"Chaos And Creation In The Backyard" first sessions

The recording sessions for “Chaos And Creation In The Backyard“, released in 2005 and produced by Nigel Godrich, started in September 2003 at RAK Studios, London. They would continue for the next two years, in various studio locations :

We started off, basically, we recorded the album in Nigel’s favourite studios really because I’m not a sound guy. I’m just the other side of the mike so it’s important for him to be listening in conditions he’s either used to or happy with, so I said, ‘Well, where do you want to work?’ kind of thing and he said, ‘Well, RAK in London, the old Mickey Most studio.’ I said, ‘That’s great. I’ve worked there. I like that’ and then Ocean Way in Los Angeles which is a big favourite studio of his that I hadn’t worked in but he said, ‘Oh, it’s a great room. I really love the sound in that room. Something magic happens in that room.’ So I said, ‘Fair enough.’ Great excuse to go to L.A. So, and then here, Air Lyndhurst, Air Studios. Again, I have worked here but it really was, the reason was ‘cos they’re studios that Nigel likes and as he’s the sound man, I bow to that.

Paul McCartney – from 2005 UK promotional-only interview CD, recorded July 2005 at Air Studios in London

About those first sessions at RAK studios:

At RAK, I just wanted to do a couple of weeks to see if we got on, me and Nigel, because, you know, we might not have got on and after a couple of weeks it was like, Pull the plug, I don’t want to do this,’ but in fact it went the other way. I really enjoyed working with him and we put together a couple of nice little tracks that are still on the album but then we had some time off while we each considered when we might do the next bit

Paul McCartney – from 2005 UK promotional-only interview CD, recorded July 2005 at Air Studios in London

Three songs were recorded at RAK. The first one was “Follow Me“, recorded with Paul’s live band since 2001. But then Nigel Godrich asked Paul to come back alone in the studio :

How did Nigel Godrich’s approach to making a record differ from yours?

Paul McCartney: Basically it was quite similar really except the key thing, I think, was when I started to do the album that two weeks in Rak. I came in and I said to him, ‘You know, I’d like to work with my live band, because they’re my guys and the last tour we’d been doing we’d been talking about, ‘You know, I can’t wait to go into the next batch of songs, new album.’ Nigel said, ‘You know,’ he said, ‘I’ve been thinking about that. I’d like to take you out of your safety zone,’ he said. ‘That’s your safety zone. You know these guys and you know what you’re doing with them,’ he said. ‘ I’d like to kind of get you out of that zone.’ And so it turned out that that basically meant that he’d like me to have a go at drumming for instance whereas Abe, my drummer is a much better drummer than I am but Nigel wanted this sort of English feel, which I’ve got and I’m not a great drummer but I’ve got a feel, so I hear, you know. I enjoy drumming but it’s the feel that I’ve got. So he said, ‘I want to try that, you know,’ he said. ‘Try it,’ so we just tried it on one of the tracks that we’d made with the band and he said, ‘This is what I meant, yeah, you know, this is what I’m looking for’ so gradually I had to really, you know, very embarrassing, I had to say to the guys, ‘Look, he wants to go in this other direction and he’s the producer so I can’t really say, No, you’ve got to work with my band.’ I said, ‘How do you feel about it?’ and they were really cool. They just said, ‘Look whatever it takes to make a good record. We’re coming out on tour. We’ll be playing it but whatever it takes to make it, you go and make it,’ so that’s what we did and that I think was the big difference that Nigel brought to it, to how I might have done it with the band, I think, but it did make quite a bit of difference, you know, it’s changed the feel of the album and did mean I was out of my safety zone a bit. It was like, ‘Oh God, I’ve got to play drums. Oh God, I’ve got to do this. Got to think it all up,’ instead of just, ‘Well, you do that bit,’ so it did make it, it was a lot more work for me but, I think he was right to do that.

Paul McCartney – from 2005 UK promotional-only interview CD, recorded July 2005 at Air Studios in London

Session activities

1. Follow Me

   Written by Paul McCartney

   Recording

   AlbumOfficially released on Chaos and Creation in the Backyard

2. This Never Happened Before

   Written by Paul McCartney

   Recording

   AlbumOfficially released on Chaos and Creation in the Backyard

3. Comfort Of Love

   Written by Paul McCartney

   Recording

   AlbumOfficially released on Fine Line

Staff

Production staff

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