Paul Young chats about his latest album release

5 months ago 04th Jul 14:55

It’s hard to describe because I didn’t plan it but it seems to be that back then it was a mixture of a singer who came out of a soul band teamed with a producer who loved Indie or alternative music. It was a magical mixture of putting those two things together and making a profession.

You re-released the album yesterday, do you think it will do as well the second time around?

Oh god no! I don’t think it will do anywhere near as well, for the simple reason that people don’t buy as many records anymore, id be quite happy if it did moderately well because I know that a lot of people already have it and are happy with the ones they have if they are die hard fans and would prefer to hear a proper re-mastered version with all the unreleased and rare tracks which are on CD2.

At a tribute concert for Freddie Mercury in 1992 you sang “Radio Ga Ga” with Queen, how did it feel performing alongside such an amazing band?

I was very lucky that I got to meet some of these people along the way and it was a real pleasure to be asked to take part. I met Brian and Rodger a couple of times and so the opportunity to be able to play with them was fantastic. It was a once in a lifetime chance to be offered and it felt great to be Freddie Mercury for a day, especially singing “Radio Ga Ga” as I knew they all did that hand-clapping thing and to see them doing it right in front of your eyes is absolutely amazing.

The album was re-mastered by Laurie Latham, can your fans still expect the same-sounding Paul they know and love?

Well on CD2 there are unreleased tracks from 25 years ago, which are still in the old style. We recorded more than enough songs to go on the album and we also left a couple off so it should be nice for every who hears it. I’m not releasing any new music yet, until this has passed.

Why should people go out and buy your album a second time?

Because maybe there are people out there who bought the album when it first came out 25 years ago and find it really annoying because it has all of the 12 inch mixes on, so if you just want to hear the CD you can’t. stupidly CD’s had just been invented and we thought we would give everyone maximum value for money, and put all the long tracks on so you have “Come back and stay” lasting about six or seven minutes. So in the end it just drives you up the wall, so I thought it would be nice to re-master the album so that people can listen to it the way it’s meant to be heard, with all the rarities and all that other stuff on a separate CD, which is why it’s worth getting!

If you could collaborate with any musician, alive or dead, who would it be?

There is a guitarist I like very much called Brian Tudor he made a lot of great records through the seventies and the eighties and he collaborated with a lot of different types of people. The Buena Vista Social Club album was set up by him. He is a very humble musician and a wonderful player with a fantastic taste in songs.

Female First - Ruth Harrison

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