Feature

Lisa Stansfield: Carry On Lisa

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Word was out, Rochdale's favourite daughter was back in the studio, which we conveyed through these very pages last year via interview, under the title "World Get Ready".  B&S columnist / long-standing Stansfield band member, musical director, conga specialist, percussion prince and all round musical guru, Snowboy…heralded, not only the return of those instantly recognised tones from the multimillion tune shifting superstar, but also gave us an apparelled view of the magnitude of R&B/soulful/latin/pop/jazz mix we should expect to hear on this body of work.

Putting all that aside, it's time to lend a different perspective on the proceedings from a different source, by asking Lisa herself a few searching album inspired questions from yours truly, Lee Tyler, editor of this very magazine, one which has followed this artist from day one, till err…now!

So it gives me great pleasure to announce, as I was lucky enough to be given a sneak preview of Lisa Stansfield's first album in a decade, who's title in turn reflects how many studio albums this artist has completed to date, "Seven" …I know, it should be more, but Lisa has promised to pull her finger out and not leave the next one so long next time! …The album itself is an absolute c-r-a-c-k-e-r! Heralding the return of quality / sophisticated UK R&B.

…as luck would have it when our paths crossed, Ms Stansfield was in a very chipper, chatty and at times cheeky mood as she reflected on the different levels of blood, sweat and tracks which went into the making of "Seven".

Lisa: We’ve sort of been planning this album for 10 years and we were just waiting for the right time to just put it out there…we’d not recorded anything, but we must have written over 60 songs for this album. It makes my life a lot easier (laughs) if I have to promote this album, cos we’ve already got the other one sort of planned out anyway, which is really lovely. It’s the longest album ever made and the shortest album ever made because when we came to record it, it was a mater of 3 weeks to a month, or 5 weeks or something like that…
 
Lee: Where did you record it?
 
Lisa: Some of it was in New York initially, that was quite a while ago.  A lot of it was recorded in Rochdale, some of it was recorded in London and some of it was recorded in L.A.
 
Lee: No wonder it took you so long! (both laugh) If you’d have stopped in one place you could have had it done in a couple of days!

Lisa: I think one of the first songs that we did was the last track on the album “Love Can”, which is the real groove track on the album.
 
Lee: “Love Can” sounds like a track which has been out and has done well, then you’ve remixed it and added it to the album – ‘familiar’ I think I’m tying to say…
 
Lisa: Well I don’t like to say it, but it’s classic me isn’t it?  It’s what I’m best known for, so we thought it was really nice to put that one on the end because it’s sort of like a sort of a wink you know?
 
Lee: On the subject of writing lyrics for it, was that all you?
 
Lisa: Yeah, some of it was Ian, but for the most part lyrically I wrote most of it really…there is a sort of a story to it in a way, but it’s not about me, it’s not about me at all.  Cos if it were about me it would be really boring because how many times can you write about having your breakfast and having a cuddle with your husband? (Laughs) You know what I mean, nobody wants to hear that do they?

Lee: (Laughing) No.

Lisa:  The album is one women’s journey …she obviously falls for the wrong guy and gets herself in trouble in “Picket Fence”- is basically about someone murdering their husband, which wasn’t (laughs) all that it was cracked up to be (still laughing).  Then she sort of reflects on that and in the end she meets someone and falls in love again, that’s what “Love Can” is about, because she’s learnt to trust people again.
 
Lee:  The track “Carry On”, to me, has a Northern soul feel to it…also there’s a touch of  The Average White Band’s “Let’s Go Round Again”…
 
Lisa: Oh really! (singing) Let’s go round again…oooh I’d never thought of that before.
 
Lee:  Again, it has that familiar feel about it, a feeling you’ve heard it before.
 
Lisa: Well that’s going to be a single,”Carry On" …you know Snowboy? He produced that with Ian and played on it and everything.  We were going to call it “I will Carry On”, but because Snowboy loves Carry On films, we called it “Carry On”.  “Carry On Lisa!” (laughs)
 
Lee: Regardless! (both laughing)

Lee: The track "Why" reminds me of "Fever" at the beginning…

Lisa: A lot of people have said that, "it's like 'Fever'".

Lee: Only the opening bars…it's very film scorey.

Lisa: Yeah, we wanted to do that with a lot of the stuff, there's quite a filmic feel to it because we want to document it all with mini films as well, so it's all about the story.  If it sounds like a sound track…it just makes sense to me when you think about the film thing you know...

Lee: Beyonce has just brought out an album which is essentially a film, has videos sewn together…

Lisa: I know, what a b#stard! There's me thinking 'yeah, we are the first people to do it!' And she's f#cking done it ain't she! (laughs)

Lee: (laughing) Yes she has…I was going to ask your opinion, but I won't now.

Lisa: (Raucous laughter) Well I've not seen it, but I'm sure it's amazing if she's done it…I love it that they say she's done it all on her own, when she's got 20 people helping her!

Lee: So for your album, are we going to see video's for all, or most?

Lisa: Yeah hopefully, if we don't run out of money! (laughs).

Lee: You've done two mini tours recently, how was that, getting back in the swing of going touring and stuff?

Lisa: O it's gorgeous, I love it! I used to hate touring, I used to absolutely hate it! I think one of the reasons why was because in between songs I found it difficult to talk to the audience, and now I don't care, I say what I want!

Lee: They can't shut her up now! (both laugh)

Lisa: Yeah, you know they've got one of those shepherd's hooks, I get one of those round me neck! (laughing) I used to just stand there and wait for the music to start and it was a bit awkward…I'm getting on a bit now and can't be bothered, I say what I feel…it's absolutely lovely, I'm really loving it because I think to a bigger extent I'm more in control of what I'm doing - like, every aspect of it.

The album "Seven" is out now on Monkeynatra Records.

Time to get Tweeting: If you are 'Favourited' by us, we'll add your comments to our print issue @LisajStansfield / @BluesandSoul

Read more from our not to be missed candid interview Lisa Stansfield, click below to get your copy of the new Blues & Soul magazine delivered to your door - or check out your local magazine retailer, including; WH Smith, Menzies + selected Euro Foods and Cost Cutters.

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Words LEE TYLER

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