Tim Staffell Newsletter

[Q-Freddie]

Tim Staffell hat seinen neuen Newsletter gestartet:

Spring 2024… Welcome to my Newsletter!

Hi, Tim Staffell here,

As some folk may already know, Many years ago, I had a role in a young band which later developed into the best rock band in the world; The earlier band of course, was Smile - soon to evolve (with the addition of my good friend and fellow graphics student Freddie Bulsara) into the mighty Queen. For reasons of my own, I left to go my own way, and spent much of my professional life shooting television commercials and series, both in front of, and behind, the camera. For the inaugural series, I was chief modelmaker on the Television Series ‘Thomas The Tank Engine’, but worked on many ‘above-the-line’ advertising campaigns - Lego - BirdsEye - Ski Yoghurt - Heinz - British Rail - British Airways - We built models & sets for The BBC, Thames Television, Channel 4 - I worked with Tony Scott, Tony Kaye, Ken Russell, Graham Rose and many others...Later, I spent a decade or so teaching construction skills at Mountview Academy before ‘returning’ to music in the twenty-first century, (though in reality, I’d never fully let it alone, just put it, as they say, ‘on the back-burner’)

My music, in the words of ChatGPT (and who am I to argue with AI?)…

‘...... is characterised by intricate arrangements, thoughtful lyrics, and a blend of acoustic and electric elements. Overall, you might describe it as a fusion of progressive and folk rock with a touch of the blues’.


I’m happy with that description; That’s pretty much what I always meant it to be. As I’ve said before, I seem to be hard-wired to write songs. At the moment, All told, I have recorded seven + albums during my musical ‘career’ - stemming from ‘Gettin’ Smile’ in 1968, to ‘Wayward Child’ in 2020 - some are collaborations, some are solo works.


I’m gearing up to produce another album in the next eighteen months, and I’m starting this newsletter so you can all join me on the journey; experience the process of developing an album of songs from the beginning and learn about my past and what has brought me here.

Follow me on the Socials and your streams. Or grab a CD if that’s what you prefer. Check out my shop where I’ll be selling memorabilia and both past and present art. Stay in the loop as I move towards the recording date.. Each month I’ll have something to say about selected legacy tracks; history, inspiration, process and other events that occur over the course of the month…


Toodles - Tim x


Thuringia rocks

[Q-Freddie]

Good people,

I’ve started these newsletters to share some of the stories behind my music. I'm beginning the series with a song that first saw the light of day in the late '60s: "Step On Me.", from the Smile album.
‘Step on Me’ - A Time Capsule

It doesn’t get any easier, looking back on the details of a life from half-a-century in the future; People ask me what it was like in those days, and I can only give them a flavour of the times, not a complete picture… But then there are the songs; which may be the best way to illustrate how you felt at the time because that’s mostly what one takes from an experience, and there’s always a good chance that it was there in a song that you wrote; even if only as a general snapshot of where your head might have been.

Countdown to Creativity

I’ve mentioned before that the pressure was on bands in the mid-to-late ‘sixties to start creating original material; those of you who engage with the process, will know how hard it is to actually begin, especially if there is the added complication of having to learn an accompanying instrument at the same time. Back then, we were immersed in a sea of twelve-bar blues; (the ubiquitous format that so many early rock & roll songs drew on for their structure) – and it was somehow a rite of passage that the budding songwriter needed to steer clear of that format in order to set his personal wagon rolling; it was partly this which shaped the first of two offerings that came out of the short-lived writing partnership with Brian (May).


Myself and Brian at Trident Studios - 1968

The Birth Of ‘Step On Me’

Although I’m by no means 100% sure, I seem to remember that it was I who provided the lyrics, Brian who provided the music. The song structure of both of the tunes ‘Step On me’ & ‘Doin’ Alright’ was a great deal more original and interesting than much of the output of our contemporaries, but the lyrical content stayed firmly in the territory of post-adolescent relationship angst (and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, because it was a topical subject and we were all experiencing it to some degree or another. ‘Write About What You Know’; it’s sensible advice.


Brian at Trident Studios - 1968

Brian’s Signature Style

‘Step On Me’ clearly shows off Brian’s super-melodic approach to guitar playing. Not a frantic shredder, his trademark style is audible on this very early rendering. The approach to harmony vocals that Queen developed into such an art-form in their canon has it’s early iteration on these tracks, too.

