Hello,
I've just this minute signed up for the forum and I wondered if anyone here has any information about the recording of 'The Love that Whirls' such as the Synthesizers, Drum Machines, Effects or Techniques used for the making of the album. I haven't been able to find much out from searching the internet , there were some really interesting interviews from 'Sound on Sound' about the Echo Observatory but they were from some time later. I read that Bill used a Yamaha CS 70M but I don't know if that was used on 'The Love that Whirls' as it only came out at the time the album must have been recorded. Anyway the album made a great impression on me, I have always been struck by the ambient instrumental tracks, I could listen to whole albums of those type of tracks particularily.
I hope every one enjoyed Christmas and New Year and I apologise for my awkwardness in communicating
.
Reading on, in Electronic Music Maker 1982 Bill mentions "I've got the little VL-Tone, tapping out the two buttons for real fast, rippling little runs of sequencer-like things." he goes on to say " The one problem I've found with the VL is that when you get to the end of the 'sequence' it glitches as it goes through — the thing to do to get round that is to press the red 'reset' button just before you get to the repeat point, that way it returns to the beginning without a glitch." This was a reference to recording 'The Cabinet of Caligari' at the Echo Observatory but I presume it could have been used on the 'Love that Whirls' unless there was access to another form of sequencing' at that time.
"But many of the sounds were generated from guitar by using an E-bow fed to a noise gate triggered by hi hat patterns which created a synthy sort of sound." 🙏 Thanks for that, Bill. This brings into focus for me that driving, crazy, addicting feeling throughout 'Flaming Desire.' The sound’s so weirdly difficult to comprehend, the “beast is unchained” sounding groove. I remember being at a club called The I-Beam, which was later called The Thirsty Swede and, like other times before in other settings, so many bodies undulating and flailing around when that song erupted through the speakers. No one’s ever done anything quite like it. 'You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)' by Dead Or Alive always to me sounds like it was made by a couple of guys who were admirers of and inspired by ‘Flaming Desire’ and wanted to recreate a similarly frantic feel. A completely different result of course and yet it does remind me of ‘Flaming Desire.’ I remember I had a mix tape that included ‘Flaming Desire’ and the very much opposite sounding ‘Flaming’ by Pink Floyd, from ‘Piper At The Gates Of Dawn’ on it just to have two song titles with the same word in their titles on.. Every song on ‘The Love That Whirls’ though has been a favourite at one time or another. I reckon that ‘Waiting For Voices’ is the one that brings about something uniquely transformative and uplifting. ⭐️☁️
There are a couple of (possibly) informative pieces available to read in the 'Archive' section of Dreamsville...
There is the full collection of 'Acquitted By Mirrors' magazines that cover that era, plus there is an interview that Bill did with 'Electronics & Music Maker' magazine talking about The Love That Whirls.
Here's a direct link to the magazine articles section of the archive.. https://www.billnelson.com/magazine-features
It was a very long time ago now and hard to recall all the exact details but I know a Mini-Moog was involved and a Roland TR-808 drum machine. It's quite possible that the Yamaha CS 70 was too which I got when it was first released from Yamaha, (who I endorsed at that time.) Rockfield studio's grand piano was used also. But many of the sounds were generated from guitar by using an E-bow fed to a noise gate triggered by hi hat patterns which created a synthy sort of sound. Reverse echo and reverb were used quite a bit too. It was lots of old school studio tricks as there were no software effects or computer manipulation available at that time.