NewsChris Wood / Evening Blue anthology track listing confirmed
Final details are now confirmed for Hidden Masters’ long awaited Chris Wood anthology, Evening Blue, which is due in December.
The first edition deluxe set (1000 numbered copies) comprises four CDs and a vinyl record and comes packaged in a 212-page casebound book.
The vinyl record is Chris’s long-thought-lost solo LP and this is repeated on the first CD which adds five bonus tracks, with everything previously unreleased.
The other three discs offer a wealth of material including solo recordings, alternate takes, mixes and never before home demos, alongside collaborations and selections from Traffic.
Virtually everything has been sourced from the original two-inch and one-inch multi-tracks, quarter-inch and cassette analog masters and transferred to 24bit/96Khz. The mastering was carried out by Richard Whittaker at FX Mastering in London.
Evening Blue will be released on 16 December and can be ordered (in various configurations) here.
Vinyl
Side A
- 1. Song For Pete (2.56)
- 2. See No Man Girl (5.28)
- 3. Letter One (2.09)
- 4. Barbed Wire (3.56)
- 5. Don’t It (6.03)
Side B
- 6. Jam In Butter (4.34)
- 7. Moon Child Vulcan (4.19)
- 8. Tone Blind Rhythm Deaf (3.29)
- 9. Birth In A Day (8.05)
CD 1
- 1. Song For Pete (2.56)
- 2. See No Man Girl (5.28)
- 3. Letter One (2.09)
- 4. Barbed Wire (3.56)
- 5. Don’t It (6.03)
- 6. Jam In Butter (4.34)
- 7. Moon Child Vulcan (4.19)
- 8. Tone Blind Rhythm Deaf (3.29)
- 9. Birth In A Day (8.05)
- 10. No. 4 B Side (1.56)
- 11. Barbed Wire – take #3 Alt-R mix (3.59)
- 12. Birth In A Day – take #3 CW mix (5.13)
- 13. Song For Pete – studio rehearsal take #2 (4.23)
- 14. See No Man Floral Dance (7.25)
ALL tracks on Vinyl + CD1 are previously unreleased.
CD2
- 1. Piano #1 – Chris Wood (1.42)*
- 2. Love – Traffic (3.15)
- 3. Outside In – John Martyn (8.22)
- 4. Come Here Sweet Man – Martha Velez (5.11)
- 5. Flutered – Chris Wood (2.14)*
- 6. Early In The Morning (live at the Royal Albert Hall) – Air Force (11.33)
- 7. Song For Freedom – Gordon Jackson (4.50)
- 8. Automatic Reggae – Tyrone Downie (3.26)*
- 9. Sullen Moon (band recording take #1) – Chris Wood (3.06)*
- 10. Zagapam (alternate version) – Rebop Kwaku Baah (3.53)*
- 11. Jarn 1 (take #3) – Mason, Capaldi, Wood and Frog (6.32)*
- 12. There In The Greenbriar (alternate version) – Sky (4.12)*
- 13. Diggin’ On You (home demo) –Dr John, Jeanette Jacobs and Chris Wood (3.01)*
- 14. Just For You – Dave Mason (2.16)
- 15. The Fame Groove – Chris Wood (3.52)*
- 16. Lamb – Chris Wood and Stuart Carr (1.12)*
- 17. No Time To Live – Traffic (5.20)
CD3
- 1. Piano #2 – Chris Wood (2.12)*
- 2. On A Theme Of… Mason, Capaldi, Wood and Frog (6.44)*
- 3. Steph’s Tune – Tyrone Downie (5.05)*
- 4. 40,000 Headmen – Traffic (3.15)
- 5. So Much In Love With You – John Martyn (2.49)
- 6. Cinnamon Girl (first rehearsal/take #3) – Spiteri and Chris Wood (2.29)*
- 7. Tragic Magic – Traffic (6.39)
- 8. Polo No. 1 (sketch) – Chris Wood (1.36)*
- 9. Game Called Life – Bobby Whitlock (4.15)
- 10. Snakes And Ladders – Gordon Jackson (5.54)
- 11. Out Of Tune With The Universe (home demo) – Jeanette Jacobs, Dr John and Chris Wood (2.51)*
- 12. Meteorite – Remi Kabaka (4.12)*
- 13. Ley It Up – Chris Wood and Vinden Wylde (2.42)*
- 14. Sold On Down The Line – Crawler (3.50)
- 15. Waiting On You (live at the BBC) – Mason, Capaldi, Wood and Frog (3.36)*
- 16. For RFK, JFK, MLK – Shawn Phillips (5.50)
