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RealAudio (2.63 MB) (requires RealAudio 8, see link below) The Final Project
Installment Four: Well a lot has happened since our last update. What were considered to be the backing tracks were taken to Arjen "Ayreon" Lucassen’s home studio in order to take into account Arjen’s professional advice. That advice at the time however was very hard to swallow as Arjen told our John "Bo Bo" Bollenberg to re-record all bass and drum parts. What happened was that everything had been recorded without a clicktrack so most of the parts weren’t what they call "in sync" (not to be confused with N’sync!). Meanwhile Pär Lindh offered to take on the role as producer and look into solutions to solve all this. He drafted in American bass player William Kopecky (of the instrumental prog-rock trio Kopecky) who came over to Sweden to tour with the Pär Lindh Project and meanwhile agreed to re-record all bass parts. On top of that Pär did all of the drum parts as well as adding keyboard textures. It wasn’t an easy task as, to be honest, everything had to be done from scratch, yet our friends decided to at least keep most of the material Björn Johansson had recorded, which is why these "not in sync" problems started to surface.
Installment Three: When John's son Simon Jay was born on February 8th, 1994, John wanted to surprise his wife by giving her something special. After all, John had been waiting far too long to have a son after he already had two daughters: Jamie Lee and Lauren Fay. So it was kind of 'third time lucky' for John, hence the idea for that something special. He wrote a song, but because John can't play an instrument, he had to wait no less than seven years before he could finally record this song! In August 2000, John stayed in Göthenborg, Sweden at Björn Johansson's place and his Discus Ursi studio. The main idea then was to record demos for the If Only Stones Could Speak album and talk to the band Sinkdus to see whether they would be interested in joining this project, or experience as it is now called. At the end of the sessions John asked Björn if he could put a subtle piece of guitar on top of the song he had written all those years ago. John started singing a capella and after only the first chorus Björn had already added a couple of chords. In about fifteen minutes both vocals and guitar were recorded and John took with him a minidisc of the recording. Back home in Belgium John visited an old friend of his, Bernard Dewulf, who owns a studio in Oostende. Bernard had been the keyboard player of the band Quies, John's very first band way back in 1980. John told Bernard the song still sounded very "naked" so maybe he could add some Mellotron sounds to make it sound fuller. Not only did he add those glorious Mellotron sounds but he also took hold of his violin and added some stunning live violin there and then. In all, it didn't take longer than half an hour to result in the version you can hear here. So far this track is only available on the latest sampler CD (N° 29) which comes free with Mellotron magazine in Argentina. Interested parties should contact editor Andres Valle through andresvalle@interlink.com.ar to see whether at all copies are still available. Other artists which feature on this sampler are Janos Varga Project, Isildurs Bane, Pär Lindh Project, Guillermo Cides, Fruitcake, Odyssice, Subterra, You and I, Ergo Sum, Rockenfield Speer, Contraluz and Bran. In the case of "Lovely (for Simon Jay)" it concerns an exclusive track, as this song won't be included on the forthcoming full album by the Bollenberg Johansson Experience. Although released under that same name, this track here is rather a demo, a demo which has been given an extra treatment by adding Mellotron and violin at a later stage. To be honest, even Björn doesn't know it exists this way! Talking of surprises! If you like John's voice and are looking for a voice to feature on your forthcoming prog release(s) then don't hesitate to get in touch with John through bollenberg@pandora.be because he is eager to lend his voice for forthcoming projects. For the time being though I'm sure he'd be very interested to know what you think of this track so send him a mail and let him now! [Though I'm certainly not impartial, in listening to the track myself in prepping the RealAudio file above, I have to tell you that John really does have a nice voice. I'll properly review the track in my upcoming review of the Mellotron CD, of course. - Stephanie (ed.)]  