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Page 2: Mark Shreeve

Vintage Gear, Hollywood & Samantha Fox By Jonathan Miller
Published September 1995

Going Nocturnal

1995 sees Mark's career coming a full circle, thanks to a new recording deal with Chris Franke's Sonic Images label. Chris has not fared too badly either since parting ways with both Jive Electro and Tangerine Dream back in 1987. Now residing in Los Angeles as a successful soundtrack composer and musician in his own right, Franke's company production offices and recording facilities command an impressive view of the surrounding Hollywood hillside — check out Ashok Prema's SOS May 1994 feature for photographic evidence. For Mark, the Hollywood connection is no accident, as his new album, Nocturne, is unashamedly aimed at America. But the deal itself came about by pure chance, as he explains: "Just by chance, Ash Prema mentioned to his good friend Chris Franke that I had finished a new album. I then got a call from Chris, who told me about his new label. Funnily enough, I already had a Sonic Images sampling CD‑ROM without having any idea that it was anything to do with Chris Franke.

"I thought it would be nice to try something from a different angle. Sonic Images might have another way of getting this music more widely distributed — it's certainly a different setup over there, and that's partly why I got involved with them.

"Chris Franke has turned out to be a very good businessman, and he's also very well‑known in the soundtrack world — both the film industry and the Los Angeles‑based TV industry — so I'm hoping there may be a break there. He's got so much work that he'll have to give me some of it!

"I've already done three soundtracks, but only one of them was 'Hollywood', so to speak. The other two were laughingly‑titled 'budget films' — in other words, they came in at under £10 million, which is ridiculous! Although it used American actors, the first one was Norwegian‑based and was a horror movie, even though it wasn't particularly frightening! The second was a comedy that wasn't that funny, and the third one a thriller that wasn't that thrilling!"

Hollywood Or Bust

As to the inspiration behind Nocturne: "I like electronic stuff, and a little bit of classical music, and all these things are evident on Nocturne — more so than on my previous two. At the time, I was really getting into bands like Nirvana to listen to for pleasure, and I've always loved bands like Talk Talk, Simple Minds and the Sex Pistols. I like a wall of sound — anything that is stupendously over‑the‑top with everything but the kitchen sink thrown in. I also admire people like Portishead who can really reduce everything. I wish I could do that, but it just doesn't seem to be my style."

That said, Mark does appear to be mellowing at the ripe old age of 'thirty‑something', as reflected by Nocturne's uplifting title track. Amused by my comparisons with Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells II and Pink Floyd, Mark admits that he played the track's guitarist 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' for inspiration. But then, comparisons with Floyd are no bad thing, given their recent smash live album success. On the strength of Nocturne, Mark Shreeve deserves a slice of the pie, too. The Hans Zimmers of the world should watch their backs — there may soon be a new face to contend with in Tinsel Town!

Those wishing to catch Mark in action may do so at KLEMdag '95, Europe's largest electronic music festival, on October 7th in Nijmegen, Holland.

Franke‑ly Speaking

Mark has fond memories of the Legion sessions, not least because the fortuitous Jive Electro association led to him working alongside one of his heroes — Chris Franke of Tangerine Dream. Given that Chris is often referred to as 'Mr Sequencer', I was somewhat taken aback to learn of the melodic nature of his involvement with the album, as Mark recalled: "I got to the stage with Legion where I had one more track to do, which I'd already demo'd at home. We eventually did a backing track in the studio and I was scratching my head thinking, 'What else can I do with it?'

"I was talking with Jive's A&R guy, and just as a joke, I said 'wouldn't it be great if we could get one of the guys from Tangerine Dream in to do the rest?' Before I'd even finished the sentence, he was on the phone to Chris Franke. Three days later, the man himself was there in the studio!

"A Jupiter 8 was hired in for Chris to play the melody line, and that was the only bit of near sequencing that he did. It was all sort of against the beat and written into a Linn 9000 left in Open Record Mode as he was playing — I would never have thought of that.

"He's also responsible for the Jupiter 8 hard sync lead sound with loads of pitch bend at the end of the track. He played it live, but I recorded it into my Roland MSQ700 sequencer without him knowing.

"I've never seen anybody get such great sounds so quickly from synths. The other two guys involved with Legion — programmer/producer Pete Harris and Battery's engineer — had been working in studios for years, and were just in awe of this guy and the way he used the equipment. He knew how to use it as a musician, rather than as a technician."