- 17. Sullen Moon (demo) – Chris Wood and Tyrone Downie (5.24)*
- 18. John Barleycorn – Traffic (6.27)
- 19. Zola – Chris Wood (1.28)*
CD4
- 1. Piano #3 – Chris Wood (3.45) *
- 2. What To Look For… with Maps and Chris Wood (7.01) *
- 3. Vulcan (the Aurora collaboration) – Chris Wood and Spiteri (4.34) *
- 4. Coloured Rain – Traffic (2.45)
- 5. Sing To Me Woman – Gordon Jackson (5.25)
- 6. Dealer – Traffic (3.12)
- 7. Barbed Wire (Take #2 Alt-W mix) – Chris Wood (4.25)
- 8. Mourning Sad Morning – Free (5.05)
- 9. Evening Blue – Traffic (5.18)
- 10. Feelin’ Alright? (live at the BBC) – Mason, Capaldi, Wood and Frog (3.44)*
- 11. All Black Festival – Remi Kabaka (3.24)*
- 12. Three Hours – Nick Drake (5.10)
- 13. Steph’s Dub – Tyrone Downie (3.49)*
- 14. Spring Too – Chris Wood and Stuart Carr (1.52)*
- 15. Rainmaker – Traffic (7.48)
- 16. Seagull – Jim Capaldi (4.20)
- 17. Sylvanæ – Chris Wood (0.37)*
*Previously unreleased.
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Hello Neil,
thank you for the, not so cheerful update. I just got an email from Hidden Masters that the release date has been pushed to Feb, 3rd. Yes, c’est la vie indeed. But the wait will be worth it!
Hi to anyone still following this thread.
Unhappily, some not particularly brilliant news to relay. We’ve just learned, contrary to expectations, we won’t now be seeing finished copies of our Chris Wood – Evening Blue set until after Christmas.
There has been a hiccup in manufacturing and… unhappily there is absolutely nothing we can do about this latest gremlin in the works – you’da thought we’d had our fair fill of ’em over the last four years working on Woody’s set… and… just when we thought all was finally running smoothly, another pesky little blighter shows up.
The date we’re currently being given (for arrival into the UK from where shipping will happen) is mid-January. I’m guessing that is approx week commencing Jan 16. Just as soon as we have confirmation on the date… we’ll post the news.
Its a v bitter pill to swallow is this one – we’ve worked our collective wotsits off over the past months so that initial pre-orders would be fulfilled upfront of the festive frolicking season only to be kyboshed by something totally out of our control. C’est la vie…
To everyone who’s remained patient… big thanks!
NS
i AM SO GLAD THIS IS OUT.CHRIS WOULD NEVER THINK THIS WOULD HAPPEN!i KNOW HE IS SO HAPPY PPL. CAN STILL ENJOY HIS BEAUTIFUL MUSIC.wHAT A BEAUTIFUL SOUL. LINDA LUDWIG
For those still following this thread, here’s a little video which previews Evening Blue: https://youtu.be/0ckGObfvNAY
ns
Wow! Neil, that is amazing news. That JR first album is one of my absolute all-time favourites. Very happy indeed that it’s getting an expanded release. Thanks for the update.
Neil, I shall be ordering this as I loved the care and attention which went into the Jess Roden box. Which reminds me – any update on the Seven Windows re-release?
Good news James! The 7W is now rather in the background to be honest… Much more in the foreground is a properly expanded first solo JR album which is on the cards for late on 2017. I had in mind to work both the Bronco albums but Jess preferred that we got on with his first solo record… so thats what we’re on. And… new (previously unseen) reels have turned up… huzzah! One of the first things we’ll be digitising when I get back in to the studio will be his version of Georgia… 2″ multi and six takes so far as I recall. Jess can’t remember recording it or who played on it! (I love my job).
