‘Virgin were ecstatic when they heard the news from an equally ecstatic Richard Chadwick,’ said Mick Karn of the decision for himself and ex-Japan band-mates Sylvian, Jansen & Barbieri to come back together, ‘and within days came up with an amount for recording that made us ecstatic. None of us had ever seen such a large sum for recording before. And what’s more, once lawyers had prepared the contracts and suggested we have accountants carry out an audit on Virgin, they hastily sent us a substantial cheque each for Japan videos…
‘The four of us set forth on a driving holiday through Italy for a week in June 1989, to research some of the available residential studios we’d been considering. The budget would go a long way if we were careful, and the trip enabled us to spend time together bonding, and for me to show off my Italian as band translator. We decided on a studio Steve and Rich had already used, Condulmer, near Venice, and planned to be there for a month in November after starting the project in the south of France in Miraval for five weeks at the beginning of September.’
Continue reading “Big Wheels in Shanty Town”
