- Martin Gordon
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Martin Gordon 
Martin GordonBackground information Born 1954
Ipswich, Suffolk, EnglandGenres Rock music Instruments Bass guitar, double bass, piano Years active 1970s–present Associated acts Radio Stars, Jet, Sparks, John's Children Website martingordon.de Martin Gordon (born 1954, Ipswich, Suffolk) is an English musician, who plays bass guitar and piano.
Contents
Biography
Martin Gordon was born in Ipswich, and grew up Hitchin, Hertfordshire. He studied piano and classical guitar as a child, attended summer schools hosted by the British National Jazz Youth Orchestra, took private lessons from Nucleus bassist Jeff Clyne and later studied harmony and counterpoint.
Gordon began his musical career in the 1970s with the Californian pop brothers Ron Mael and Russell from Sparks, who were looking for a bassist after their relocation to the UK. Gordon played with Sparks on the album Kimono My House. "This Town Ain't Big Enough For The Both Of Us" and "Amateur Hour" were UK hits from that album. "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us" made #2 in the UK Singles Chart. After one album, Gordon and Sparks parted company.
He moved on and formed Jet (described by Allmusic as "the first supergroup of glam [1]") and then Radio Stars, who were in fact Jet wearing different clothes. Jet's eponymous album was produced by Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker, and is the only one of his productions currently unavailable on CD. Radio Stars also achieved a modicum of success with "Nervous Wreck", from their album Songs for Swinging Lovers. Between the Jet era and Radio Stars' first days in 1976, he met Ian North, a pioneer of American punk with his recently disbanded Milk 'N' Cookies - they formed Ian's Radio along with (now experimental) drummer Paul Simon; Gordon played only a few dates before rejoining members of Jet to form Radio Stars. Ian's Radio changed their name to Neo.
Session musician
Following the end of Radio Stars in 1979, he moved to Paris, France, where he worked as house producer for Barclay Records, and played bass with the Rolling Stones during the recording of 'Emotional Rescue'[2]. He returned to the UK at the beginning of the 80s, and worked as producer and in other capacities with such musicians as George Michael, Boy George, Blur, Primal Scream, Kylie Minogue, S'Express, Tiger Lillies and Robert Palmer, as well as with a host of soon-to-be-forgotten minor talents.
World music
At the beginning of the 1990s, world music beckoned — kicking off in Bombay with Asha Bhosle and Boy George, Gordon recorded in orchards in Pakistan, in cemeteries in Morocco, in libraries in Egypt, in percussion schools in Ghana, in remote villages in The Gambia, studied gamelan in Bali, and recorded film sound inTurkey, amongst other places. He formed the Mira Ensemble with journalist Peter Culshaw in 1995, releasing an album 'New Hope For the Dead', and creating an elaborate theatrical presentation, which collapsed under its own weight after two performances at the Place Theatre, in London.
It was following the recording of an album in Istanbul with Turkish diva Sezen Aksu, and then performing on her subsequent tour, that he decided to go back to his pop music roots on 2003.
Solo
He has five solo albums to his credit. These are The Baboon in the Basement (2003), The Joy of More Hogwash (2004), God's on His Lunchbreak (Please Call Back) (2006), The World is Your Lobster (2007) and Time Gentlemen Please (2009), all recorded in collaboration with Swedish vocalist Pelle Almgren. The first three solo releases were collected in a box-set titled The Mammal Trilogy (2006). Allmusic noted that 'any release that reminds the world of the brilliance of Gordon’s first three 21st century solo albums can only be applauded'[3]. His solo albums feature a selection of Lennon/McCartney and Gilbert & Sullivan tunes alongside Gordon originals. In 2007 Gordon made his live debut as a solo performer in Boston, United States.
With illustrations from drummer Chris Townson, Gordon's album God is on His Lunchbreak was accompanied by a book detailing the origins of the material, lyrics and assorted musing entitled The Illustrated and Annotated 'God's On His Lunchbreak, Please Call Back' Companion Volume.[4]The fifth and final part of the Mammal Trilogy, entitled Time Gentlemen Please was accompanied by the album Time Gentlemen Please - Demos, featuring Gordon's original demos of the material, and available only via his website.
In 2008, Radio Stars reformed for a gig at London's Blow Up Metro Club, to promote the release of live recordings from the 1970s entitled Something for the Weekend. The performance featured original members Gordon, Andy Ellison and Ian Macleod accompanied by drummer Steve Budney from Gordon's Boston line-up. The same line-up also performed in December 2008 at the Rebellion festival in London and, with a different drummer, at the 100 Club in London on 22 January 2010.
Discography
Sparks
- 1974 Kimono My House - Island Records
Jet
- 1975 Jet - CBS Records
- 2003 Jet - Radiant Future Records reissue of original album, withdrawn 2004
- 2003 More Light than Shade - Radiant Future Records demos for second album
- 2010 Some Flotsam - Live in 75 - Radiant Future Records live on the Hunter-Ronson tour 1975
- 2010 Jet & Even More Light Than Shade - RPM Records (UK) - reissue of original album, expanded double album set
Radio Stars
- 1977 Songs for Swinging Lovers - Chiswick Records (re-released 2006 by Ace Records)
- 1978 Holiday Album - Chriswick Records (re-released 2006 by Ace Records)
- 1992 Somewhere There's A Place For Us - Ace Records (compilation of the above releases)
- 2008 Something for the Weekend - Radiant Future Records (live in 1977/78)
Mira
- 1995 New Hope for the Dead - JVC Records
- 2008 New Hope for the Dead - Radiant Future Records re-issued version with extra material including live tracks, remixes and unreleased content - (download only)
Blue Meanies
- 2006 Pop Sensibility - Radiant Future Records (download only)
John's Children
- 2011 John's Children: Black & White - Acid Jazz AJXCD 234[5][6]
Solo
- 2003 The Baboon in the Basement - Radiant Future Records
- 2004 The Joy of More Hogwash - Radiant Future Records
- 2005 God’s on His Lunchbreak (Please Call Back) - Radiant Future Records
- 2006 The Mammal Trilogy (3-disc compilation of the above releases) - Radiant Future Records
- 2006 How am I Doing So Far? (single disc compilation of the above compilation of the first three of the above releases) - Radiant Future Records
- 2007 The World is Your Lobster - Radiant Future Records
- 2008 Hello Boston! - (promo only, free with first 1000 copies of Radio Stars' Something for the Weekend, then download-only) - Radiant Future Records
- 2009 Time Gentlemen Please - Radiant Future Records
- 2009 Time Gentlemen Please - demos (limited edition of 100 CDs, then download-only) - Radiant Future Records
References
- ^ "Allmusic > Jet biography". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p18520. Retrieved 3 August 2006.
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ Martingordon.de
- ^ http://www.recordcollectormag.com/reviews/review-detail/7236 Black & White album Record Collector (Kris Needs) review
- ^ modspeedproduction.blogspot.com Black & White album review
External links
- www.martingordon.de Official Site
- Allmusic.com
- graphikdesigns.free.fr Martin Gordon's bio
- graphikdesigns.free.fr Martin Gordon's bio (French)
- Radiant Future Records site
Categories:- 1954 births
- Living people
- English bass guitarists
- English pianists
- People from Ipswich
- People from Hitchin
- Sparks members
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