Installment Two: The idea for the If Only Stones Could Speak album is that basic tracks are being recorded with a full band whilst solos are being added by certain guests afterwards. Before we go into detail about the guests here's the line-up of the band which is recording the basic tracks: Björn Johansson : guitars, keyboards, arrangements As you can see, three members of Sinkadus stepped in, but then again they have been friends with Björn Johansson for quite some time, Björn even producing their original version of Aurum Nostrum, which in the end led to their contract with Cyclops. The main idea for using these people is because they all know each other very well, are crafted musicians, and have a feel for that typical vintage prog sound, which is the main idea behind the entire concept. Gergely Szekeres is a 17-year old student of Björn's who incidentally heard some material for this album whilst being in Björn's Discus Ursi studio. He fell in love with the song and, being a big fan of Mike Portnoy, probably will add some more extra spice as well. Next up will be a RealAudio file of a collaboration between John "Bo Bo" Bollenberg and Björn Johansson which will NOT feature on the album. Installment One: Having been friends with Pär Lindh for some time, Pär informed John "Bo Bo" Bollenberg about the fact that his partner in crime Björn Johansson was looking for a singer for his solo album Discus Ursi. The multi-instrumentalist who joined forces with Pär on the Bilbo album had written material for his first album which, although mainly instrumental, sported two vocal tracks in the form of “King Of Gold” and “Pegasus." Instrumental versions of these songs were mailed to John in Belgium, but before he could even try to fit his voice to the songs, Johansson informed him that he already found a singer in his native Götenborg, Sweden, which in the end was an easier option for all parties involved. John ‘Bo Bo’ Bollenberg, who had sung in a symphonic rock band in 1980, was eager to have his voice heard. The band at the time was called Quies whose major attraction was an appearance on Belgian television in September 1980. The programme was taped and handed over to Rick Wakeman the week after, as Rick was keen to produce the band’s debut album. Because Rick had only Betamax on board his tour bus and the Quies tape was on VHS, Rick offered to have it transferred. In the end, the tape was never returned, which means that no one has a copy of this one-off event. Due to economic reasons, Belgian national television had wiped the original programme from their tapes only weeks after the transmission because they had very few tapes, and they needed to reuse them all of the time. Polydor Holland showed an interest in releasing release what would have been called On The Ashes Of Disaster. Sadly, within a month the band folded, not releasing one single note of music. Nevertheless, the original compositions even to this day remain fresh and interesting, leaning heavily towards Camel and Solution. Hopefully though, as has happened so many times before, twenty years later some of its original members might get together and finally record On The Ashes Of Disaster. It will have been worth the wait for sure! Together with Quies keyboard player Bernard Dewulf, John occasionally recorded more pop oriented stuff, which in the end never got released. Some of these tapes were mailed to some people in the domain of prog, hoping they would one day ask John to "guest" on their album(s). Clive Nolan liked what he heard and told John he would be given a role on the Jabberwocky album. Sadly, when the recordings came close, Verglas had already established itself as a professional label rather than a serious little hobby, hence the fact that none other than Bob Catley and some other famous names entered the studio instead. Peter Pejtsik from After Crying fame also liked John’s voice, but never was able to "use" it within the After Crying context also because the band started touring more and more making it a little difficult for a Hungarian band to work with a Belgian singer. Because the latter was thinking more in terms of a project rather than being a fulltime member of a band, contact was sought with certain projects. One of these, the New Grove Project, seemed very interested once they heard John’s demo. All instrumental demos for what has to become the new album Brill were mailed to Belgium, but nothing happened for a long time. When leader Ingemar Hjertqvist called John, he informed him about the fact that legendary drummer Jode Leigh (ex-England) had suffered from a cerebral haemorrhage. However, a specialist had told the family that Jode would fully recover after a while. So Ingemar opted to wait until indeed Jode was fully recovered. Sadly, this still has not happened, which means the band will probably look for someone else to take Jode’s place. The recording of Brill is planned for next year in Pär Lindh’s Crimsonic studio. Meanwhile Björn Johansson had been in touch with John, explaining his wish to record an entire album with him. Around that time, it became official that the city of Brugge, Belgium had been appointed to become "Cultural Capital of Europe" in the year 2002. This suddenly opened all kinds of options, so John Bollenberg started to work on certain ideas. Looking at the medieval nature of the city centre on one side (see http://www.brugge.be for more information), and the success of festivals such as Progfest and Baja Prog on the other side, John started to work on the idea of a European version of Progfest. After all, much of progressive rock