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Thanks for the enthusiastic and warm review Southern Dreamer, I'm glad that My Private Cosmos has connected with you so positively and so quickly. The album represents a lot of hard work, many months in the studio and then time spent getting the packaging together (with the help of Martin and Jon on that front.) It's turned out very well, I think. 😉 As I've already suggested to fans, just take it a little bit at a time and absorb what's going on within the tracks. There are so many tracks, impossible to grasp in a single extended listening session, this is an album that requires weeks and weeks to fully appreciate. Tracks that, at first you might pass over will often suddenly spring to life later. This is not one for people wanting 'instant gratification,' it's a big and broad sound canvas and requires a broad mind and a big heart to resonate with it. Hopefully, fans will find lots to enjoy over a very long period of listening to it's nuances!😀

Just noticed that Prog Magazine have a very nice review of the Red Noise reissue. (It's the issue of the magazine with Fripp on the cover.) I gave an interview to Prog last week which I think will appear in the next issue. I've also now have read the whole Mojo piece and it turned out to be very thoughtfully written by James McNair, to whom I'm grateful for his interest and care. It's strange though, how these reissue box sets have brought fresh media attention after more than 40 years. I'm not complaining, of course. I'll take as much of that as I can get. But it would be nice if my more current work could grab a bit more of the limelight. 😉😃

