Love is Blind – Sananda Maitreya
Our recent collaboration with Sananda Maitreya on ‘Love is Blind’ – the lead single from his latest album has been a tremendous success - and it’s great to see it already making waves out in the world.
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Gianna Nannini - Sei Nel L’Anima
Really happy to see the success of Gianna Nannini’s latest album, ‘Sei Nel L’Anima’ which we worked on together last year, here in London.
2023 Year in Moments
2023 was another 12 months packed with work, creativity, travel and eclectic interest from all points. Reflecting back is like looking over a collage; so many moments making up a non-stop year.
Simple Minds - Solstice Kiss
Great to see Simple Minds latest single Solstice Kiss added to the Radio 2 B list this week. As the third single from the album it’s particularly gratifying to see such a strong level of support. Check Solstice Kiss out here: Youtube
Jeff Beck
It was a really terrible shock to hear of Jeff’s passing in January this year. He was such a young 78 year old, clean living and with a wonderful sense of humour. I was recommended as a candidate to produce Jeff in 2000 and, whilst I was unsure whether I would be the right man for the job, I agreed to meet him at Metropolis Studios. We started working together shortly after our initial meeting - and what resulted over the next few years was 2 albums with Best Rock Guitar Performance Grammy’s for each.
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Simply Red - Time
‘Time’, the new Simply Red album, is now out on general release - and it was wonderful to see the record make the UK Top 10 while garnering fantastic reviews in both the broadsheets and the music press. A radio favourite already, with Album of the Week at Radio 2, as well as two Singles of the Week in ‘Better with You’ and ‘Just Like You,’ the latest collection of Simply Red songs could hardly have started out better.
Simply Red - Better With You
With the release of the latest Simply Red album ‘Time’ fast approaching, it’s been great to see lead track ‘Better With You’ make Record of the Week at Radio 2 and the A-lists for both Radio 2 and Magic FM.
Andreas Vollenweider - SlowFlow and Dancer
The end of 2022 saw the long-awaited release of a project close to my heart – Andreas Vollenweider’s new record ‘SlowFlow & Dancer’
Simple Minds Land at Number 4
Fantastic to see the Minds latest album enter the UK album chart at number 4 – testament to a brilliant creative process and the band’s undimmed passion in everything they do.
Shining bright
Betty Boo’s comeback record continues to generate big-time heat as well as excellent reviews - The Telegraph hailing it ‘a sparkling collection, gravity defying,” with Classic Pop and Retro Pop magazines awarding top ratings, and glowing feature pieces in the Times and the Guardian.
Betty Boo - Boomerang
Alison Clarkson (Betty Boo) and I have been acquainted for years but it took a chance appearance in Classic Pop magazine three years back (we were both featured) to really bring us together. Deciding it might be a good idea to try writing a song together, we found we enjoyed it so much (and it worked out so well) that the new Betty Boo album ‘Boomerang’ has been the result. Remarkably, it’s the first full Boo LP in thirty years.
Simple Minds - Direction of the Heart
Our fifth album with Simple Minds has been its own unique journey and story just as all our records with them have been. We began in London in late 2019, but then had a pandemic to contend with, and long periods of enforced separation followed, in which Jim and Charlie based themselves in Sicily to work together on the new songs. We were finally all able to reconvene in Hamburg to complete the record over several weeks. And following that we enlisted the brilliant Alan Moulder for the final mixes.
Gilbert O'Sullivan - Driven
It’s been such a pleasure and honour to work with legendary singer songwriter Gilbert O’Sullivan on his latest album, ‘Driven,’ which I produced last year at RAK studios, with Gavin engineering and mixing.
Simple Minds - Act of Love
The release of Simple Minds’ latest track ‘Act of Love’ has been a great success - a reimagining of the first song ever performed by the band in public at Glasgow’s Satellite City.
Betty Boo – Get Me To The Weekend
The new Betty Boo single is the first in a while, the first song from an all-new collection set for release later this year. Premiered on Rylan’s BBC Radio 2 show and received to wide acclaim it’s been brilliant to work on it with her. Can’t wait to see the album out there.
Andy talks to Miel de Botton about her latest single 'Is It Enough?'