Light Blue Touchpaper, and Stand Back


In general I wouldn’t claim to have contributed a great deal to the firework display of their fantastic career, but maybe it could be said that I put a match to the blue touch-paper? You can hear ‘Step On Me’ (and Doin’ Alright) in their original versions if you can get hold of a copy of the Smile Album, or on YouTube. It would be nice if those legacy tracks were remastered and remixed and reissued, but so far, there’s no sign of that happening…

Toodles, Tim x

[Q-Freddie]

Hello Folks,

If there’s one tune that needs less of an introduction than any of the others. It’s Smile’s ‘Doin’ Alright’ - which has had a long and illustrious career, and might be said to be the main reason why I returned to making music on a ‘serious’ basis. Even before the movie BoRhap hit the screens, it had been an important song for me; I recorded a countrified version on my 2023 album ‘aMIGO’ with a certain Brian May guesting and contributing his unique musicality.

Somewhere in my memory is the distinct image of sitting in one of the front rooms of the flat in Ferry Road, shared by Roger Taylor, Jo (his then girlfriend); Pat McConnell, Denise and John (surnames escape me for the moment). Brian and I were working on the tune; I don’t recall it being a particularly intense session, but it was certainly a pivotal one, as far as the song was concerned. Brian played his acoustic guitar, (the one with the novel bridge that he designed allowing much better intonation than usual on such an instrument). I pulled the words out of the air and gradually the tune took shape.

Fast Forward to 2018

Although I had performed the song on and off over the years, and revamped it in a country style after the millennium on my aMIGO album, the development of the movie ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ (which I was only dimly aware of) - brought the song to the fore once again, as it appears in the preamble scenes of Freddie (Bulsara)’s journey - a live performance of the tune by ‘Smile’ in the opening scenes, featuring Jack Roth (son of the excellent Brit actor Tim Roth) playing a young me. Quite a surreal experience seeing oneself depicted; but great fun, nonetheless. I had gone to Abbey Road Studios with Brian earlier in the year to re-record the song vocally - an honour and a privilege for me; what a relief I was actually able to perform it after all this time!

The Legacy of Doin’ Alright’

The aftermath of the movie had the effect of drawing me closer to the Queen community than I had been for some time. I have always been very respectfully treated by the band and the fans alike; but it came as some surprise to me to discover that the song has such a firm place in the canon, and is highly regarded by many fans. I have even seen it included in a ‘Best Of’ journalistic compilation, and I feel pretty humble when you consider the absolute classic tunes that it shares that accolade with.

A Tricky Little Number

Much as I’d like to feature it more as a live performance - it’s actually quite a tricky tune to master. Leaving aside my foray into a ‘country’ style with it, two decades ago (featured on my aMIGO album), I feel it now needs to remain as it was originally conceived, and thereby hangs the problem; as a solo artist, performing a song which has a number of distinct sections; it’s very difficult to integrate those sections and achieve an appealing continuity. I don’t feel that I have quite achieved it yet; but ironically for a song that is fifty years old, for me, it still remains ‘work in progress’.

Buh-Bye for now, peops

Doin’ Alright

May/Staffell – recorded by Smile 1968

Photo of Japanese album release of every Smile studio recording - 1982
Japanese vinyl release of every Smile studio recording - 1982

'Smile' - Brian May, Roger Taylor and, Tim Staffell in 1969
Early photo session in a run down area of London with Roger and Brian - 1968

The Flat in Ferry Road, Barnes

Brian May and Tim Staffell in 1969
From the same session in a bath with Brian - 1968

the front door of abbey road studios

Me at the Bohemian Rhapsody premiere wearing the Smile T-shirt and Smile badge I designed; Wembley - 2018


Previous newsletters for your reading…

Stepping Up To The Plate: The first song I ever (co)wrote… Step on Me

[Juan]

"THANKS" an Dich, Q-Fredddie!
Für's 'Teilen' dieser weiteren 'Zeitreise'.
Am meisten haben mich diesmal die 1969er-Bilder von den jungen Männern im Alter so gerade eben "nach der Konfirmation" geschockt.
Schon wiederzuerkennen -
und doch eigentümlich 'unwirklich', dieser Flashback.
Mann - WAS ist seitdem inzwischen alles passiert!
In der Musikwelt ... und auch sonst so.
Und... wenn das alles stimmt - wie alt bin ich dann schon?! Hä?
Merkwürdige Sache das.

[Q-Freddie]

Hello Again’

The remaining tune from the Smile era - the song that really generated in me the belief that I could cut it as a writer, is of course, Earth. Actually it was more than just a song, it was a true expression of my interests when it first saw the light of day.

