The Consequences Podcast 93 - Chronicles of Modern Life: Henry Priestman on The Christians, his solo career and more rarities with Graham Gouldman
The Consequences PodcastShow Notes
Paul and Sean were so glad to invite Henry back for another whistle-stop, rollicking ride through the rest of his career.
We kick off with The Christians, his best-known venture, with our analysis of their trademark harmonies, Motown influences and ‘gritty’ messages. We have some tasty baked goodies to share with you too, notably a live performance from one of the band’s very first gigs. We coo over two particular hits - both extremely beautiful and poignant. We listen heart in mouth as he describes the moment last December when he and the band completed a moving tribute to Iranian hostage Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. The reworked Christians song ’Naz Don’t Cry’ created a stir on social media just before Christmas 2021.
Despite Henry’s solo career not kicking off in earnest until the start the last decade - at the tender age of 53 - he has no end of fantastic stories about his prolific activity as composer, collaborator and producer in the 90s and 00s, including Take That’s Mark Owen, no less.
Signing once again to Island Records for his acclaimed album “The Chronicles of Modern Life”, followed some years later by “The Last Mad Surge of Youth” and "Six of One & Half a Dozen of the Other” (with Les Glover), all three records show an emerging wryness, warmth and self-deprecation, and Henry is hilariously honest about his outlook on life, his music and getting older!
As an absolute treat for fans of 10cc and Graham Gouldman, we’re thrilled to be able to share with you some of a pile of demo tapes Henry’s shared with us. All feature him and Graham in the throes of collaboration, and *no one* has heard these! Many of these terrific songs were largely intended for inclusion in the hit West End show Dreamboats and Petticoats. Other tapes are one-off recordings with such collaborators as John Campbell from It’s Immaterial. They’re terrific, and we’re really looking forward to hearing new versions of some of them featured on Henry’s forthcoming album ‘Beautiful Ruins’.
More from The Consequences Podcast
Hi everyone. It's been a while! Paul and Sean have been busy, of late... We may have been embroiled in an uber-ambitious tribute gig, but secretly, Sean's just enjoyed not having to edit endless podcasts in the wee small hours these past few months! In the meantime, our good chum Panayiotis Bogdanos chimed in from San Leandro, California with a proposition: let's talk about 50cc... We've missed the old chap, so we had to give in! We really hope you enjoy our random snapshot of our lovingly-concocted live rendition of what this podcast has been all about. Pany quizzes us on the genesis of the 50cc project, the concept and the crazy ideas, the songs we were dying to play, the challenges, the crushing disappointments and the surprising successes, and of course the extraordinary team that we suddenly found ourselves with on those two nights in Stockport on June 24th and 25th 2022. You'll hear lots of music clips here, including some outtakes that don't appear in the released video, but also a sample of how we attempted to capture Consequences, Godley and Creme solo and 10cc's eclectic career in three hours. The full video download and YouTube stream can be found here: https://www.seanmacreavy.com/50ccshop We truly hope you enjoy our efforts. We've loved doing this, and the gigs were just the icing on the cake! This episode was (mostly) edited by Pany. Cheers old boy!
Paul and Sean make no apologies for enjoying this conversation as much as we did!
Paul and Sean had such a great time talking to established 10cc lead singer Iain Hornal. We fought and lost an uncontrollable urge to geek out about our shared love of The Beach Boys, but eventually got down to business!
Sean and Paul are thrilled to welcome to the pod one Stuart Tosh, the ‘man at the back’ who would join drummer Paul Burgess to share honours on 10cc percussion duties live and in the studio from 1977 to 1983.
Wow. Simply put, this is nothing short of a coup. A decade ago, Charlie Thomas succeeded in landing an interview that Sean and Paul have been chasing unsuccessfully for two years!