Notts Music Archive
A history of groups and musicians from Nottingham, the County and the wider East Midlands region in the mid to late 20th Century
Finesilver II project
1973/74
Recorded at Pathway Studios (live)
Produced by Mike Finesilver
Mike Finesilver: Vocals, Bass
John Maslen: Guitar, Slide
Alan Gowen: Piano
Steve Witherington: Drums
1. In the land of the few
2. Another time, another place
3. Why
4. All the ashes
5. Twilight farewells
These songs were from an aborted project by Mike Finesilver in 1973. The Nottingham connection is John Maslen who had met Mike Finesilver in mid sixties Manchester and joined him later at Pathway studios in London. Not long after these sessions John Maslen returned to his home town of Nottingham eventually joining Gaffa in 1974. You can read about the Finesilver story in the context of John’s path through music on his page.
Mike Finesilver ran Pathway studios along with Peter Ker, starting in the late sixties and being most well known for his role in the recording and production of the early British punk and new wave bands in 1976/77 like Elvis Costello and Squeeze. Mike and Peter, after a legal challenge, had received song writing credits to “Fire” by Arthur Brown in the sixties due to the similarity to their own long-forgotten track Baby, You’re a Long Way Behind. A number one single in 1968 Fire was originally credited to Brown/ Crane but eventually Mike Finesilver and Peter Ker were added to that credit.
Alan Gowen worked with Assagai (Alan Holdsworth), Gilgamesh, Hatfied and the North members, Soft Machine members before dying young of Leukaemia in 1981. Steve Witherington was the original drummer of the band “Ace” in 1972.
Mike Finesilver and John Maslen kept their friendship throughout the years and when Mike finally closed his studio he transferred these songs from the original master tapes onto cassette for John who had been part of the studio house band for about four years.
Two of the songs were interpretations of two songs Mike had written for the Dave Edmunds led “Love Sculpture” second album “Forms and Feelings”.
1. “In the land of the few” was originally released by Dave Edmunds sixties group “Love Sculpture” in 1969. Written by Finesilver/Ker/Edmunds.
3. “Why” was a Mike Finesilver written song, maybe alongside Peter Ker, as it originates from the late sixties period of Pathways studios when they were recording Arthur Brown, Love Sculpture and Elli. An acetate of an early version exists and has that “Arthur Brown/Vincent Crane” air about it, and it must be remembered that Finesilver/Ker were responsible in a small way for that sound of the “Crazy World” album. It would appear on the same “Love Sculpture” album “Forms and Feelings” as “In the land of the few” in 1969.
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