Excellent work in getting the Chris Wood collection released.
Any news on the Distractions collection?
Not quite out yet, Paul but on the way!
Distractions – yes. Internally scheduled for 1st week June next year. Originally (as I think you know) we’d planned for later this but with all the complications we faced getting Chris’s set completed, it just proved impossible to juggle that many balls. Sorry. But, as am sure you’ll appreciate, more important to get things right.
Neil, the Universal Music site that I was refering to is store.UDiscoverMusic.com
That’s part of the same Universal/Caroline set up as digital stores.
Newcastle, England dealer “Spin CD’s” is, once again offering preorder on the Chris Wood box without authorisation. Apparently, Universal Music is the only authorised online dealer.
Not apparently, Philip… the set is *only* available via DigitalStores. There is a landing page on our HM site and from there you’re taken through to our little bit of DigitalStores. Easy really.
For clarification, the set cannot be ordered through Spin or any other retailer, online or otherwise. Quite why Spin are offering it is beyond me but, no matter… shall deal with that tomorrow morning.
Neil.
To Neil Storey….. huge congrats on bringing this set to fruition. A difficult but brilliant achievement for you to have carried off for a very well-deserved artist!
Thank you, Willy. Much appreciated. We’ll be putting some snippets of music up shortly on the HM site too.
Neil.
Did he play on ‘Dusty’ by John Martyn. If that is Wood why is’nt that track included. Superlative flute playing!
Another thought; Mayhap Hidden Masters are the people who could do a Traffic anthology set if they can persuade Winwood et al ?!
No Simon, it was Harold McNair who played on that John Martyn LP… and you’re right, thats amazing flute playing! His first RCA album is fantastic and well worth picking up… as is his one Island album (Affectionate Fink) but thats really, really hard to find. Harold and Chris are featured together tho’ – in fact, the only time they played together (so far as i know). Thats the two gigs the original version of Airforce played (Birmingham Town Hall and the Royal Albert Hall) the latter of which was recorded and we’ve included one piece from that – Early In The Morning… soloists on that are Ric Grech, Chris and then Harold McNair. For the completists, there were two mixes we listened to – an early Jimmy Miller mix but the flute was way down and we couldn’t rescue that and the album mix. And thats what we went with.
Winwood’s dissatisfaction with the songwriting royalties & artist royalties rates that he receives from his Traffic recordings makes it unlikely that he’ll ever agree to any archival release.
Really?! Where or from whom did you learn that from!!!
I have this on order since first advertised by Hidden Masters. I’m really looking forward to it.
The flute solo on Mourning Sad Morning by Free is just sublime.
I never realised it was Chris playing it, in all my years listening to one of my favourite tracks!
I also never realised he played on another of my all time favourites, Three Hours by Nick Drake.
Awesome taste there. The second Free album is my favourite. Songs of Yesterday, Mouthful of Grass and Mourning are among the greatest ever! And Nick Drake is just out of this world. Place to Be, Northern Sky. Wonderful!
Let’s see if the release is for real this time, or if more legal/clearance/contractual issues halt it yet again. I think I’ll play it safe and order the upcoming boxed set releases being offered by the major labels, because those releases are much more likely to be released.
When/if/after this set is released, I’ll consider it.
Oh dear… rather sad to see that level of cynicism, Philip. Especially as all that you mention is in the past.
However, since I’ve done my level best to keep everyone fully up to date / informed with the trials and tribulations we’ve endured (there have been one or two) in pulling all the strands together… here’s another snippet you might enjoy!
We delivered all parts as near as dammit to the deadline we’d been given. Huzzah..! (Strictly speaking we were late by a couple of hours but, given we’ve been working on this for closer to five than four years, no one was complaining).
Because we won’t be seeing finished copies until the middle of December, review copies for the long lead time magazines go out as (what we’d call in days long past) white label copies… that is, in this day and age, the CDs burned as MP3s taken from the freshly mastered .WAV files and a lo-res PDF of the inner pages to the book. All very normal.