Brian May was in pursuit of his academic career (before becoming an interstellar guitar-player) as a serious Astronomer, and quite coincidentally, I’d always had a vocational interest in the subject. This proved to be a mutual connection and legitimised my confidence in the song - (and incidentally, I have retained an interest in cosmological and astronomical events to the present day).

Prepare for Lift-Off

I’ve mentioned before, that starting to write original tunes was a developing angst for many musicians in the mid ‘sixties. The Beatles had really carried the torch since they burst onto the scene; They weren’t alone, but the quantity and originality of their output had taken a lot of us by surprise. Sure, Brian & I had collaborated on two songs since ‘1984’ days (the band, of course) - but I owed it to myself to start writing on my own.

Cast adrift amongst the Stars

It was because of our mutual interest in all things space that I felt confident enough to play the embryo song to Brian; certainly one's peer group represents the first major hurdle when asking for approval on anything; and I guess I felt that the space theme would be more favourably received. In the event the song was indeed accepted very positively, by everyone who heard it, and in fact it became the first (and only) single release that the band ever had. Backed by ‘Step On Me’, it was released in America on the Mercury label, having been produced by Lou Reisner and recorded at Trident Studios in St Anne’s Court, off Wardour Street in London’s Soho.

A Penny Rocket

The space metaphor proved to be slightly misplaced. We had hoped for a warp-speed journey to stardom, but in fact the record behaved more like a penny rocket - shooting up in a glitter of sparks, and then falling back to earth, spent and silent. I had already, by this time, begun to suspect that the style of music that we were producing might not be quite in-line with my own sense of direction. I didn’t really have a clear idea of things, but the song itself was probably a clue. Fundamentally it has the kind of narrative that I have always (since) pursued - the short story in song form. We envisaged it as a dramatic rock anthem (and actually, it worked well in that guise) - but for me it has always remained a somewhat less strident song, and I have a plan to re-record it as a more reflective piece in the near future, as it has acquired a poignancy since it was written, that has kept it topical. As a matter of interest, I’ve recorded the song twice more - you may know that I re-recorded an updated version with Brian’s assistance on my 2003 album ‘aMIGO’, but it also appeared as part of the Space Opera ‘Nova Solis’ which was the title track of the 1973 album recorded with the band Morgan, in Rome.

I Have Seen Many Worlds

The observation about little stories seems to me to hold water; At the time that I wrote ‘Earth’, I had a paperback Sci-Fi library in my room at my parent’s house, of over a thousand books.I’d pretty much read everything from what’s called the ‘Golden Age’ of Science Fiction, and It was always a dream of mine that I would one day write a novel of my own. In fact, I finally did, after working on it for many years. ‘Hidden Planet’ is available on Kindle: for those with a similar leaning for space and the stars. (and, by the way it should be available in paperback edition, later in the year)

Tales of Whimsy & Imagination


In fact it occurs to me that virtually all of my songs are little stories; if they don’t feature particular characters, then they feature some kind of principle that I’ve glimpsed, and that I pompously imagine needs making public. In later years, I have begun to write songs that are more personally reflective. As I grow older, I’ve begun to realise that the only things that I can really communicate are those of which I have direct experience. Having said that of course, each one of my albums still contain little tales with dramatic events and characters. That may, in the end, prove to have been my forte all along!

‘Till next time! Tim

Fotos:
*Doodle I did when I made the aMIGO album
*The song ‘Earth’ appears as part of the Space Opera ‘Nova Solis’. Available to listen on all streaming
platforms.
*Smile’s only single. Earth was the A-side, Step on Me was the B-side.
*1984 - L-R - Me, Dave Dilloway, Richard Thompson, John (JAG) Garnham, Brian May
*Smile playing live in 1968

[Q-Freddie]

Hi Once Again,

Although ‘Why Can’t We Be Free’ which was written in 1969 never made it onto the Smile canon, it, together with ’Country Of The Blind’ dates from those far-off days, (although not in the form that it finally appeared in on the aMIGO album in 2003); it was conceived as a more rock-styled tune than it eventually turned out. It comes from that era when we were all anxious to produce original material, and I suppose the accompanying uncertainties prevented me from presenting it as a serious contender. As I’ve said before, I was confident about ‘Earth’ but I certainly wasn’t so much about this tune.

