The Lounge Bar Orchestra album Pilot Episodes celebrates library and film music from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Jason Barnard speaks to Greg Healey, the musician, author and music journalist behind this LP.
What music/artists influenced the album? I can hear KPM and some TV themes in there.
Musically the starting point for me was Zappa’s albums like Lumpy Gravy, Hot Rats, Orchestral Favourites. And also a life long love of Barry Gray’s music. Alongside this was a fascination with music of KPM composers like Keith Mansfield and Alan Hawkshaw, but also European composers like Peter Thomas and Sven Libaek – the list goes on.
More generally, who influences you as a musician?
I’d say Zappa and Barry Gray, again, but also Brian Eno, David Bowie, Ennio Morricone, Bert Bacharach, The Beatles.
What was the writing and production process for the Lounge Bar Orchestra?
It took about a year all told – writing and trying out ideas then working on the ideas and compositions so they could evolve and I could get things how I wanted.
On Bandcamp you’ve included two versions – the 2020 digital remaster and the 1974 analogue master used for the vinyl record release. How do they compare?
The vinyl version has a more organic sound. It was produced and mastered using analogue gear specifically to achieve a more authentic late 60s sound. The digital version sounds brighter and more crisp in the way digital versions do. I liked the contrast and difference and how one made the other seem more of a specific time.
The Omeroyd Sound saw a limited release as a lathe-cut 8″. What’s your view on the vinyl revival over the past decade?
Omeroyd Sound was the name of the first EP. It was a three track release that came out as a limited editions 8” and was also later made available on streaming platforms. I love the revival in the physical format. The object always adds to the experience, especially with something like the Lounge Bar Orchestra. People like to collect and hold things. Digital can seem a bit transient, so it’s nice to have an object with a sleeve and any extra goodies like postcards or whatever.
Do you have any favourite vinyl releases – older or newer?
My all time fave vinyl record is an original pressing of Zappa’s Lumpy Gravy on Verve that a friend owned when we were teens. The sleeve was thick card and the vinyl was heavy – and the sound of it has always stayed with me. It was very very different to the sound of more recent remasters on CD or streaming platforms. Another fave is the double 7” Magical Mystery Tour with booklet that I own. That, or the copy of Lumpy Gravy, have something of the time.
What is it about late 60s, 70s culture that’s more fascinating to you?
I love the music and history, the politics and find it interesting the way that society was structured differently. Creatively, personally, I like the way the 60s and 70s act as a counterpoint to now. Everything was so very different, even just in terms of simple things like the local built environment, and of course attitudes and the way people lived. The 60s and 70s were a time of huge upheaval, with change being wrought in education, housing, community, politics and culture. Our consumer society was less well developed, less corporate (perhaps more swashbuckling) and there was an openness to new ideas.
Can you tell me about the music you made as HealeyIsland – how does it compare with the Lounge Bar Orchestra?
HealeyIsland was more outright electronic with a sprinkle of maybe trip hop. Although it was influenced by Barry Gray and Zappa and David Axelrod. They were songs mostly as well.
Given you wrote ‘Not in Front of the Children: Hidden Histories in Kids TV’ did watching those shows seep into the Lounge Bar Orchestra?
Without a doubt. The shows definitely did but also the fact I’d spent quite a long time immersed in the socio-politics and the atmosphere of that era for the book too.
You have also written books on Black Sabbath and Flicknife Records. What inspires you to write on certain subjects?
I was commissioned to write the Sabbath book. Flicknife came about because I’m a Hawkwind fan from years back and had written about Flicknife in an article – I admired Frenchy so it was a good fit. Not In Front came from my own interest in the shows and the era – I also wrote a number of articles about kids tv for Shindig! Magazine.
What are your plans for the rest of 2020?
I’m planning a new book and a new Lounge Bar album.
Where can people get pilot episodes?
People can buy Pilot Episodes on Bandcamp. It’s due out on 30th March on orange or black vinyl and as a download. Early birds get a limited edition postcards and extra tracks.