Saturday morning last and, having left the music alone for a couple weeks, decide to play through the CDs again; burned just the same as the review copies. Actually, it was rather nice to come back to it having had a little break from the music and, quite honestly, the real intensity of the last few weeks.
And then… suddenly… an eeek moment… Houston, we have a problem. A real problem. One track on CD3 begins… plays perfectly for 47 seconds and then… inexplicably stops… three seconds pause… then begins again and plays straight through. Oh dear.
Is it an issue burning to CD? Is it on the master file? Is it..? What is it? Didn’t hear it when we were checking all the music originally… Something very weird whatever it is. Richard Whittaker (our studio magician) and I discuss. We listen again and speak further. He’s just burned a fresh CD and same problem. Damn.
Is there a solution? Of course there is… We have to fix it.
A bit of fancy footwork first thing Monday morning and Richard has the CD re-worked to eliminate the possibility of gremlins interfering any further. By lunchtime its uploaded and the factory have the fresh files. ‘phew.
Thankfully, there had been a slight delay there which meant we didn’t have to actually halt production and, as it were, begin again.
And, this little delay meant I could make a couple of miniscule corrections to the book as well.
So… there we are… in production and… IF we do have any further delays, Philip… trust me, you’ll be the first to know.
If not… we should see finished copies at the start of the week which begins December 12.
Neil.
Hello Mr. Storey! Despite all incidents and, it seems to have been quiet a roller coaster for you guys, I am very thankful for this amazing box to come out. Hey, Christmas time is the perfect time anyway! When I saw the first pictures of Evening Blue on Hidden Masters, I got this warm nostalgic feeling. And I have a rather large vinyl and CD collection. Newest purchases The Beatles Stereo vinyl box and Lou Reed. Oh, my wallet. I placed my order for Evening Blue a while ago and I will wait patiently and crossing my fingers for you and all involved in this amazing journey. All the best from Hamburg, Germany. Michael
Thanks Michael in Hamburg. Appreciated greatly. I hope it meets your expectations when it lands… and yes, it should be just before Weihnachten.
Neil.
Hi Neil, This is great news. Don`t be denied by idiots who keep repeating themselves. Thanks for all the hard work you and you compatriots have carried out, which must have been very frustrating. There are many besides me who appreciate all the effort.
I ordered through Hidden Masters as soon as the box set came up for pre-sale. Money paid then and forgotten. So when the box arrives it will be a pleasant arrival among Mr Dylan`s marathon, those Stones that keep on a`rollin` and others.
Once again thanks Neil, Richie.
Thank you… yes well, there were times when it got a bit frustrating but, you know, its remarkable how quickly one forgets those down days when listening back to the music or looking through what we’ve put together! Pride is one of the seven deadly… isn’t it? Am not entirely sure which deadly one it is… but… bless me Father, for I have – as sure as little eggs are little eggs – sinned… recently..!
Neil.
Neil, my “cynicism” is a byproduct of a half century of collecting recorded music, and recent experiences ordering(and being immediately charged for) independantly released archival music CD’s or CD boxed sets. And, in these instances, these charges occured before the masters had been finalised and sent to the pressing plant.
Yes, I understand that projects are easier to complete when they’re being released by the label that owns most (or all) of the recordings, and that independant label archival projects that consist entirely of licensed materials have many financial and negotiating hurdles to clear, but….an independant label assembling such a project must be certain that all permissions have been granted, before announcing the project and accepting preorders.
