musicans on blue guitars

[kuhl510]

What are the sidemen of Chris Rea on his monster.Box "Blue Guitars"?
Or did he play all instruments himself ?

[jwanzong]

What are the sidemen of Chris Rea on his monster.Box "Blue Guitars"?
Or did he play all instruments himself ?

Hello,
I spent a good deal of time with Martin Ditchman (the drummer) on the train ride back to London after the Nottingham concert and asked him the same question. He said Chris did most of the tracks himself but then hired his favorite reginemt of studio musicians for final cuts. For example, in the case of the drum sets, Chris laid down the primary tracks but then had Martin redo them or touch them up for the record. Sylvin, Robert and Chris did the majority of the instruments with Chris doing the guitar, bango, harmonica, piano, organ, synthesizer, drums, percussions, etc. Apparently he did it so the hired musicians were not there the whole time the album was being made, but instead, after the song cencepts were formed and laid down, the professionals then came in and helped him fine tune. This way he could pick a favorite horn player for the Gospel album, a cello player for the Celtic, etc. Sylvan and Robert contributed through out it's making along with Chris.
Martin is a really nice guy. it was funny to see him sitting at the Nottingham train station just like a regular person. I think of him as such a jetsetter with his talent and experience that to see him boarding the train and then sitting there with his headphones on was cool. Very, very nice guy!