Graham Brazier
“I always loved the way, at the end of Billy Bold, he used to segue into a few lines from William Blake’s Jerusalem. He could quote Baudelaire, or Villon, from memory. In later years he was like a ruined king of a ruined kingdom on a ruined throne; but the splendour was real.”
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Following the success of Hello Sailor and The Legionnaires, Graham continued to write poetry and songs prolifically.
‘The Tapes’ are one of a number of projects that Graham was working on in his last few years and he had always wanted to record some of his work at Brazier's Books and Curios on Dominion Road in Auckland. The room had great ambience and the recordings would be somewhat historic. The bookshop had become his world and the album was a testament to his determination about his songs.
Several sessions took place over the intervening years, experimenting, testing rhythm, talking a lot, drinking a bit, nothing quite finished, right up until Graham left us in September 2015. I'm sure glad we took the opportunity to do it as the book shop is no more.
So, along with some additional recording at Minnie Street Studio this is the result. All the new original songs and poems (except Motorway, which first appeared on Brazier 1987) Graham’s guitar and voice are recorded live. Although bass was added later, these songs are in their rawest state, it was decided not to try and finish them postmortem with swathes of technology, so it’s all pretty rough and ready.
‘Waiting Around the Bend’, is a heartfelt lament for Dave McCartney. Glen Ross Campbell's dobro and weissenborn play behind the poetry. The album was dedicated to Graham's mother Christine – the absolute rock in his sometimes rocky life.
Raw was two Radio New Zealand commissioned programmes. It was recorded in 1998 but was released later. It was a different take on the standard instrumentation on rock music with the accordion and dobro. Graham enjoyed putting it together and really fired with the on-site engineer at RNZ. The culmination of a great team of musicians and technical expertise resulted in an album where Graham’s skills as a songwriter and vocals really shine through.
Raw
2013
The Bookshop Tapes
2016
The Legionnaires Live at The Esplanade
2013