Mark Shreeve's Gear

SYNTHS

  • Mark Shreeve's ARP 2600Mark Shreeve's ARP 2600.ARP 2600
  • Korg M1
  • Korg Wavestation
  • Moog IIIC modular
  • Oberheim Xpander
  • Oberheim Matrix 1000
  • PPG Wave 2.3 (with Waveterm A sequencer/sampling unit).
  • Roland VP330 Vocoder Plus (with Kenton Electronics MIDI retrofit)
  • Roland Juno 60 (with Kenton Electronics MIDI retrofit)
  • Roland D550 (with PG1000 programmer)
  • Studio Electronics MidiMini
  • Yamaha CS30
  • Yamaha DX7 MkII

SAMPLER

  • Akai S1000

"AND ON DRUMS..."

  • Emu Procussion
  • Roland DR660

SEQUENCERS

  • Akai MPC60
  • Analogue Systems TH48
  • Atari 1040STE (4Mb) running Emagic Notator SL software

Mark Shreeve: Vintage Gear, Hollywood & Samantha FoxRECORDING

  • Alesis ADAT digital 8‑track recorder x 3 (with BRC remote controller and AI‑1 digital interface)
  • Allen & Heath Saber Plus 28:24:2 desk
  • Sony DTC1000 DAT
  • Tascam DA30 MkII DAT

OUTBOARD

  • Behringer stereo compressor
  • Behringer stereo noise reduction
  • Behringer stereo noise gate
  • Ensoniq DP/4 digital multi‑effects
  • Korg Stage Echo
  • Lexicon PCM60 digital reverb
  • Lexicon PCM70 digital reverb
  • Roland RSP550 digital multi‑effects
  • SPL Vitalizer
  • Yamaha REX50 digital effects
  • Urei 7110 compressor

MISCELLANEOUS

  • Audio Architecture Function Junction Plus 16 x 16 programmable MIDI patchbay
  • DAC removable hard drive
  • Diki Devices CD‑ROM/removable hard drive
  • Kenton Electronics Pro2 MIDI/CV converter

The Foxy Lady: Shreeve On Samantha

Not a lot of people know that Mark Shreeve was responsible for co‑writing former Page 3 model Samatha Fox's biggest hit single. 'Touch Me (I Want Your Body)' peaked at No. 3 in the UK charts in March 1986 — yet it was a fluke of the grandest order that the song ever made it onto vinyl, as Mark explained: "I'm really tight with cassettes, so when I was doing demos for the Legion album I recorded two tracks on a used cassette at home which I then took in to Roddy McKenna, Jive Electro's A&R man, to see if they were worth pursuing any further for my album. A couple of days later he rang back raving about a third track which he thought had a really commercial bassline and chord structure. It turned out he'd listened past the two tracks I'd given him and latched onto the end of an old track that I'd recorded over!

Samantha Fox Touch Me single cover artwork"It was originally a 13‑minute piece of 'cosmic' music dating from 1982, knocked up on a Pro One, CS30 and a Dr Rhythm drum machine — the chords, bassline and some of the phrases eventually became the basis of 'Touch Me (I Want Your Body)', although the original was probably about 10 bpm slower than the finished track.

"I didn't know anything about the structure of pop music at all. Most of my compositions back then were about 15 minutes long. I don't get going until after about two minutes, by which time a pop song's nearly over!

"Then, when I was doing the Legion album, we started working up this track with all the others, but with the idea that we'd have some vocals on it. Roddy said I had to write some lyrics — and my lyrics were pretty much like my music. I think it was originally called 'And Still They Scream', a sort of blood and torture type of thing over this bouncy rhythm!

"They called in John Astrop, a producer and writer who had also been in a pop band. He went downstairs and came back with the 'Touch Me (I Want Your Body)' words. I thought to myself, 'No‑one is going to buy this stuff in a million years' — boy, was I wrong!

"The female guide vocalist that John hired in had been in the Eurovision Song Contest band Bardot. She had an amazing voice, but in the end, the record company agreed with me that it was not quite in keeping with everything else on the Legion album.