Most projects such as (or similar to) yours result in the CD or CD boxed set being released as planned, yet some projects do go astray, into long term limbo(or ultimately aren’t released), with resulting stress for the people who preordered. I’ve encountered this scenario several times recently. I could explain the specifics of which artists’ CD or CD boxed set projects I’m refering to, but it would take this discussion thread off-topic. In one instance, I just discovered that, two months ago I was charged $155 for a 19-disc boxed set(released by a music group itself) that, to date, has yet to be released. I supported the artists directly by ordering from their site, though it’s inevitable that (if the set is released) it will be offered for less money elsewhere. And, I now see that Amazon.com and some other online dealers have stopped accepting preorders for the set ,likely because of an uncertain release date. After two attempts at contacting the artists’ website, they finally responded, saying that they may receive the sets from the European pressing plant next week, and be able to begin desptaching the sets. I purchased from that group’s website several times before(twice buying pricey boxed sets) and had no problems, but back then, they weren’t charging people until the products were released. You can understand that I am somewhat worried. In another instance, an archival CD project has dragged on for a year and a half without the project being issued. In that instance, the label (without my asking) refunded to those customers who had paid by PayPal.(customers who preordered using credit cards won’t be charged until the release date)
I may be “cynical”, but, like most people, my attitudes are shaped by real life experiences. This sort of stuff takes some of the pleasure out of collecting recorded music.
If as you say, Philip, your cynicism is based around your own ordering and pre-ordering frustrations, there isn’t a great deal I can do about that… other than – and this can only be in respect of the sets which we (HiddenMasters) issue – is keep you (and everyone else) up to date as best I humanly can.
That, so far as I’m concerned, is part of the responsibility I bear in not just running this little label but indulging in preparing and creating the sets that we do.
IF you’ve had lousy experiences previously… then I’m sure everyone who reads this thread will sympathise. Equally, if you choose to disbelieve the posts I write or the news on HiddenMasters sets we issue… so be it. But, please do bear in mind, when we go public on something (no matter what that something is), its in good faith.
To one or two of your points: You say that you “understand projects are easier to complete when they’re being released by the label that owns most (or all) of the recordings, and that independent label archival projects that consist entirely of licensed materials have many financial and negotiating hurdles to clear.”
– Am not sure on what basis you’re saying that and while I’m not in the habit of splitting hairs, I wouldn’t say that is true at all. We (HiddenMasters) license in all the titles we work with and I can assure you that the time taken for those licenses to be granted is not based around negotiating (financial or otherwise) hurdles which we are required to clear. Many, many other factors come in to play.
– You say: “an independent label assembling such a project must be certain that all permissions have been granted, before announcing the project and accepting preorders”.
Generally speaking that’s the preferred route, of course. Sometimes, however, there is a release date in mind / to aim at and, after due consultation with all (repeat ALL) parties, that release date is settled upon and a start-of-pre-ordering date is set *without* every single component set in stone. Usually, you (the consumer) wouldn’t be aware of any of that background since those of us working in said background would just be getting on with our jobs and the set would be issued on or near the date pre-set. Thats when things run all nice and smooth. Unfortunately, sometimes pesky little gremlins get in the way and very occasionally, those gremlins are very very pesky – and thats precisely what happened to us with this set. Evening Blue was designed from long, long past to be issued as near to Chris’s birthday this year as makes no odds and… I don’t need to recap the headaches which enveloped us and put a stop to that plan.
Check back through the threads however… I like to think you’ll agree that I’ve kept everyone updated as best as I could (given certain restrictions by which I mean I was not able to fully elaborate on the nature of the headaches).
So… be as cynical as you wish… thats your prerogative. But, I would ask that you draw a line under your cynicism concerning our releases. If you have a real issue with how we work – just say and, if its justified, I’ll take that squarely on the chin. If not, then trust me… I’ll defend what we do and the manner in which we do it ’til way after the cows come home.
Lastly… and on the presumption that you will – at some point – have either pre-ordered or will be pre-ordering the CW set, I very much hope it meets with your satisfaction when it arrives. As much as its taken us not far short of five years to put together, its something we’re all incredibly proud of; but remember the light which has guided us throughout – what we’ve done has been done for Chris, one of the nicest and kindest men those who knew him ever met.
All the best,
Neil.
After the boxed set is released, if there are any remaining sets available, I likely will order one.
This is awesome news! Thanks Paul. I love Traffic and always had a huge respect for Chris Wood! Ordered mine on Hidden Masters. This is soooo overdue. About time that CW gets the recognition he so fully deserves.
Hmmmmmm……the £90 version is a bit too expensive……….but………i’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested. I love Traffic and the John Martyn tracks he played on also. There’s plenty here i’d love to hear and own. Just the price tag i need to try and justify to myself.