After Dinner Dance Party // Fables of History Guest Blog

Hi, I'm James Edward Bagshaw. I've been given the opportunity to guest blog this week as Rhi is away on holiday. I'm a Northamptonshire based musician, producer and song writer.
Lauren, my girl, requested that I'd provide the music for this week's After Dinner Dance Party, 'tis true Rhianna wont be dancing at Twee Towers this week but a ball we shall have nonetheless! Quite an honor to Dj Twee Towers I must say...

At the moment I am mixing an album at my home studio. It's my band 'The Moons' 2nd album and so far it's sounding swell. When mixing a song, I usually go through phases of what it should sound like, often I refer back to old records - generally they are the greats.
So here are a few of my favourite songs... truly inspirational from a production and songwriting point of view and a great way to make the daunting job of the washing up a tad more appealing... and if you want to dance, dont let the dishes stop you!

Les Paul & Mary Ford, 'How High The Moon'... it's an incredible song. Les Paul is widely known as the pioneer of multitrack recording, and this was in the 50s! His techniques are still used today, though it's a lot less time consuming than it was back then. I've recently been experimenting with the techniques used to make this record and I find it truly inspirational.



The Music Machine, 'Trouble!' I have most of their recordings, they sum up my favourite elements of the 60s sound...Freaky fuzz guitar, vulgar vox organ sounds and the grooviest rhythm section I've heard. Not forgetting the incredible voice of Sean Bonniwell, terribly underrated! This song is a great one to slip on dancing shoes to!




My third choice, The Four Tops, 'Reach Out (I'll Be there)'...This song has it all, catchy yet quirky, intricately crafted and arranged. It's a Holland–Dozier–Holland song, much like many of the great Motown tunes!
This song guarantees a swarm to the dancefloor, (or kitchen floor in our case).

Hope you enjoyed the songs today!

Much love,

JEB x

If you're interested in finding out more about vintage recording techniques or hearing snippets of The Moons forthcoming album 'Tales of the Unexpected', check out my blog, Fables of History where I'll be documenting the exciting process of recording & mixing!