Songs recorded:
Line-up:
Taken from the now defunct Sudan Gerri page. Provided by John Nicholls.
I don't know who named the session "Sudan Gerri"; it wasn't me! In fact, when I was first tracked down and asked about "Sudan Gerri", I didn't know what it was.
I am told Sudan Gerri was recorded on 8th May, 1984 - I really don't recall. This was the Freaks line-up of Jarvis Cocker, Russell Senior, Magnus Doyle, Candida Doyle and Manners (Peter Mansell). It was recorded in an old karate room (now demolished), off the Wicker, Sheffield.
For the technically inclined, it was recorded on a Teac 3440A 4-track with Rx9 dBx and mastered onto a Revox B77. We had no out-board equipment (maybe an echo tape), all the reverb was natural. I remember blowing one of my speakers while setting sound levels, so if you're passing, Jarvis, send me £300 and I'll be able to replace them. :-)
Casually, I made a cassette copy for myself. (Regrettably, I recorded the cassette with Dolby on!). The cassette stayed with me through the years and as Pulp grew, the "value" of the cassette grew with them. In recent months I have found myself becoming more and more careful with the cassette - I shudder when I remember I used to play it in the car! Anyway, this led to me sampling it into the computer. ("Hey, that will be safe now" - Bill "Ctrl-Alt-Del" Gates)
This action forced me to choose: "to Dolby, or not to Dolby". I chose not to - I find the extra hiss more acceptable than the relative dullness you get with Dolby. However, with the material now digitised, and the availability of some pretty sophisticated noise reduction software, I have cleaned up the tracks.
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