Crystal Lord

Published by New World Music 1995.

Cover picture by Lisa Iris

Crystal Lord

Crystal Lord was originally submitted to New World under the working title Primal Forces. The original title perhaps better describes the theme and mood of this album, which is rich in sounds associated with the forces of nature.

The album starts off with a thunderstorm. Despite careful preparations, recording this turned out to be an unexpectedly wet experience.

The storm started with a huge clap of thunder at around 3 o’clock one Sunday morning during late August and the heavens opened. Sunday morning from such an early hour can be generally guaranteed to provide the most reliable conditions in which to record outdoor sounds. With humankind largely asleep, the world is refreshingly free from the intrusive drone of traffic and most other unwelcome sounds of civilization.

Microphones had been installed earlier that day at Chris’s house after a nicely frightening weather forecast. The microphones were wrapped in protective foam tubes and clipped in sheltered positions under the eaves of the roof. A few hours after this had been done, they were brought back in again. This was because a later forecast had changed its mind completely, promising a calm night after all.

The start of the storm might have prompted a few disrespectful thoughts toward the Met Office, but these were fleeting as the work of reinstalling the microphones got underway. This time in the dark and pouring rain, with a strange sense of deja vu.

After a thorough soaking, and back indoors with the monitors switched on, things did not sound right. The most prominent sound was more like water being poured into a plastic bucket than the type of sound expected in a relaxational CD. Another brief, wet excursion into the deluge outside revealed a stream of water pouring onto a drain cover from a broken roof gutter on the house next-door. Aluminium ladders can be unreasonably difficult under such conditions but seemed to be the only option. A few minutes of dodgy repair work later, the gutter was nicely wedged up with bath towels, and recording proceded post haste. Luckily, the next-door neighbours slept through the whole thing otherwise explanations could have been awkward. The results of all this can be heard on Crystal Lord – and indeed quite a selection of other work with which Chris has since been involved.

Technical data for any recording buffs reading this is as follows:

  Sony TCD-D7 DAT machine Shure Beta Green 4 microphones
  B&Q ladder Duracell Torch
  Several bath towels A large hat