"Over the next six months Jive were just looking for singers. About 60 or 70 were auditioned, both over here and in New York. Finally, they heard Sam Fox was into singing, and must have thought what better song could she ask for than 'Touch Me (I Want Your Body)'! The whole thing really came about through a series of chances."

Roll Up Your Shreeves: Discography

  • Ursa Major
    Mirage 1980
  • Embryo
    Mirage 1980
  • Phantom
    Mirage 1981
  • Fire Music
    Agitastjon 1981
  • Thoughts Of War
    Uniton 1981
  • Care
    Y Records 1983
  • Assassin
    Uniton 1983
  • Assassin
    Jive Electro 1984
  • Oracle *
    Bruton Music 1984
  • Legion
    Jive Electro 1985
  • Energy Fountain *
    Bruton Music 1986
  • Oracle *
    Bruton Music 1987
  • Energy Fountain *
    Bruton Music 1987
  • Crash Head
    Jive 1988
  • Riding The Edge *
    Bruton Music 1989
  • Power House *
    Bruton Music 1990
  • Pulsar *
    Bruton Music 1991
  • Assassin
    Centaur Discs 1994
  • Legion
    Centaur Discs 1994
  • Crash Head
    Centaur Discs 1994
  • Nocturne
    Sonic Images 1995

NOTES

The Mirage, Agitastjon and Y Records cassette‑albums are long since deleted, as are the Thoughts Of War, Assassin (both Uniton and Jive Electro versions), Legion and Crash Head vinyl albums and cassettes. All have become collectors items.

Albums marked with an asterisk denote library music CDs, Oracle and Energy Fountain having first been released as vinyl albums and later re‑issued on CD in 1987. Although these library albums were never intended for public consumption, they can be obtained through C&D Compact Disc Services of Dundee, a specialist importer/distributor of electronic music, whose Centaur Discs label is responsible for re‑issuing the Jive Electro albums on CD format in 1994.

Getting A Moog On: The Back To Analogue Movement

Recently, Mark has been able to indulge his love of analogue equipment. One of his latest purchases was Analogue Systems' 3‑channel TH48 analogue sequencer (reviewed in SOS April 1995). In a quick demo, he proved he had already mastered the device, using it to control his ARP 2600's pitch, filter and envelopes so that it generated a rendition of the riff from Jean‑Michel Jarre's Equinoxe V.

The jewel in the crown of his collection, however, has to be the recently‑acquired (and much‑sort‑after) Moog IIIC modular system — the same model used by Klaus Schulze on his 1978 album X ‑‑ which Mark had sourced from the United States at the overdraft‑battering price of £10,000! Despite the cost, Mark is keen to stress that such purchases are not a result of collector's lust: "I wanted the Moog simply because it's got a sound I love. I'm not a collector, and although I understand why people do collect them, it's annoying for people like me who want to use them when they've gone up so much in price. The problem with the Moog modulars is that not many were made. I heard that Japanese collectors were starting to buy them all up, so I thought I'd better get one now, before it was too late.

"In a way, I guess the collectors have increased the interest in these old synths. Even a lot of the young dance bands are interested in them — although I can't fathom why someone would want to pay a grand for something like a Roland TB303. They've got such a weak sound compared to the Moog."

I mentioned Tangerine Dream's Edgar Froese, who believes that the currently fashionable warm analogue sound is not really down to the sound source of analogue synths, but the sound of their analogue filters. Froese has gone so far as to suggest that "if you give up analogue, you give up a big portion of your musical ability". Mark expanded on this theme, with his own viewpoint: "It's like vintage cars — it comes back to this business of collectors and users. Collectors are the ones who unwittingly put up prices by trading in them. As far as the users are concerned, I agree with what Edgar says, except to add that the instability of the oscillators is also appealing. On something like a Korg M1, even if you treat the basic sampled waveform, it will always replay in exactly the same way. It's like a sonic photograph. If you program a sound on a MiniMoog or an ARP 2600 — anything that's truly analogue — you're fighting for control most of the time, and it's this 'danger' part of the sound that turns people on. It's the detuning, whether you want it or not, that gives movement to the sound. It's as near to a living sound as you can get, and I think human beings react better to something that sounds less than perfect."

Drawing upon Mark's classic car analogy, the analogue market will hopefully bottom out one day. Nevertheless, it's reassuring to find at least one Moog modular system being put to use, as opposed to festering in a museum somewhere.