Neverland

A track by Neverland, written by bump, Patrick Sugg, & Gary Lee.  This is probably the only one-take, studio-track, lead vocals I ever recorded.  It was recorded at Virgin Studios and engineered by the late (and great) Bill Kennedy.  This was my favorite of our Neverland songs, and I played it at my solo gigs for many years after leaving Neverland.

Talkin To Alice, by Neverland

I still love the Brian May guitars that Patrick Sugg played on the choruses of this.

Live Again, by Neverland

This is a Neverland song that we recorded with drummer Kevin Valentine, who also engineered the recording.  

Dirty People, by Neverland

Another tune tracked by drummer Kevin Valentine.

Frustration, by Neverland

My favorite part of this song is the bridge--specifically, the big harmony background vocals.  We did the original demo for the song in my studio before tracking this version at A&M and Virgin.  I simply couldn't convince Bill Kennedy to turn those vocals up more in this version.  I think I was lucky that he put them in there at all. 

She Never Noticed, by Neverland

I love Patrick Sugg's guitar solos on this track.

Leave Me Alone, by Neverland

This was one of the first songs I wrote with Neverland.  I believe it had a former life--as an entirely different song--with their original singer.  I never heard that version.  And, true to my form, I insisted that I write my own version: this one, about an aging movie star.  Engineered by Bill Kennedy.

The Curtain Is Drawn, by Neverland

One of the final songs that I recorded with Neverland. I have to say, Gary Lee was a tremendously talented musician, but an even better human being.  It was such a privilege to spend so much time with him and with Patrick Sugg and with Kevin Valentine.  I remember the crazy, shitty place where we practiced and recorded this song.  We shared the space with Jeff Pilson from Dokken.  Anyhow, there was a little amp that we found in the room--an Ampeg, I believe--that had a vibrato feature.  We decided to give it a go, and you can hear it on this track.

Anytime Anywhere, by Neverland

I had the idea, when I sat down to write this, that the sort of news that I had come to expect to hear in LA, at that time, was the sort of stuff that most folks thought to be newsworthy: i.e., bad news.  I wondered what may be the case if the pedestrian stuff of small-town life could be national news.  This song is the result of that riff. Oh, and I really did have an Aunt Teeny, though whether or not her pipes were ever frozen remains unknown to me.

Paradise, by Neverland

Title Track from our record.  Not sure where the idea came from--could have been inspired by an artist I liked at the time: Michael Parkes. He refers to himself as a "magical realist," not a surrealist, but "magical real world" sounded way too precious.  Poetic license is powerful medicine. This track was engineered by Bill Kennedy.  What a shame that he is gone.

Surreal World, by Neverland

This is the songwriting demo of a song that Neverland never recorded beyond the demo.  It was written in the wake of the LA riots that ensued after the verdict was released in the Rodney King trial.  It is no wonder that the song came to my mind on this, the first day after the grand jury's decision was announced in the Michael Brown trail.  While my ideas about peace and understanding and the humane treatment of all people have deepened, one sentiment expressed in this song still rings true as robustly now as then: "there's room enough for our differences ... while the fires are out this city still burns"

This City Burns, by Neverland

This is a songwriting demo: we flew in drums recorded on a cassette tape at rehearsal & wrote the song on 16 track around those low-fi drums.  I like the song & wish we would have later recorded it properly.  Alas, this is the only version ever recorded.

Neverland

bump halbritter