For most groups the second album is notoriously difficult: the first album is usually made of songs honed over years, so the second has to be cobbled together from barrel-scrapings and left-overs, or written in a hurry. Not so G&T -- Adrian and Henry have been enjoying a songwriting hot streak and there's already a bulging catalog of tunes to choose from. 'At the last count there were twenty possible tracks in the songbook,' says Gee. 'I think it must be the drugs', he says. 'I've just turned 60 and they give them to you for free'.
The band is taking a break before another heads-down no-nonsense bout of recording, so while they do that, here, just for you, music fans, is a taster of things to come. This seven-track selection from the forthcoming album comprises mini-prog epic Echoes of Mountain Ash, full-blooded rocker Tropic of Scorchio, the pop-tastic Sunrise, and many more.
All feature Adrian Thomas on guitar, extra guitar, more guitar, additional guitar, further guitar, with a side order of guitar and guitar for dessert. Gee does what he refers to enigmatically as 'other stuff', though he does admit to a squirt of acoustic guitar in Sunrise. What all the tracks have in common is a complete absence of vocals. 'After Hocus Pocus I felt that the world could be spared any more of my yodeling' says Gee. And with one exception none of the songs is about anything. 'This is all just for enjoyment', he says. 'As Thomas Beecham said of the English, we like music mostly for the noise it makes'. But what's the exception? 'That's For Emma, recorded as a tribute to my son's Siamese cat who died in violent circumstances. I shan't say more, except that Adrian did some great cat sounds with his guitar'. And, yes, it is noisy. It's remarkable how much racket G&T makes, considering there's just the two of them. Not 'arf!
