The Passion album was recorded primarily by the current live JV Band lineup at the time - Liam James Gray on drums and Roger Inniss on bass, though I did ask Bob Skeat to come along and play the bass parts on some tracks. It wouldn't be a JV album without 'Skeaty"!
Keyboards (Hammond Organ and piano) by our great friend Jamie Pipe, who also plays with the Mentulls, and sometimes Danny Bryant.
We recorded the bulk of the drum tracks at Remote Farm Studios in Cambridgeshire, with Steve Stewart at the controls.
Just Liam and myself in the studio laying down the drum tracks, with me supplying a guide vocal and guitar part for reference.
We then took those drum recordings to my studio '101 Recorders' for overdubs, mixing and mastering.
We had previously made rough demo recordings of the material, and I preferred the demo drum track for Broken Heart so we used that instead of the Remote Farm version.
Next I added some rhythm guitar parts and a guide vocal on all the songs for reference before bringing in Roger Inniss and Bob Skeat to record all the bass parts.
Things were now taking shape so I spent a while completing all my guitars and vocals before inviting Jamie Pipe to add the keyboard parts.
Finally, Liam came back to add percussion where needed.
I decided to play all guitars and all vocals (including backing vocals) myself on this album. I think it worked!
Track 1 'Higher' Liam on drums, Skeaty on bass and Jamie on keys.
A pretty straight ahead track harking back to my work in the early '80s. I thought it might be fun to look back a while!
Track 2 'Wise Up' Liam, Skeaty & Jamie again.
This song harks back even further to some of the stuff I did in the '70s, but the song itself probably has a lot more meaning...
Track 3 Sand in my pocket Liam, Roger & Jamie.
A story of life on the road...
Track 4 'Broken Heart' Liam, & Roger.
A modern day blues about global warming methinks....
Track 5 'Big Stick' Liam, Skeaty & Jamie.
I wrote this with our live set in mind, and as a comment on the ploitical situation here in the UK and across the sea in the US of A.
Track 6 'Red Devil' Liam & Roger.
My tribute to Ginger Baker, played in the style of 'Cream'.
Track 7 'Bad Boy' Liam, Roger & Jamie (piano).
My tribute to Mr Chuck Berry (R.I.P).
Track 8 'Open Road' Liam (Percussion) & Roger.
I wrote and recorded this for a bit of fun, but my lovely Wife Carole insisted it should go on the album!!