MIKE HURST became a Record Producer more by luck than judgement. When The SPRINGFIELDS broke up in October 1963 he started his own band with JIMMY PAGE, ALBERT LEE and TONY ASHTON but found little success! So in 1965 he became a Record Producer initially working for ANDREW LOOG OLDHAM and MICKIE MOST before finding in 1965 a very young CAT STEVENS. He then became ‘hot’ and over the next 5 years produced SPENCER DAVIS GROUP, MARC BOLAN, MANFRED MANN, PP ARNOLD, to name a few.

During 1969 The Mike Hurst Orchestra recordings originated from an idea by Len Levy of Metromedia, and ex Pres of Epic Records to make an orchestral album in Phase 4 stereo. Phase 4 was originally a Decca concept. Simply put, it was a stereo mix with very little in the centre, thus creating, through echo, a wall of sound across the spectrum as a whole.

The album was originally called ‘Drivetime’, to fit in with what was then the prime time on US radio, and was recorded in 1969 at Olympic Sound, Barnes, London, with a 45 piece orchestra, three arrangers, and some wonderful individual world famous jazz musicians.

Reviews