Cherry Beat - Recording Sessions (Part Seven - The Band's Sixth Album)

November 1975
The band's 1975 album Heavy Rock reached #3 in the United Kingdom, as of September 1975. It was the band's first album since Show Business to miss the top spot. Chudley Maron, the band's music supervisor, and their producer of all their albums, save for Heavy Rock, began to get worried that the band's musical output was slipping, and encouraged the band to revert to the musical strategy of their third and fourth albums Still In Business (1973), and Merry Christmas (1974), in order to record and release another album that was a blockbuster.

However the recording sessions for this album would be the last in which Chudley Maron made a solo stand as an album producer, since Riley Ganz would be brought in by Sam Whitby to co-produce the band's next album, and all the albums thereafter. 1976 would see the release of the band's sixth album which would be known as Neapolitan. This was the last album to be issued under the Sky Dive Records label. It was also the last album to be recorded in Dohrn Studios, since the band would be relocating to the newly finished Moonlight Bay Studio.

27th November 1975
This was the band's first official recording session for their sixth album. Once again, Chudley Maron would serve as the producer of the band's music, much to the renewed delight of all the band members, except Sam Whitby who seemed eager to search for another producer, apparently dissatisfied with Chudley's latest efforts.

On this day the band recorded two new compositions. "Now We're Getting Along" was a composition written primarily by Peter McDonald, with input from Sam Whitby. "Can't Hear a Word" was a composition written primarily by Sam Whitby, with input from Peter McDonald.

18th December 1975
The band recorded a new composition on this day. "Paper-bag Monster Truck Delivery" which was written by Peter McDonald and Sam Whitby. As its title implies, the song's lyrics are very surreal and rather nonsensical. Although the lyrics were brand new, both Peter and Sam implied that they'd actually written the music during the sessions for their second album Show Business.

23rd December 1975
Single Release — A Christmas Tale / Happy Christmas

28th December 1975
The band recorded a new composition on this day. "Traffic Jam" which was written by Peter McDonald and Sam Whitby. Peter stated that he and Sam would have chosen to record the song for their fifth album Heavy Rock but that just slipped out of their minds, so they didn't get to record it in time to release it on their fifth album.

They would consider releasing it on their sixth album. But they had a lot of other songs that they wanted to record and release on their sixth album, including some of their previously unreleased recordings that dated back from as early as 1972.

12th January 1976
The band recorded a new composition on this day. "Close My Door" which was written by Devon O'Connell. It was a soft rock song, although it did have a jazzy feel and a slight disco edge to it.

As Sam Whitby later said "Devon never had an easy time trying to get us to record his songs, because we usually thought they were no good. Either that or we didn't think they would be appealing to fans. But this is the third composition he's presented to us that we've agreed to record, and his songwriting has gradually improved over the years that he's been with us".

20th January 1976
Session musicians Ernesto Selby, Ron Hayhurst, Kendrick Vantassel, Lacy Gram, Johnathan Martz, Erich Phong, and Bobbie Dossett respectively recorded tenor saxophone, flute, clarinet, alto saxophone, trombone, trumpet, and flugelhorn overdubs for Devon O'Connell's song "Close My Door".

3rd February 1976
The band recorded a new composition on this day. "Denim Blues, Blacks, Greys and Whites", often abbreviated to "Denim Blues" which was primarily written by Peter McDonald, with input from Sam Whitby.

The song, along with "Do the Ronde Ronde" were two of the first compositions recorded to feature a "" production approach, though it would be restrained on "Denim Blues" to prevent the track's sound from being "too full".

5th February 1976
Torquil Dohrn and Peter McDonald overdub acoustic guitars onto "Denim Blues". Sam Whitby and Chudley Maron overdub grand pianos onto the song.

7th February 1976
Orchestral overdubs were added to "Denim Blues" on this day. Session musicians Elisha Bedsole, Patricia Cockrill, Tracey Lessman, Ned Morphis, Ellsworth Hutchins, Williams Torian, Gonzalo Northup, Marcellus Folger, and Terrance Bustamante played violin. Grady Ashman and Neal Nobriga played viola. Chester McGlade and Dallas Guertin played cello. Ricky Stanbery played tenor saxophone, and Noel Kontos played the alto saxophone.

Chudley Maron stripped back the orchestration on the final mix so that even in the more passive parts of the song, the orchestration level is very low.

