Jerry Cook whose brainchild the festival was and whose generosity, hospitality and organisational chops made this great event such fun. Thanks for all that Jerry, we had such a good time.
This was the first outing for In Cahoots with the new line-up of Mark Fletcher on drums, following the departure of Pip Pyle, whose own excellent band Bash made it’s debut appearance at this same festival. Having a new drummer is a momentous change for a band and the dynamics have been radically altered. Fletch is a fantastic player, his enthusiasm and sense of fun are infectious and it’s great to have him on board. Steve Feigenbaum was there of course, liked what he heard, made us an offer and a deal was struck before we left. This is the result. I hope you enjoy it.”
See what a great guy Phil was. After all that Pip had put him through, to write about him so kindly and respectfully putting the very best spin on everything when he didn’t even have to mention Pip, let alone give him a plug.
When Phil was considering what tunes to include in the CD for Steve Feigenbaum, he decided on Out There, which was originally written for the bass and recorded for Phil and Fred’s second duo album “Double Up 2” as a guitar and bass performance, which didn’t come out until after his death in 2017.
Phil orchestrated Out There for In Cahoots’ new line-up. Using it as the title for the new CD suggested to him somehow that In Cahoots were still “out there”, albeit with a different drummer, and had survived Pip’s takeover bid. It was absolutely in his mind to call the new album Qut There.
However, while we were in the process of designing the cover, the cover for his brother Steve’s CD arrived. We had agreed to release this album under our Crescent Discs label. Steve had died tragically 8 weeks and 3 days after this recording was made. We had only been waiting for the cover artwork before we went ahead with this.
To our horror the title of the CD was revealed as: Steve Miller’s K.Ostra … “It’s out there”.
This totally put the kibosh on Phil’s decision to call his own CD Out There. There was no question that he would even consider asking Hag to change the title and the artwork. After a lot of thought, he eventually decided to call the album All That.
I had taken photographs of the band at Philip Bagenall’s Eastcote Studios where the album was being recorded, with the idea that it would make a good cover for the CD. This particular photo was taken on the steps going up to the studio. Phil was at the top of the stairs and the band had grouped on the landing.
New drummer Fletch, finding himself within easy reach of a pole on this landing, had decided to give the band a somewhat surprising demonstration of a sexy pole dancer making extremely suggestive moves up and down this pole. You can see Phil’s reaction to this display – he was tickled pink. He had turned towards me and the camera and was in fits of laughter. It reminded me of past times when Phil was at his happiest and Pip used to make him laugh so hard I thought he would die laughing.
Unfortunately, Steve Feigenbaum did not consider this photo to be suitable for the cover, which is why you will find I am credited with designing the cover in spite of not actually being responsible for any of the artwork that appears on it.
Here is a black and white version of the photo that I produced as a hand-out to advertise a gig at the old Vortex before it moved to its present position in Dalston.
(don’t know why I’ve left Elton’s name off the line-up)
Herm