is European in the first place. In order to take care of the "win-win" situation, John thought to spread such a festival over one week. That way, interested parties could persuade their not so musically inclined partners into coming over as well. During the day all the sites could be visited whilst every evening their would be a prog concert. Names which John proposed included Pär Lindh Project (this would have taken place in a church with Pär doing a classical recital on church organ first, followed by a concert with his PLP band); After Crying, XII Alfonso, Minimum Vital, White Willow, Isildurs Bane, Sinkadus, Rick Wakeman and some others. Each night there would have been a well-known name supported by an upcoming name in the world of prog. Sadly, the specially founded organisation called Brugge 2002 (see their website at http://www.brugge2002.be ) said NO, with as main reason that they were not certain that John’s proposition held enough quality! Right now a completely new concert hall is being built (see http://www.concertgebouw-brugge.be ) costing around 20 million US dollars. The acoustics will be perfect for our kind of music, yet once again the same kind of music and arts will be programmed all over again, excluding progressive rock. Another unique chance thrown away! It took John Bollenberg no fewer than six months to get over all of this. But then he thought of a different approach when Björn Johansson was on the phone. Why not record an album which holds the medieval atmosphere of the ancient city? Certainly Björn was all game for this idea, mainly because he was very interested in everything medieval and gothic, and having visited Brugge several times before, the history was a big source of inspiration. So in July 1998, Björn flew to Brugge where he and John started writing one big epic. Local journalists were asked over to John’s place where they witnessed an acoustic, live rendition of this track. The enthusiasm and approval was enormous, which gave our duo a lot of confidence. John started looking for the ideal angle for a complete album and found what he needed in the book 100 Brugsche Legenden, Sprookjes, Sagen, Anekdoten, Spook- En Heksenverhalen Waar, Waarachtig En Waarschijnlijk, Klaps En Achterklaps Om Te Lezen Of Om Voor Te Lezen written by Johan Ballegeer. Because all of the copies of this book had been sold out for a long time, the author was so kind as to lend John his personal copy so John could take photocopies of the entire book. The idea went one step further with John only taking into consideration those stories which were linked to a place which still exists today. That way, once the album is finished, people will be able to go to the exact spot and listen to the song which contains the "old" legend. In August 2000, John then flew to Götenborg where he and Björn recorded several demos. There and then it was decided who would play on the backing tracks and who would feature as a guest. As time goes by more, details regarding this unique recording will be updated on this site. The only extra information we can give you right now is that the backing tracks are being recorded as we speak. John ‘Bo Bo’ Bollenberg will be off to Götenborg once again in early August to record his vocals. Guest contributions will then be recorded in September and October, if everything goes as planned. If indeed all of the musicians who have promised to help out will indeed help out, this will certainly become a prog classic! To be continued … During the recording of the demos in Sweden last year, John asked Björn if he could put into music an idea he had composed seven years before. Intended as a gift for his wife when she gave birth to their son Simon Jay on 8th February 1994, it took indeed seven long years before someone could accompany John. Entitled "Lovely (for Simon Jay)," Björn played guitar whilst John sang at the same time. The result was taken home to Belgium, yet sounded rather "naked." John’s friend Bernard Dewulf, ex-Quies, who owns a studio in Oostende, Belgium listened to the track and offered to add mellotron and real violin. It is that particular recording that can now be found on the Mellotron sampler disc, which has been released together with issue #29 of this great magazine in Argentina. The sampler is only mailed to subscribers of this fine magazine, so get in touch with andresvalle@interlink.com.ar if you want to get your hands on this fab sampler also including Isildurs Bane, Pär Lind Project, You And I, Fruitcake, Oydyssice, Rockenfield/Speer plus 7 other tracks. As mentioned, one of those tracks is "Lovely," a song which won’t be included on the full album If Only Stones Could Speak, so if you want to get your hands on this unique recording you’d better subscribe to Mellotron. Keep coming back to this page as more info will be given in the coming weeks. After the Jimi Hendrix Experience you’d better get used to the Bollenberg Johansson Experience! You have been warned!  Next up : who plays the backing tracks? | |
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