Who said that?

Press, 4 August 1977, Page 13

Who said that?

scene •

By

NEVIN TOPP

The debut album by the

Wellington group. Redeye, is receiving favourable attention in New Zealand an d overseas. Simply called “Redeye.” it incorporates several musical trends and tastes _ reggae, jazz, and soul, • phis the influences of such • diverse talents as Little 'Feat. Stevie Wonder, and Ray Charles. Copies °f album are being sent to EMI companies in Biitain, the States. Australia, and japan to see if it will sell elsewhere.

And chances are that it •will, if the reaction of the Commodores manager. Benny Ashburn, are anything to go by.

arriving in Christchurch, he requested some tapes of the group’s music to take back to the States, and w f as dutifully given “Happy Because” and the single hit, “Who Said That.”

The group had the distinction of celebrating its third birthday last week, and yet it has done surprisingly little touring. Dennis Mason, who is the lead vocalist, sax player, and percussionist in the group, said that Redeye was in a unique position in that “millions” had seen the group on TV through “Ready to Roll,” among other televised rock shows, yet it was hardly known outside Wellington. However, the group hopes to remedy this by touring New Zealand, but finances and personal affairs were problems that needed sorting out first. It took the group more than a year to get the album together, the reason being that they spent time

backing Mark Williams’s first and third albums, and also were in sessions on the Annie Whittle album.

They had originally laid down five tracks, and were going to do some cover versions of overseas songs. But the lengthy wait brought up some extra compositions which filled out the album. The album has been favourably received in Wellington; 250 copies were sold in the first 10 days of release.

The single which paved the way for the album was the hit “Who Said That,” although it was one of the “old” songs on the album.

A double A-side single will also be released from the album — The (unintentional) Little Feat influenced "He’s My Man” and a reggae number “So Damn Fine.” Dennis Mason is “reasonably happy” with the album, but says there is always room for improvement.

Ashburn visited the Slack Alice nightclub where Redeye play, after the Commodores finished their concert in Wellington. He was so impressed that the next day, after

He said that the group had signed a new contract with EMI (N.Z.), Ltd, and there was the possibility of a second album either late this year, or early next year. In addition to Dennis Mason, the group consists of Frits Stiger (bass), Bob Smith (keyboards), John O’Connor (guitars), and Tom Swainson (drums). Mason, Stiger, and O’Connor formerly played together as Section, while Bob Smith come from Distillery, Karma, and the Dallas Four. Tom Swainson’s history consists of Arkastra and Quincey Conserve. Dennis Mason would like to see the group make it in New Zealand first, and also if the group became big overseas remain based in New Zealand. He used the Australian group, the Little River Band as an example of a group that is big in the States yet is still based in Australia.