Tricky and Neneh Cherry

A beautiful French Chateau near Le Mans. I was the only guest. I was driving down to Alhaurin El Grande, about 3/4 hour inland from Malaga to work with Tricky and Neneh Cherry. The reason for driving was because I needed to take a lot of equipment with me and I persuaded Virgin that it would be cheaper for me to drive down with the equipment than ship it. I loved the idea of driving down through France and Spain in my beloved Range Rover!

In the morning the mist was hovering over the river and the fields beyond. It was a pretty amazing view from my room.

Seriously, the one behind my Range Rover. Bear in mind that it was a blisteringly hot July and this little shed had a tin roof. This is where Tricky, Neneh and I wrote and recorded Together Now.

I'm surprised anything worked in the extreme heat - especially us! We could have fried eggs on the tin roof above our heads. It was well into the 40s centigrade.

Standing outside the shed - using my classic vintage Neumann U67 mic.

We didn't have to worry too much about background noise.....there were no paved roads near us. Occasionally there would be a moped sound in the background....but we weren't going for a pristine studio sound - fortunately!

This rented from a local farmer who mostly used it for storage and to siesta in. He just moved his bed outside under the shade of a tree. We were surrounded by orange groves, grape vines and other fruit trees. It was a pretty special and low key place to make music.

I stayed in a very basic local hotel a few hundred yards along a dusty track from the studio. Cuisine wasn't it's strong point - or hygiene come to think about it. Just about everyone who stayed there got food poisoning at some point. I remember eating toast and honey for breakfast on a couple of occasions that tasted of garlic because that's what the owner/chef had been chopping before he sliced the bread. 

I really liked this couple. They didn't peak a word of English and my Spanish was almost non-existent when I first arrived. But we'd 'chat' somehow everyday and they were lovely, friendly hard working people.

This guy was a very cool dude indeed. During my last week there after three months of working in his barn, he invited me to have lunch with them. We basically chopped up fresh vegetables from the farm and made a gazpacho soup and sat together outside and ate together. 

I didn't want to leave. I loved it there.