13th February 1976
Session musicians Elisha Bedsole and Gonzalo Northup record violin overdubs for "Think" which had been started during the sessions for Heavy Rock but obviously not recorded for that album. Neal Nobriga recorded viola overdubs, and Chester McGlade and Dallas Guertin recorded cello ones. The song was now completed.

17th February 1976
Peter McDonald and Torquil Dohrn respectively record keyboard and alto saxophone overdubs for "Jeep".

18th February 1976
Peter McDonald double tracks his lead vocals on "Denim Blues" and "Jeep".

20th February 1976
Peter McDonald and Devon O'Connell respectively record lead guitar and tambourine overdubs for "Ticket to Paris".

23rd February 1976
Sam Whitby double tracks his lead vocal on "Ticket to Paris".

Peter McDonald, Sam Whitby, Torquil Dohrn, and Devon O'Connell respectively record cello, electric piano, alto saxophone and percussion overdubs for "Soldier Rhymes". Sam also double tracked his vocal for the song later that same session.

28th February 1976
Peter McDonald, Sam Whitby, Torquil Dohrn, and Devon O'Connell respectively record cello, keyboard, sound effects through woodwind instruments, and percussion overdubs for "Daymare".

4th March 1976
Peter McDonald, Sam Whitby, Torquil Dohrn, and Devon O'Connell record handclaps for "Daymare" and "Do the Ronde Ronde".

7th March 1976
Peter McDonald, Sam Whitby, Torquil Dohrn, and Devon O'Connell record keyboard, Lowrey organ, harmonica, and percussion overdubs for "Do the Ronde Ronde".

11th March 1976
Torquil Dohrn records alto saxophone overdubs for "Do the Ronde Ronde". Session musicians Wiley Stancill and Ricky Stanbery recorded baritone and tenor saxophone overdubs respectively. Jared Underhill, Darin Askins, and Jackie Barb recorded trumpet overdubs, and Delmer Matousek and Johnathan Martz recorded trombone overdubs.

14th March 1976
Torquil Dohrn records a trombone overdub for "Do the Ronde Ronde". This would be the last session for the song.

16th March 1976
Peter McDonald, Sam Whitby, Torquil Dohrn, and Devon O'Connell record cello, electric piano, alto saxophone and percussion overdubs respectively for "Paper-bag Monster Truck Delivery".

18th March 1976
Single Release — Jeep / Think

21st March 1976
Peter McDonald, Sam Whitby, Torquil Dohrn, and Devon O'Connell record cello, electric piano, alto saxophone and percussion overdubs respectively for "Traffic Jam".

24th March 1976
Peter McDonald, Sam Whitby, Torquil Dohrn, and Devon O'Connell record handclaps for "I've Been Pinched".

26th March 1976
Peter McDonald and Devon O'Connell respectively record cello and percussion overdubs for "I've Been Pinched".

29th March 1976
Peter McDonald, Torquil Dohrn, and Devon O'Connell respectively record cello, Moog synthesizer, and percussion overdubs for "Kitty in a Tank".

1st April 1976
The band recorded a new composition on this day. "Canary Tunes" which was primarily written by Sam Whitby, with input from Peter McDonald. It was the first new composition the band had recorded since they'd written and recorded "Denim Blues".

3rd April 1976
Peter McDonald, Sam Whitby, Torquil Dohrn and Devon O'Connell respectively record vibraslap, güiro, alto saxophone, and cowbell overdubs for "Canary Tunes".

6th April 1976
Torquil Dohrn and Devon O'Connell respectively record agogo bells and conga drums for "Canary Tunes", while Peter McDonald and Sam Whitby record whistling overdubs. Peter and Sam also double tracked their vocals for the song later that same session.

8th April 1976
The band recorded a new composition on this day. "Chamber of Love" which was primarily written by Peter McDonald, with input from Sam Whitby.

10th April 1976
Peter McDonald and Torquil Dohrn respectively record keyboard and moog synthesizer overdubs for "Chamber of Love".

14th April 1976
The band recorded a new composition on this day. "Riding on a Steam Train" which was primarily written by Peter McDonald, with input from Sam Whitby.

Many years later Peter and Sam confirmed that the song wasn't just about having a ride on a steam train. They confirmed otherwise, hence the first part of the song's title, what the song was really mostly about.

They didn't openly speak about this in the wrong places, because they didn't want people to think the song was inappropriate for younger listeners. Peter and Sam said that they felt that it was a perfect fit for a children's song, and didn't want to spoil the enjoyment the children got from the song.

