Matt Monro Forum

Hi All

I was listening to 'Sarah's Coming Home' tonight and realised that something very, very rare occurs within this song.

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this before, apologies if you have, but if it hasn't been mentioned before, can anyone think of what I'm referring to?

Shall i leave you all in suspense...or spill the beans.
Hmm....

Ok, I'll spill the beans....


This song has backing singers, female backing singers.
It struck me what a very rare thing this.

Can anyone name any other Matt recording with backing singers?

Gray

Only Friends from the album that most of us would consider to be the best Matt Monro release in the past five years has background singers. I really love having background singers on that song. I always sing their part.

Thanks for telling us the secret, Gray. I've never heard Sarah's Coming Home. What album is it on? Perhaps it's on one of my unopened Matt Monro CDs that I'm saving for a rainy day. Robert will probably tell me it's on The Singer's Singer.

"Sarahs coming home " is not on "The Singers singer"--On "Heartbreakers"--and one of the 2 on 1 cds-cannot remember which, at present---but it truly is a beautiful song--listen to it as soon as you get the chance

Sarah's coming home is from "For The Present" and was recorded at the same session as "Only Friends" and 5 other songs at Air Studios on 5th April 1971

Richard

Hi Richard

Thanks for that info, brilliant.
Can I ask please, on the chance that you might know, how many takes on average for Matt to nail a song?
And would you know if Matt was self critical?
Did he listen to a recording and assess it deeply?
Maybe ask to try once more if he felt he could perform it again, not necessarily because he's sang it poorly, but maybe because he felt he could interpret the lyrics in a different way?

Gray

I know Matt was known as "one take Monro" Gray. That's what I've heard anyway. Richard will probably know more.
I was listening to an album today I bought recently, although entitled "If I Never Sing Another Song" it has several tracks by Matt that appear to be rarely heard. These include, "With These Hands", "You Light Up My Life", "Answer Me", "I Think I'm Getting Over You", "When a Child is Born", "The Long and Winding Road", "May Each Day", "Morning Has Broken", "By Her Side", Mary's Boy Child" and "The Last Farewell".
This was also recorded at AIR Studios London in 1979.
Marian

Frank Sinatra also "nearly" always used the first take - well it was the first take, as he never did more than one take of a song. He had to nail it first time, to get the feel of the song right

I can't really help on the subject of how critical Matt was of himself - that can really only be answered by Michele.

I'm still heavily researching the recording sessions - So much cross referencing it's ridiculous and am also getting an enormous number of blanks in some areas. It is frustrating work, and has stopped me working on anything else for the estate at the moment (so if i was due to contact any of you about rare recordings, i haven't forgotten and will get round to you!)

Now what I don't always have access to are the numbers of takes recorded.

If paperwork exists with such information, or it was entered onto the tape box (and subsiquently entered onto the EMI data base) then I have the info. I would only be able to say for sure with some songs if i could actually listen to the multi-track it's self (Which would cost far too much money - studio time does not come cheap)

However I will say that there are only three songs which have 1 take only One was a jam session (The Wrong Time), One was remade (also one take so technically 2 takes) and one appears to be unreleased (from the Capitol period but one take might mean it was abandoned and did not progress any further)

The number that seems to come up the most is "3" the highest I have found is 20 - but that is a rarity.

What you always have to remember is that whilst Matt may have performed a perfect take there are so many other factors to consider. Sometimes there would be mistakes by the orchestra or the engineers for instance. Many of the session sheets list B/D (which means break down) next to the take numbers which means it isn't even a complete take!

The number of takes taken to complete a song does tend to go up considerably when he sang in Spanish though!

You'll have to wait for the Sessionography that i'm putting together for Michele's book if you want to know more! There are lots of little interesting things hidden away in the archives (some of which i haven't even told Michele about yet - although i can feel an e-mail coming from her to me very soon now i've said that!) hidden away in the archives.

There are a few bits and bobs of information you great people here might be able to help me with too - but 'll get back to you on that one later!

Richard

Oh by the way, I think the Frank Sinatra story about only one take is a bit of a myth. Believe me i've heard plenty of out takes from Sinatra sessions to know that's not strictly true!

Richard

You are absolutely correct on that of Sinatra Richard.
We have a vast collection of Sinatra material, some sent to us by a friend who had dined with Sinatra. This includes many studio recordings sessions that proved to the contrary to this "One Take "Sinatra.

He maybe wanted people to think he could get it right first time, to make himself look a clever cloggs

Fascinating, thanks everyone.
Can't wait for the book, maybe my question of Matt in the recording studio and how self critical he was will come out in the book.
The only reason I ask is because it helps me get a grip of what he was like as a man.
I know he cared deeply about making every live performance the best it could be, I would love to know his approach to recording, where he didn't have to go with the first take. What was his self appraisal process?

Gray

One more thing i should just add is that Matt would often record the majority of an album in just a couple of days - particularly in the 70's. There are not many artists who would be able to record up to 7 or 8 masters in a day!

Richard

Thank you for the information Richard. It's all very interesting.

I once asked Michele whether her dad would sing around the house, and she said he didn't, only if there was a practice session going on.
Marian

Some amazing stuff there Richard - it must be fascinating looking through all the archive info.

Gray - you ask if Matt was self critical. I have just been reading the interview with Michelle in this months 'Spotlight on....' feature, and she mentions that - I thought it was appropriate after your question..

There wasn’t one performance he didn’t glow in the aftermath but then analyzing how it could be improved or bettered. He was a perfectionist in his art and he never rested on his laurels, he felt every audience deserved his best performance.

Its a fascinating article and a great taster for Michelle's book!