Monkey Business 1972–1997
Compilation album by
John Wetton and Richard Palmer-James
ReleasedJune 8, 1998
Recorded1972 – May, 1998
StudioMusicland (Milner Sound, London); Garage, East Grinstead; Liscombe Park; Gallery Studios
Genre
Length62:08
LabelBlueprint
Producer
  • John Wetton
  • Richard Palmer-James

Monkey Business 1972–1997 is an album by English musicians John Wetton and Richard Palmer-James, it features various demos and live performances of songs by King Crimson (of which Wetton and Palmer-James were singer/bassist and lyricist respectively), Jack-Knife (which was another Wetton and Palmer-James project) and John Wetton. The album was first released 1998[1] and again in 2014[2] with I Wish You Would by Jack-Knife.

Overview

The collaboration between the two musicians started already in 1962 when they met at school. In 1972 they rejoined forces in King Crimson (KC), in which Palmer-James only wrote the lyrics. Some of the material that would have been on the follow-up of Wetton's last album with KC, Red, is found here in the demo form. The classic KC songs 'Book of Saturday' and 'Starless' are featured as lyric less raw demos that were home taped as a basis for lyric-writing. To be more precise, the latter is only as a half minute beginning - twice! But the disc ends pleasantly with the pair's recording of 'Starless' from 1997. From the same year are 'Doctor Diamond' and 'Cologne 1997', both among the most worthy contents of this release. The latter song, concerning "the mixed feelings of many Americans born after 1945 of German origin on first visiting their emigre parents' home country", is featured also in its original form recorded in 1977.[3]

Some of the material appears out of some writing sessions from late 1976 when the two musician spend sometime at a French farmhouse, writing material for

The album features Wetton and Palmer-James on most of the instrumentation, with Palmer-James playing guitar and some vocals (as he did with Supertramp) also on programming, and Wetton on bass, guitar keyboards and most vocals. A lot of musical contributors from various stages in Wetton's musical career, including former King Crimson bandmate, Bill Bruford (drums),[4] fellow Jack-Knife members John Hutcheson (Hammond organ) and Curt Cress (drums). The live tracks feature various members of John Wetton's live band including Thomas Radl (drums), Ramon Vega (guitar) and Bob Dalton (cymbals) and John Beck (keyboards), Dalton and Beck are also members of Prog pop band It Bites.[4] Due to the nature of the album being a compilation, it was recorded in various locations including studio's in Munich in Germany (where Palmer-James lived) also London, Sussex and Befordshire.

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Richard Palmer-James (except noted)

No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."(Flourish)"Instrumental 0:12
2."Too Much Monkey Business"Chuck BerryChuck Berry2:29
3."Confessions" Palmer-James2:13
4."Easy Money" Bill Bruford, David Cross, Jamie Muir, John Wetton, Robert Fripp1:01
5."The Night Watch" (live) Wetton, Fripp4:08
6."Woman"WettonWetton1:30
7."(False Start)"instrumental 0:18
8."Untitled"Wetton, Palmer-JamesWetton, Palmer-James0:42
9."Rich Men Lie" Palmer-James5:32
10."Cologne 1977" Palmer-James4:38
11."The Laughing Lake 1" Wetton2:19
12."The Good Ship Enterprise" Wetton4:08
13."Book of Saturday" (demo) Wetton, Fripp1:46
14."Book of Saturday" (live) Wetton, Fripp2:56
15."The Glory of Winning"Wetton, Palmer-JamesGeoff Downes, Wetton4:26
16."Starless 1"Wetton, Palmer-JamesWetton, Fripp0:33
17."The Laughing Lake 2" Wetton0:38
18."The Laughing Lake 3" Wetton0:14
19."The Laughing Lake 1977" Wetton1:19
20."Magazines" Wetton2:58
21."Starless 2"Wetton, Palmer-JamesWetton, Fripp0:33
22."Cologne 1997" Palmer-James4:19
23."Doctor Diamond 1997" Bruford, Cross, Wetton, Fripp4:45
24."Starless 1997"Wetton, Palmer-JamesWetton, Fripp5:31
Total length:62:08

Personnel

Musicians

  • John Wetton – vocals (all but 1, 5, 7, 22), additional vocals (22), bass guitar (2, 3, 12), guitar (3, 5, 6, 11, 12, 17, 18, 21), piano (4, 13, 14, 16, 20), clavinet (8), keyboards (12), all instruments (10, 19)
  • Richard Palmer-James – guitar (2, 8), all instruments/programming (9, 15, 22, 23, 24), additional keyboards (19), vocals (23)
  • Ramon Vega – guitar (5)
  • John Hutcheson – Hammond organ (2); black and white photography
  • John Beck – keyboards (14)
  • Curt Cress – drums (2)
  • Bill Bruford – drums (3, 4, 12)
  • Thomas Radl – drums (5)
  • Bob Dalton – cymbal (14)

Production

  • John Wetton – production, sleeve art direction
  • Richard Palmer-James – production, sleeve art direction, pre-mastering on a Macintosh, recording (6, 8, 9, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24), mixing (9, 15, 22, 23, 24)
  • Martin Smith – mixing (5)
  • Jürgen Koppers – recording and mixing (2)
  • Julian Mendelsohn – recording (3, 10, 12, 19
  • Paul Kennedy – vocals recording (9, 15, 22, 23, 24)
  • Ichi Ichinobu – recording (14)
  • Rob Ayling – coordinator
  • Mixed Images Ltd. – design
  • Chris Thorpe – mastering at Serendipity

References

  1. ↑ John Wetton & Richard Palmer-James - Monkey Business 1972 - 1997, retrieved 2022-07-11
  2. ↑ John Wetton & Richard Palmer-James - Jack-Knife / Monkey Business 1972 - 1997, retrieved 2022-07-11
  3. ↑ "John Wetton - Jack-knife / Monkey Business 1972-1997 (with Richard Palmer-Jones), review by Matti". Progarchives.com. Retrieved 2022-07-11.
  4. 1 2 John Wetton & Richard Palmer-James - Monkey Business 1972 - 1997, retrieved 2022-07-11
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