CONTINUING THE DUANE EDDY THEMS...HERE'S. A COOL POSTER. I LOVE ARCHTOP GUITARS, ESPECIALLY ONES WITH NO CUTAWAYS, LIKE THESE... WHEN I WAS A SCHOOLBOY AT INGS ROAD SCHOOL, IAN PARKIN AND MYSELF WOULD OFTEN WALK FROM THE SCHOOL AT LUNCHTIMES, TO THE WAKEFIELD MUSIC CENTRE, (WEBSTER'S,) ON KIRKGATE WHERE WE WOULD STARE AT THE GUITARS IN THE SHOP'S WINDOW. THERE WERE NEVER ANY FENDERS OR GIBSONS, ONLY EUROPEAN BRANDS AND ENGLISH ONES. ONE GUITAR THEY HAD IN THE WINDOW WAS THIS FOUR PICKUP EKO, AN ITALIAN MODEL. A PHOTOGRAPH OF THE REAL THING... ANOTHER GUITAR THAT WAS IN WEBSTER'S MUSIC CENTRE WAS THE FUTURAMA 3. HERE'S AN ADVERT FOR IT. AND HERE'S THE REAL THING... A VERY CUTE GRETSCH ADVERT... THIS IS JIMMIE WEBSTER, A GUITARIST WHO ALSO WORKED FOR THE GRETSCH COMPANY AND HAD A HAND IN DESIGNING THE 'WHITE FALCON' MODEL. NOT SURE WHO THIS LADY IS BUT THAT'S A VERY NICE LAP STEEL GUITAR SHE'S HOLDING... A DOUBLE NECK STEEL GUITAR AND POSSIBLY SPEEDY WEST PLAYING IT, (OR MAYBE ONE OF BOB WILLS' STEEL PLAYERS.) THE MUNSTERS ROCK OUT. COUPLE OF NICE ARCHTOPS TOO. AN AMUSING ATTEMPT AT A ROCKET SHAPED GUITAR... COUNTRY JAZZER, GRADY MARTIN... AN OLD ADVERT FOR GUIYLD GUITARS WITH DUANE EDDY ON THE LEFT. MY TRESURED LES PAUL AUTOGRAPH... MY CAMPBELL AMERICAN TRANSITONE GUITAR, CUSTOM PAINTED FOR ME BY THE GREAT NICHOLAS DEL DRAGO... SCOTTY MOORE PROVIDED ANOTHER EARLY GUITAR MOMENT FOR ME WHEN MY MOTHER AND FATHER BOUGHT A SECOND HAND RADIOGRAM FOR OUR HOME AT 28 CONISTONE CRESCENT. IT CAME WITH A COLLECTION OF 78s AND 45s AND AMONGST THEM WAS ELVIS PRESLEY'S 'JAILHOUSE ROCK.' SCOTTY'S SOLO ON THAT RECORDING THRILLED ME AND, ALONG WITH DUANE EDDY'S 'BECAUSE THEY'RE YOUNG', WAS ONE OF THE RECORDS I WOULD MIME TO WITH A CARDBOARD GUITAR IN FRONT OF MY BEDROOM MIRROR, PRETENDING I WAS PLAYING THE SOLO... IN THE LATE 1950s, EARLY '60s, THIS WAS THE ONLY UK MAGAZINE THAT CATERED TO GUITARISTS. B.M.G. WAS A FAIRLY 'SQUARE' MAGAZINE BUT I JUST TO GET THE OCCASIONAL COPY. BUT THEN 'BEAT MONTHLY' MAGAZINE CAME OUT, AIMING AT THE NEW GENERATION OF POP AND ROCK N' ROLL MUSICIANS. I BOUGHT IT EVERY MONTH. AND HERE'S THE FIRST ISSUE OF 'BEAT MONTHLY' FROM 1963... I'VE POSTED THIS ELSEWHERE BUT IT REALLY BELONGS IN THIS THREAD. BERT WEEDON'S 'PLAY IN A DAY' TUTOR BOOK. NICE HOFNER ARCHTOP BERT! THE LATE GREAT BUDDY HOLLY WITH THE GUITAR AND THE GLASSES THAT INSPIRED HANK MARVIN. THIS WAS AN ALBUM I REALLY LOVED BACK IN THE '60s. IT WAS BY THE CEDRIC WEST GUITAR ENSEMBLE AND FEATURED FOUR GUITARISTS PLAYING BEAUTIFULLY TOGETHER... CHET WAS A TREMENDOUSLY GIFTED GUITARIST AND HUGELY INFLUENTIAL ON SO MANY PLAYERS OF MY GENERATION. I HAD TONS OF HIS ALBUMS AND STILL HAVE. THE FANTASIC PLAYING OF DJANGO REINHARDT IS SO INSPIRING BUT ALSO HUMBLING. AN ABSOLUTE MAGICIAN. THIS GUY IS PLAYING A GRIMSHAW GUITAR. GRIMSHAW WERE AN ENGLISH COMPANY AND MADE SOME VERY GOOD, AND NOW EXTREMELY RARE AND COLLECTABLE, GUITARS. MY FIRST GUITAR WAS THIS PLASTIC 'ELVIS PRESLEY' MODEL MADE BY THE SELCO COMPANY. ACTUALLY, MY BROTHER IAN HAD BEEN BOUGHT A VERY SMALL TOY GUITAR ON WHICH I'D FIGURED OUT THE FIRST FEW NOTES OF 'THE THIRD MAN' THEME. MY DAD THEN SHOWED ME A COUPLE OF UKELELE CHORDS ON IT AND DECIDED I SHOULD HAVE A TOY GUITAR OF MY OWN AND SO BOUGHT ME THE SELCO; 'ELVIS' MODEL. IT WAS MADE OF PLASTIC AND HAD JUST FOUR STRINGS BUT IT WAS A START. TODAY I HAVE TWO, RARE, EXAMPLES OF THIS LITTLE GUITAR TO REMIND ME OF HOW IT ALL BEGAN. THE ABOVE TWO 'EPs' WERE THE FIRST RECORDINGS I OWNED BY' THE SHADOWS' WHO WERE A HUGE INFLUENCE. MY MOTHER BOUGHT ME THESE RECORDS FROM BOOTS STORE IN WAKEFIELD AND TO THIS DAY I CAN REMEMBER HER BRINGING THEM HOME FOR ME. I COULDN'T WAIT TO PUT THEM ON THE RADIOGRAM AND LISTEN TO THEM. THIS WAS ANOTHER ALBUM I LOVED WHEN I WAS A YOUNG ASPIRING GUITARIST. 'THE SPOTNICKS' ACTUALLY WORE SPACE SUITS WHEN THEY PERFORMED! ANOTHER IMPORTANT BAND IN MY EARLY GUITAR PLAYING DAYS WAS 'THE VENTURES.' WHILST A SCHOOLBOY, I MET IAN PARKIN AT INGS ROAD SCHOOL AND WE BECAME GUITAR PALS, BOTH IN THE EARLY STAGES OF LEARNING HOW TO PLAY. THE FIRST TIME WE PLAYED TOGETHER WAS AT MY PARENTS HOUSE AT CONISTONE CRESCENT. I CAN REMEMBER IT VIVIDLY. IAN AND I WERE IN MY BEDROOM WITH OUR GUITARS AND WE PLAYED THE VENTURES 'WALK DON'T RUN'. BUT AT FIRST WE BOTH PLAYED THE CHORDS. THEN WE BOTH PLAYED THE MELODY. THEN I HAD AN IDEA. WHY DON'T ONE OF US PLAY THE CHORDS AND THE OTHER PLAY THE MELODY? SO, IAN PLAYED THE CHORDS AND I TOOK THE MELODY. THAT WA`S THE FIRST TUNE WE EVER PLAYED TOGETHER AND WAS THE MOMENT WHEN I BECAME A LEAD GUITARIST AND IAN BECAME A RHYTHM GUITARIST.

