Another great story about the early formation of B&S and Stuart insistence that it be vinyl not a cd
In Stuart David's 2015 book, he recalls Murdoch having to convince Rankine of making the CD single into a 7" into a 12". Due mainly to the actual logistics of being able to get an LP recorded in the timeframe of a single. However it happened, Rankine's role and influence was immense.
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With a firm offer to record the Stow College single on the table, Stuart began to ask me searching questions. He remained committed to his San Francisco trip, but he asked if I thought the opportunities that were starting to appear for him in Glasgow would still be there waiting when he came back. He seemed convinced they would be. I told him I wasn't so sure.
'Sometimes you only get one shot,' I told him. 'It's easy just to miss your chance.'
Richard felt the same. He was certain that if you didn't grab your break when it appeared, it might never come again. He couldn't believe Stuart was going off to San Francisco rather than making the single for Stow.
So Stuart, still unconvinced but willing to look into things further, set up another meeting with the class and we went in to talk to them - wearing normal trousers this time.
It was a novelty for us to see Alan Rankine standing still, rather than rushing past in a blur in the Beatbox corridor. He wrote some stuff on the whiteboard to illustrate what the process would involve, and he wrote some dates up there too.
The budget would cover five days in Cava Studios. Three for recording, two for mixing. We'd record a single and a B-side in February, and then the class would act as a record label called Electric Honey and release a thousand copies of the single on CD and promote it. Alan explained that the main purpose of it was to give the students experience of everything that was involved in putting out a record, but that it would be a good thing for us too because we would get some publicity from it and it might generate a bit of a buzz for the band.
The first thing Stuart made clear was his opposition to releasing a CD.
"Singles have to be vinyl, he said. 'Seven inch.'
He explained that a seven-inch single was a magical thing, and that CDs were nothing at all.
Alan hesitated, but he eventually said we could probably do it on vinyl, if we really wanted to.
Stuart gave that some thought then shook his head.
'I don't know,' he said. 'How about if we made an album? I think it has to be an album.'
The pause before Alan replied this time was a lot longer, and he finally told us he didn't think it could be done. Not in five days.
'Five days are plenty,' Stuart replied, and he went up to the whiteboard and wiped a space amongst Alan's doodlings. Then he picked up the marker pen and started writing song titles on the board. 'The State I Am In', 'Expectations', 'She's Losing It; five in one list on the left-hand side of the board, and five in another list on the right-hand side. When he was finished he turned back to look at Alan as if that was all the proof that was needed.
I was getting used to Stuart's ability to get what he wanted where his songs were concerned, but this seemed like a bridge too far. Most of the class were excited by the idea, staring at the whiteboard with wide eyes and smiles on their faces - all except for Richard, who looked a bit seasick. But Alan wasn't convinced. He told Stuart it really wasn't enough time, that you couldn't record an album in three days. Stuart told him how quickly The Beatles had made their first few albums, and told him we'd record it all live, no overdubs. It went back and forward for a while, punctuated by visits from Start to the whiteboard to write something down. And then, quite suddenly, Alan changed his mind. He decided to give Stuart the chance to make the album. I'm not sure if even Alan believed what had just happened.
After the debate was over, and Stuart was talking to some of the students, Alan told me Stuart's attitude reminded him of Billy McKenzie, the singer in The Associates.
'Bill always knew what he wanted,' he said. 'Great artists usually do. You have to give them room to follow their vision.' And so Stuart cancelled his trip to San Francisco.
—Excerpted from "In the All-Night Cafe", Stuart David, p. 94-97
