“He was working with Richard Drummie
who would partner him in Go West.
They’d heard some of the work I’d done
and had been putting their tracks about.”
Stevenson had spent his advance
from Atlantic on an Emulator sampler –
something of a coup, as only a few people
were experimenting with the technology
at the time – and had already mastered its
cutting-edge greatness. Add his knowledge
of production into the mix and he became
the perfect choice for Go West to produce
their initial recordings. “I did a couple of
demos with them that their manager John
Glover really liked,” he says. “He then
asked me to pick two tracks and go into
a studio in Chipping Norton and record
them. He gave me four days and I picked
We Close Our Eyes and Call Me.”
Of course, We Close Our Eyes and
Call Me ended up being huge hits and,
incredibly, the fi nished singles that made
the charts around the world were largely
the same as those that Gary produced in
that four-day period.
“I did some of the big tom fi lls later,
but the core stuff was done in Chipping
Norton. John then took the tracks around
the record companies and, bang, all of a
sudden the doors were open and people
were saying: ‘We really want this.’ They
were saying: ‘This is a new sound’, but it
was basically the sound of Radar.”
The tracks not only served as a
launchpad for Go West, but also Gary
himself – as they introduced the slick, funk
sound that came to defi ne the mid-80s.
It was a sound that Gary was largely
responsible for and one that Go West
realised they needed for their debut LP.
“It was totally marvellous and I’ll tell
you why,” says Gary. “With my record
07
TONY HADLEY
TALKING TO THE MOON, 2018
“I’m particularly proud of
what I did on the second
single, Take Back Everything.
He did well with the album,
getting single and album of
the week on Radio 2 and it
did well overall.”04
RICK ASTLEY
FREE, 1991
This was Astley’s third album,
but fi rst away from the SAW
stable. He was switching to a
more soulful sound and Gary
was drafted in to produce.
The single Cry For Help went
Top 10 in the UK and US.
05
ABC
THE LEXICON OF LOVE II, 2016
“There is some brilliant stuff
on the album,” says Gary.
“Martin is a strong character;
it was tough working with him
sometimes, whereas other
times, he is really good
and appreciative.”06
VARIOUS ARTISTS
FLY – SONGS INSPIRED BY THE
FILM EDDIE THE EAGLE, 2016
“This project was such fun,
trying to give these 80s-type
songs a modern feel. Gary
Barlow wanted to add his
thing to it, and get mine, too,
so I really enjoyed that.”Go West became so big that a follow-up
album was quickly ordered, and Gary was
again called in for recording duties, so
found himself as a full-time producer.
Go West, though, was his perfect
introduction to that world.
“It was brilliant,” says Gary. “I talk to
other musicians and producers now, and
for some reason, there was this moment
in time with Go West. They might not
have been the biggest band on the planet
but, within the music fraternity, it was like:
‘What the hell is this, it’s proper music,
but it’s got this new sound!’ There was a
lot of the infl uence of Trevor Horn in there,
but it wasn’t like this gimmicky band;
there was a proper singer, real music and
great songs.”GO WEST (NO, REALLY
THIS TIME)
Gary then moved out to the Isle Of Man
to set up a recording studio there while
still working for various acts on Virgin.company, we only had a fi ve-track deal,
but they [Go West] got offered a few
deals. And they said: ‘No, we’ll only go
with a record company that will also take
‘Mr Unknown’ Gary Stevenson, because
he’s the person that we want to do our
album.’ I am forever in debt to them
for that.
“There was a geezer in the States
called Ron Fair at Chrysalis America,” he
continues, “and he was the only one who
agreed to that request and said: ‘Yeah, I’m
happy with this guy [Gary] producing it.’
He came across, met the guys and said:
‘Let’s do this.’ We ended up using the
masters that we’d recorded at Chipping
Norton, and overdubbed some other bits.
[Bassist] Pino Palladino added another
layer of colour to Call Me and there were
a few other great players, like guitarist
Alan Murphy. I mixed that at Sarm West
on my own and it all went bang! I was
only 24 and just thought, ‘Oh, this is how it
works, that’s how it happens, that’s great.’”Producer Gary Stevenson with Die Hard’s Bruce Willis...
sorry, Go West’s Peter Cox. Yippee-ki-yay kimosabe.