Following the release of the new Miel song, ‘Is it Enough?’ Andy and Miel talk about their body of work together, their process and how it all got started…
Simple Minds 'Live in the City of Angels' album makes the UK Top 10
Big congratulations to Simple Minds on their latest album ‘Live in the City of Angels’ entering the UK album charts at no 9 - a particularly impressive achievement for a live album. For Gavin and I it was a pleasure working on it with you, as always.
Record of the Week at Radio 2 for Simply Red
Congratulations to Simply Red on ‘Sweet Child’ being selected Record of the Week at Radio 2. Another great track from the upcoming album ‘Blue Eyed Soul’.
Simply Red Live in Hyde Park
Great to see Simply Red at Radio 2’s live ‘Festival in a Day’ at Hyde Park – playing some of their biggest hits and showcasing the new single ‘Thinking of You’. It’s a super-funky track from the upcoming album, ‘Blue Eyed Soul’, that we’ve been working on with them. A brilliant performance and fantastic to see the single hit Radio 2’s A-List – after all these years, still going from strength to strength.
Miel de Botton - Surrender to the Feeling Album Launch
A little quiet on the news front here from me, but, as is generally the case, lots is happening behind the scenes with most of it remaining under wraps until later in the production process – but one thing I couldn’t possibly not mention is the release and launch of Miel de Botton’s brand new album, her second, entitled ‘Surrender to the Feeling.’
2018 Roundup
2018 – another packed year, filled with a lot of a hard work, as ever – and a good time to reflect on the many stand-out moments of the last twelve months.
80s Symphonic
80s Symphonic has been an amazing experience, quite unlike anything I’ve ever taken on before. In some ways, I think it’s a unique project; one I found myself hooked on from the start. I loved getting the original recordings, getting my hands on the source material, much of it naturally digitised now from its original tape form, but the archives were fantastic, and even included photos of the original tape boxes and track sheets, so we had everything.
Tose Proeski - Secret Place
With Autumn drawing to a close, I’m proud to report that work on one of the projects closest to my heart has finally been completed.
Recording Simple Minds ‘Walk Between Worlds’
Walk Between Worlds is your third album with Simple Minds, and their first collection of all-new material since Big Music, in 2014. Given that Big Music was pronounced, ‘their best album in 30 years’ by MOJO magazine, did you feel any extra sense of pressure embarking on this one?
Walk Between Worlds is The Times ‘Album of the Week’
As the reviews start to arrive for the Minds’ latest album it’s fantastic to see how well it’s being received.
Starting as we mean to go on
It’s been a hectic time in the studio for Gavin and I – hence the lack of regular news from me lately. But the year is kicking off in the best possible way – with the announcement that the lead single from our new album with Simple Minds, Walk Between Worlds, has made ‘Record of the Week’, as well as the A-List at Radio 2.
Jeff and Dior
Nice to see this piece I did with Jeff Beck on You had it Coming selected by Dior for one of their latest ads in France.
A night to remember
As summer rushes along, I just wanted to take a moment to put down some thoughts on the live spectacle we staged last month in Shepherd’s Bush…
The West London Music Festival
As a record producer, the bulk of my time is spent in a studio slaving over a hot desk (so to speak), but the life-blood of good music is in live performance – and I’ve been thinking for a while now that there are too few decent gigs on the west side of town. Wanting to do something about it, I put some time into bringing together some of the fantastic artists I’ve recently been working with, with the idea of hosting a celebration of their amazing music and creativity.
Purdy
I’ve been writing songs and producing work for Purdy for a couple of years now, and we released her first album Diamonds in the Dust about a year and a half ago. But lately, we’re all getting very excited about a new direction things have taken – and think we may just have unlocked the true way forward for the project.
New Tose Proeski Album
It’s the 10th anniversary of Tose’s passing in October and I’m working with the family on trying to create another album release because there’s still so much love for Tose and so much interest in him in the Balkan countries.
Live in Tokyo
Jetson Molloy and the Intergalactic Kittens – Update
Jetson Molloy and the Intergalactic Kittens
Ryan Molloy and I have embarked on a new album together under the band moniker ‘Jetson Molloy and the Intergalactic Kittens’. It’s space themed, ultimate party music and we have become highly ambitious about our chances of making a mark with it.
Radio 2 Album of the Week for Nell Bryden
Great to see the immensely talented Nell Bryden achieve Radio 2 album of the week. One of my favourite career albums and I truly hope that she gets the long overdue success that she deserves.