However there were a few radio stations that subsequently refused to play the song, upon discovering what it meant.

16th April 1976
Peter McDonald, Sam Whitby, Torquil Dohrn, and Devon O'Connell respectively record banjo, Lowrey organ, alto saxophone, and tambourine overdubs for "Riding on a Steam Train".

19th April 1976
Torquil Dohrn records a clarinet overdub for "Riding on a Steam Train". Session musician Oliver Janas records a harmonica overdub. Delmer Matousek, and Johnathan Martz record trombone overdubs, and Darin Askins, Jackie Barb, and Erich Phong record trumpet overdubs for the song.

25th April 1976
The band recorded a new composition on this day. "Don't Count on Me" which was written by Torquil Dohrn.

27th April 1976
Peter McDonald, Sam Whitby, and Devon O'Connell respectively record electric piano, Lowrey organ, and clave overdubs for "Don't Count on Me".

28th April 1976
Single Release — Chamber of Love / Daymare

1st May 1976
The band recorded a new composition on this day. "Sybel Cannibals" which was written by Torquil Dohrn, Peter McDonald, Devon O'Connell and Sam Whitby, based on an original idea by Torquil Dohrn.

According to Torquil, he had this strange dream where he was listening to ' instrumental compositions "Mas Que Nada (Say No More)" and "Adios Muchachos".

A third composition with the deep chanting of "We're the Sybel Cannibals", but otherwise in that classical style was also part of the dream. Torquil then said "I made sure that third composition was really just in the dream, before me and my fellow bandmates claimed ownership of the song". Since Sybel Cannibals just came to Torquil in a dream, its title is completely meaningless.

4th May 1976
Peter McDonald, Sam Whitby, Torquil Dohrn, Devon O'Connell and Chudley Maron respectively add cello, accordion, flute, percussion, and bandoneón overdubs to "Sybel Cannibals". Session musicians Alphonse Labounty, and Kendrick Vantassel added clarinet overdubs. Chester McGlade added cello overdubs. Ned Morphis, Ellsworth Hutchins, Gonzalo Northup, and Terrance Bustamante added violin overdubs, and Ron Hayhurst added a flute overdub.

1st June 1976
Single Release — Sybel Cannibals / Don't Count on Me

11th June 1976
The band recorded a cover of 's song "". However, like all covers, this recording was not considered for release on the band's sixth album.

17th July 1976
The band recorded a cover of 's song "". However, like all covers, this recording was not considered for release on the band's sixth album.

18th July 1976
Torquil Dohrn records an alto saxophone overdub for "Glad All Over", while Peter McDonald's vocal was double tracked.

31st August 1976
The band members were in the studio again recording a new composition on this day. "Bop Bop Shuop" which was written by Peter McDonald and Sam Whitby. However the track was not considered for release on the band's sixth album.

5th September 1976
The band recorded a cover of 's song "". However, like all covers, this recording was not considered for release on the band's sixth album.

26th October 1976
The band members were in the studio again recording a new composition for their 1976 Christmas single. "Christmas Time (Is Finally Here)" which was written by Peter McDonald and Sam Whitby. Ever since the belated single release of "Happy Christmas" / "A Christmas Tale" failed to top the charts in December 1975, the band members wanted to release a Christmas song that would top the charts. When "Christmas Time (Is Finally Here)" was released in December 1976, the band members of got their wish.

27th October 1976
Peter McDonald and Sam Whitby record harmony vocal overdubs for "Christmas Time (Is Finally Here)". Sam Whitby, Torquil Dohrn, and Devon O'Connell's respective girlfriends Amber Stark, Charlotte Henderson, and Esther Lynmore, together with session vocalist Elodia Torian recorded backing vocals for the song.

28th October 1976
Peter McDonald, Sam Whitby, Torquil Dohrn, and Devon O'Connell respectively record cello, Lowrey organ, sleigh bells, and bass drum overdubs for "Christmas Time (Is Finally Here)". The four of them also record additional backing vocal overdubs.

29th October 1976
Peter McDonald, Sam Whitby, Torquil Dohrn, and Devon O'Connell record handclaps for "Christmas Time (Is Finally Here)". This would be the last session for the song, and the session that would wrap up the recording sessions for Neapolitan.

2nd November 1976
Album release — Neapolitan

15th December 1976
Single Release — Christmas Time (Is Finally Here) / Do the Ronde Ronde