Singer Brad Henshaw and muiti-instrumentalist Jon Drewsbury.
Both with with the late singer David Saylor...
The whole album has obscure covers to give new lease of awareness to a music loving environment. Together with 3 original written tracks to prove the duo don’t need to rely on other songwriters.
David started singing at the age of 5, with this parents, twin brother and older sister. By the age of 17, he was cuttng his teeth playing in bars with the help of his sister, who was over 21. During his late teens, David had a keen interest in drums and violin.
But by then, signing was the most favourable outcome, after perfecting his voice with almost 10 years working on the club gig circuit. The opportunity of a chance meeting with Boulevard main man, Mark Holden, in 1984, led him to record vocals for the Molsen World Cup downhill ski race. The result was called Phaze 2, also featuring David's sister Patty on keyboards and vocals. A 7-inch 2-track single was released in 1985.
Two years later, and an invitation by Mark Holden to be front man to Blvd who had recently signed a new record deal with M.C.A. Records. MTV were playing videos of “Never Give Up” and “Far From Over”, with tour support slots with Glass Tiger, and David's favourite band, Boston, on their Third Stage Tour. Two years later, the follow-up “Into the Street” was released, but by then the 1990s were in their infancy, and trends in music were changing. In 1992, the band decided to call it a day. David made a new career choice outside of music to become a firefighter, and after 27 years of service achieved the rank of Engine Lieutenant, before retiring from the force.
In 2013, he was returning back into music by singing a duet on the Charming Grace CD, and a year later, a track on the AOR LA Connection. The biggest shock was reactivating Boulevard to reunite, and play live in England for a final fling, for Firefest in 2014. By then, 24 years had passed, and the overwhelming response from the fans went beyond any words.
The same can be said again in 2017 when Boulevard played Rockingham Festival in England, with a selection of European gigs and also MelodicRock Fest in the USA in 2018. The keen interest was enough for the band to make a new CD called “Luminescence”, recorded at the legendary Abbey Road Studios, and Bryan Adams' studios, The Warehouse, Vancouver,
Canada.
In 2022 David was in the position and state of mind to make a solo CD, and a talk with Steve Price and Paul Rudland led to David working with the small but professional and dedicated team at AOR Blvd Records who specialize in making music, building from the ground up. With Steve Newman writing, producing, playing, and arranging carefully crafted songs and co-writes from David, Pete Alpenborg, including a resurrected demo from Jeff Paris
and Adrian Gurvitz. This combination leads the music on a path that takes in a whole new level of listening pleasure.
Tales of the Past is a fine example of well-produced, well written songs.
Release Date : June 2023
Label : AOR BLVD Records
Catalogue Number: ABR 031
Produced by: Steve Newman and David Forbes
Executive Producer: Paul Rudland
Mastered by: Dave Draper
All songs recorded at: Chrome Dome, London, UK, between June 2022 and March 2023 except “Freedom” recorded at : STEMI Sound, Bellingham, USA
Piano: Andrew Johns
Intro bar piano: Eric Ragno
Orchestral parts: Eric Ragno and Andrew Johns
Orchestral arrangement and processing: Chip Westerfield and David Forbes
“Part of the proceeds from “Freedom” will go to the Gary Sinise Foundation”
All Lead Vocals recorded at STEMI Sound, Bellingham, USA between
Titled 'Last Parade' (after one of the unreleased tracks), the special limited-edition package paid tribute to one of the great songwriters of this genre. Brett tragically and suddenly passed away in July 2013, with a special tribute paid to him by his band and wife at MRF3 later that year.
I kept in touch, recalling various conversations I had with Brett about releasing his Person To Person songs and some of his unreleased demos, which collectors had been trading for some years.
Brett's wife Sheron and I agreed to look at what was available and see what could be done. Brett's entire DAT collection was sent to me to digitize, which lead to an extraordinary discovery.
Over no less than 47 DATs, it became evident that Brett was sitting on a treasure trove of unreleased material. I was blown away at the quality and the brilliance of these songs, with a cross-reference of styles present from throughout Brett's career.
Some of the older unreleased material rivals the classic 'Nevertheless' album for melodic rock brilliance. Fans of all eras will in fact, be blown away I'm sure.
'Last Parade' is the most complex project I've ever put together, mainly because of the vast number of songs. At last count there was 174 song files in the “Work In Progress” folder. There were at least 2 versions of almost every track on the DATs and sometimes 5 or even 6! Some are from all different mixes, others various audio quality and some completely different versions of known songs.
JK Northrup has been mastering and remastering for the past several months!
Either way...lots of listening time and so many amazing songs.
Long may Brett's music live on.
Now Out Of Print, the box set is brought back to life here in two individual sets, both featuring exclusive previously unreleased songs that only came as a digital bonus to purchases of the original box set.
There has been some demand for a truncated version of the box set, as well as a stand-alone release of the Person To Person tracks.
So it is with great pleasure that MelodicRock Classics has gone to work on two exclusive new releases due out February 24.
Person To Person – 'The Complete Recordings' (2CD Set) and
Brett Walker – 'Highlights From The Last Parade' (2CD Set)
That's 4 discs of Brett Walker and Person To Person magic. The original purchase of the box set came with some 50+ bonus tracks in MP3 download – songs which we didn't have room for on the original set, so several of those songs have been curated to appear as bonus tracks on each release – exclusively on CD for the first time.
For the Person To Person cover art, the band's original and only promo shot was black and white. Par Winberg took the picture and used new AI colouring technology to make an accurate portrait of the band just as they were ready to launch.
MRC033 - PERSON TO PERSON - The Complete Recordings
Disc 1 - The Original Album
01. Undercover Love
02. Never Be The Same
03. No Shortcut To Paradise
04. Careless Nights
05. Lecia
06. More Than A Memory
07. Waiting For Love
08. Hard To Find An Easy Way
09. No Sense In Falling (Previously Unreleased Version)
10. No Fire Without You
11. Far Cry From Love
12. One Night Away
13. Ayla (Previously Unreleased)
14. Outta Site
15. Eye For Love
Disc 2 - Person To Person – Live, Alt Mixes and Brett Walker Demos
01. Hard To Find An Easy Way (91-93 Demo)
02. More Than a Memory (91-93 Demo)
03. Never Be The Same (91-93 Demo)
04. No Sense In Falling (91-93 Demo)
05. Undercover Love (Slower Version) (Previously Unreleased)
06. Never Be The Same (Alt Mix/Brett Vocal) (Previously Unreleased)
07. No Sense In Falling (Extended)
08. Waiting For Love (Original Demo)
09. Lecia (Mixed For TV Inst) (Previously Unreleased)
10. Undercover Love (Live)
11. Waiting For Love (Live)
12. Burning In The 3rd Degree (Live)
MRC032 - BRETT WALKER – Highlights From The Last Parade
Disc 1 - Highlights:
01. Still A Dream Away (Demo Version)
02. Branded
03. Bad Time For Goodbye (Alt Mix)
04. Crossroads Motel (91-93 Demo)
05. Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of
06. After The Tears Have Gone
07. American Dreamer (Rock Version)
08. A Little Too Late
09. Fools Paradise
10. Catchin' On
11. Heaven Stops The Rain
12. Always A Place
13. Everything I Want To Do (Piano Ballad Version)
14. Don't Turn Out The Lights (Guitar Mix)
15. On The Train Again
16. Higher Ground (Revision)
17. Last Parade
Disc 2 - Spotlights (All Previously Unreleased on CD):