New for January
After a welcome end-of-year break, January is off to a flying start. On the studio front, we’re currently negotiating a long-term move to new premises following the end of our stay in Battersea. Once we leave our current home from home in Parson’s Green, we’re looking to move sometime in mid March. More news on that later…
Going Live
I’ve been lucky enough to see some of the artists I work with perform live over the last few weeks in prestigious London Venues. It’s particularly rewarding to see ideas hatched in the closed environment that we work in come alive in front of thousands of people. Truly a privilege.
November News
Simple Minds are live ‘In Concert’ for Radio 2 at the Hackney Empire on Thursday. Radio 2 listeners will be given a sneek preview on the Ken Bruce show in the morning
And that's a wrap
SouthWest Studio Battersea (formerly Sphere Studio 1)
Recording 'American Soul' by Mick Hucknall
One of the tests for any long-time record producer is handling change and transformation, both in the overall musical climate and within the career of an established act. When multi-million sellers Simply Red announced their decision to disband in 2010, after twenty-five years, the question for a legion of loyal fans, and for the Simply Red production crew was – what next?
Making 'Big Music' with Simple Minds
With the recent success of the album Big Music by Simple Minds, Andy talks about how the album was recorded and what it’s like working with a band whose reputation and substantial back catalogue precedes them…
What does a producer do?
Over the years a lot of people have asked me what it is that a record producer actually does – and it’s still a question that regularly comes up. I recently sat and talked it through with old friend and writing partner Tim Benson – and we put down a few of the thoughts that came out…
July round up
Part of July the focus will be on helping prepare the wonderful Miel de Botton as she makes her first foray into the world of summer festivals.
Here comes the summer
Motoring on into summer already – Gavin and I are back from an excellent week in Glasgow where we’ve spent time getting our heads together, working on new material with Simple Minds.
Stepping out...
May is often a favourite month with me – this year proving to be no exception. Alongside all of the great music taking shape in the studio, it’s been a privilege to get out and about to some really enjoyable events – not least the annual Ivor Novello awards with Simple Minds – of which more later…
Mid May round up
Another busy week, both in and out of the studio, lots of of great music going on, and multiple new projects on the horizon.
Nell Bryden – Album Recording – April 2016
A fantastic week – one of the best I can remember in a while…
On recording ’20th Century Man’ with Gibonni
What’s the album called?
Update – June 2014
It’s so long now since I wrote anything by way of content for this website. All of a sudden people are starting to notice that I haven’t said much but the truth is it has been a whirlwind for the last 2 1/2 years and I have simply not found the time. Even now I have had to go through calendars to remind me of all the projects, live events, meetings, song writes, collaborations etc. that I have embarked on in this time.
Round up of 2011
2011 was a blur. January through April was spent completing Peter Grant’s fabulous new album. It was a long period of development gathering songs, trying new styles, going down a few blind alleys and hitting some moments of inspiration. Finally the album was upon us and we set about completing our endeavours. The resulting album ‘Too Close’ is something that both Gavin, Peter and I can be proud of along with the many musicians, friends and collaborators that helped us.
News from 2010
2010 started really well with Gavin and I working for the first time with Imelda May. I saw Imelda singing live at a special gig with Jeff Beck in the Autumn of 2009. She has both an incredible voice and an engaging charisma. As luck would have it I was looking for some 50s musical input for a different project and my good friend Snowboy (Snowboy and the Latin Section) who was also at the gig, introduced me to Darrel Higham (Imelda’s guitarist and husband). Darrel organised a session with his guys for me and in the process of working together he asked me to give a listen to Imelda’s work in progress. This is how it all started and 2 months later we were together working every day on Imelda’s fabulous new album ‘Mayhem’. I love this record and am delighted to have played a part in helping them complete it.
Andy Wright Interview on Jeff Beck
Intro about the interview, who with, date, what the general topic was
Tribute to Toše Proeski
My association with Macedonian born singer Toše Proeski began in the spring of 2006. Tragically Toše died in a road accident on October the 16th 2007. I have since remained in contact with Toše’s family, completing our unfinished work (the resulting Album “The Hardest Thing’ a posthumous no. 1 record in all countries of former Yugoslavia), and helping promote a cinema released movie in the region about the making of our album. I am attaching here my tribute to Toše which I wrote after hearing of his death.
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Jeff Beck
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