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 Eddie
Hardin's WIND IN THE WILLOWS has been around in one form or another
for over fifteen years and is now being reworked as a stage musical.
After leaving The Spencer Davis Group Eddie became involved in
The Butterfly Ball, an album being put together by Deep Purple's
Roger Glover. Eddie co-wrote and played the album's hit single
'Love Is All'. Following this, he came up with the Wizard's Convention
album in 1976. Eddie then built himself a studio where Wind In
The Willows took shape, inspired by the children's book.
Eddie
was assisted by Zak Starkey, an "essential catalyst" for the songs.
Zak is of course the son of Ringo Starr but despite his famous
father, has forged his own career as a drummer, most notably when
he was recruited to join The Who. The writing completed, Eddie
began contacting a number of talented and famous singers and players
to guest on the LP. Wind In The Willows was finally issued (although
Eddie prefers the word "escaped") in 1985. Five years later he
organised a one-off live performance of Wind In The Willows in
Germany in 1991. Finally the original studio album makes it to
CD for the first time. In addition, a number of tracks which couldn't
be fitted on to the album have been reinstated along with rare
demos (including one with Deep Purple's IAN PAICE) and alternate
versions, plus a couple of live tracks.
The
guests include: STEVE HACKETT, guitarist with Genesis. JOE FAGIN,
best known for his UK number one single "Auf Wiedersehn Pet".
He duets with VAL McKENNA, who has worked with a number of musicians
including Rick Wakeman and Phil Manzanera. The late TONY ASHTON
brings his inimitable vocal approach to the album. DONOVAN and
ANNIE HASLAM duet together: Donovan was a hugely successful singer
songwriter, while Annie Haslam was the well respected singer with
Renaissance. As for the out-takes, these feature BILLY OCEAN (who
has three top five UK singles to his credit), MAGGIE BELL, lead
singer with Stone The Crows, and DENNY LAINE, the former Moody
Blues and Paul McCartney's Wings player.
This
CD ends with a couple of tracks from the live concert. 'Fairground
Fantasy' is a swirling instrumental which finds DON AIREY (former
Rainbow keyboard player) and Deep Purple's JON LORD playing together
(Airey has since replaced Lord in Deep Purple). 'Why Can't We
Go Home?' features vocals by Rainbow's one time singer GRAHAM
BONNET. The 12 page CD booklet contains a full story of the project
with pictures and details of the guests.
Wind
In The Willows can be ordered from the dpas
online store.
www.deep-purple.net
contains both a Wind
In The Willows photo gallery
and an illustrated review
of the Wind In The Willows concert DVD.
purple
records catalogue
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