Anonymous City

I wrote this in 1980, partly autobiographical, partly not – it’s the story of a young gay man finding his feet in London, which is true of me at that time, although I’d actually already been around the block a bit by then, having left the family home some years earlier. It does cover the same sort of ground as ‘Smalltown Boy’, but I’m pleased to say that it predates Bronski Beat by a couple of years! There have been a few versions of it over the years, but I wanted to ‘finish’ it as it does capture something of that time. This was a few years before everything changed with the arrival of AIDS of course. But that’s another story. Special thanks to Phil Stanton for the saxophone parts and help with the production.

It’s Just The Rain

This song is dedicated to Rachel Stevens, my wonderful friend who died at the end of 2023. The song isn’t just about her, although I did have her in mind for much of it. It’s really about love, and the gifts we give each other as we weave in and out of each others lives.
Some of the faces, names, places, memories, have long since left this world. Some are still here. But all bound to me in the ways they have shaped, guided and inspired.

For creating the song itself, I’m very grateful to Phil Stanton, who helped me with the mixing and gave me the confidence to actually finish it. x

Rachel and her sisters, by the way, created an amazing website chronicling her family’s history through WWII – very interesting and well worth a read: Schrotter / Stevens Family Story

Morning Walk

This might be the equivalent of me getting the baby photos out, but you can never have too much Gwen and Emrys in my opinion.

Actually, I’m wanting to catch these moments with Gwen. As you can see from the video she doesn’t walk that easily, and it may be that she won’t want to do this walk for too much longer. Time is precious. As are memories.

Cherry Blossom

So I felt I needed to capture the moment. It was the end of March 2020, and the country had just gone into lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic …

The tune is one I have used before (well why not?), but the lyrics are pretty much spur of the moment – the stuff that was going through my head at that time. Lockdown here has not been hard – we have a field and a bit of woodland to walk in. I’ve never taken them for granted, but right now they seem like sheer magic.

I had thought my singing(?) days were over – it’s just so hard trying to mix music when you’re half deaf, and vocal tracks really stretch me at the best of times, but hey ho, this song needed it, so I bite the bullet …

Hedgerow in Wales

There’s a stretch of road between Talog and Meidrim where the verge and hedgerow is quite overwhelming in its richness and beauty. I don’t go that way too often but over the years this song – about Spring in Wales – has gradually emerged.

Special thanks to David Thomas for help with the welsh bit which was both daunting and exciting to do, and also to Caerthan for helping with the mix, which my deaf ears can’t quite manage on their own.