Another walk, another bunch of photos:

Here's the first flyer for 'Designs For Dreams', (even though I havent yet finished recording the first track destined for the album!) Actually, I can't decide whether to title it 'Designs For Dreams' or 'Designed For Dreams.' The first suggests that the album contains a number of different designs for use in dreams, whilst the second one suggests that the album was designed around dreams. I think maybe the first one lends itself to more of a variety of stylistic options...

Whilst this massive box set album seemed settled a few days ago, I'm already contemplating a few changes to the track list with at least a couple of newer numbers eligible for including. This means though, for reasons of space, that one or two of the previously mentioned tracks may have to bow out to make room for the new ones. It's going to be a tough decision as I'm due to take all the tracks over to Fairview for mastering this coming Tuesday, so a final decision has to be made very soon. Also a new track just finished tonight but awaiting mixing tomorrow is a good contender for the album...Sometimes it would be easier to run out of ideas and inspiration, but thankfully, I've never had that happen to me so far. It feels like a never ending fountain of music...

Last Tuesday, (17th August,) I took all the tracks for 'My Private Cosmos' over to Fairview Studio, just outside of Hull, to transfer them to Fairview's computer in readiness for mastering by John Spence. I had the opportunity to hear a few of the tracks played back through Fairview's high-end monitor speakers and was relieved to hear that they sounded very good indeed. This was the first time I'd been able to check the sound of my Cubase mixes outside the confines of my own studio, (the previous two albums, due to lockdown restrictions, were sent to Fairview via the internet rather than me being able to take them to the studio in person.) I've also added a further three tracks to the set, though their inclusion will depend on there being enough space on the discs to take them. John will gradually assemble each disc and will then be able to judge if there is room to add the three extra tracks. If there is room the total track count will be 94 songs. I'm still awaiting costings for a possible 'ear book' package and am thinking of all six discs being included, rather than five and a stand alone download. I'm also attempting to put some images together for the package but this is slow work. An ambitious project like this is far more time consuming than a standard single disc product, both from the viewpoint of packaging design plus the hundreds of hours of creative musical work that went into writing recording and producing the finished 94 tracks. It's been a hell of a ride and still has some distance to cover before it can be made available to fans. But at least it's on its way. Pricing is still uncertain but if all six discs and the ear-book are to be manufactured, plus a modest profit for all the work and time I've put into it, I can't imagine the price being less than £70, perhaps a little more, but we'll take a look at that as costs of production come in. So, that's the state of play at the moment, I'll update you as things progress.