The Structural Revolution

It does, in my view, though, represent the beginnings of my personal preference for interesting structures in songs. I’m sure a musicologist could find examples of similar forms elsewhere, but for me I was definitely engaged with the idea of songs that resolved musically in a coherent and satisfying manner. It doesn’t have a chorus, but it has a single hookline that completes every verse, and it’s that which I found plausible during the writing process. The verse ascends gently to an expectation each time, and the hookline rounds it off with a descending phrase which picks up the root chord and prepares for the next verse.

Not quite into The Jazziverse

Although it started life strummed on an acoustic guitar with a rhythmic backbeat (I thought it had Beatle-esque characteristics) - It was the change of root chord from a straight E to an Emaj7 that changed the vibe altogether. I started to see it in a different light in the early seventies. I didn’t perform it very often, as I couldn’t quite decide what kind of song it was. I still wasn’t confident offering it up in a band situation, and my early experiences with Jonathan Kelly, (the Irish Folk Singer who fronted Humpy Bong), was somewhat self- intimidating, as he was a far better writer than I. We became great friends, but I was reluctant to be offer my songs up. In retrospect I think this was a mistake, and the low self-esteem I felt during those times was a rather unfortunate state of affairs. It was probably delusional, and something that I wish I’d overcome.

A New Lease Of Life

When we finally recorded the song after the millennium, my good friend and keyboard player on the aMIGO album, Peter Hammond, (an accomplished jazz pianist and expert on vintage Cinema organs), transformed it into a light jazz ballad which I feel absolutely nailed the proper vibe of the tune.

It’s one of my songs that I really have a soft spot for, and apart from the tune itself, the whole process educated me into considering all of my material in a much more open light - that is to say, although I might write, test, and demo them with a guitar - that would by no means necessarily be the right dominant instrument to use; if the rhythmic accentuation of the groove called for something else; a piano - or any instrument that has its own distinct rhythmic character, then it should be ‘led’ by that instrument. Many have their own characteristic sound ‘envelope’ which places them completely on their own rhythmically… for example, mandolin, accordion, banjo, of course keyboards, all have completely different ways that they accentuate successive notes, they govern rhythm in unique ways, and can influence the development of style by the very way in which they produce sound.

Adios aMIGOs!

Me in 1969, when I was still living at home with my folks. Typewriter and Portadyne record player in the background. I’m playing a white Ned Callan SG guitar through the bass setup I used in ‘Smile’. Dig the tie-dye tee-shirt & velvet loons!

Promo picture for aMIGO, London 2003

Peter Hammond

[Q-Freddie]

Country of the Blind
Written 1969, recorded for ‘Wayward Child’ 2020

Once Again, Howdy;

This Time around, I come to a song that started life in about 1969 (Country of the Blind) - as a ‘work in progress’ embryo - and then remained - as they say; ‘on the back burner’ for half-a-century before finally breaking free and gracing the album ‘Wayward Child’ which I released in 2023.

Where I shared a fascination with Brian (May) over all things cosmological - that of course extended into the realms of science-fiction, and we were both early converts to the writing of one Herbert George Wells; notably, ‘War Of The Worlds’, ‘The Time Machine’, ‘The Invisible Man’ and so forth; now Wells was no slouch as a writer. His stories were beautifully written, unique and visually rich. It’s hardly surprising that ‘WotW’ has been filmed on several occasions; turned into a musical, illustrated and broadcast as a radio presentation and must be known the world over.

Hidden Gems

But there are little nuggets of short stories peppered across his collected writings which are real gems, and one of these is called ‘The Country Of The Blind’ - about a hiker, who one day stumbles into a hidden valley with impossibly steep descending mountainous sides, and finds a race of blind people, who are astonished that he seems capable of so much. They, of course, don’t fully understand what his talent is, as they don’t possess it themselves. I’m sure Wells wrote it as an allegory for the hierarchies we experience in our own society, and I saw fit to borrow the title, in order to portray a similar dichotomy; everyman navigating the oceans of incomprehension that surround him.

‘Ain’t Gonna Get Downhearted’

It was another tune that I was reluctant to play to my peers, because at the time I had little confidence in it. And that was really another missed opportunity… of course, in a sense, that was the very subject of the lyric: ‘Don’t you worry… everything’s gonna be alright; Just remember, Rome wasn’t built overnight’ I was trying to take myself seriously as a musician/songwriter, and somehow, I knew that it was as much about confidence as anything else ‘You’ve got to find some reason - to satisfy your mind’ - I was looking to persuade myself, in spite of a deep sense of insecurity, that everything would turn out fine.

The Long Haul

It ended up taking half-a-century before I was able to look at the tune and say to myself -’actually, that’s rather good’ - and in fact in all honesty it was the encouragement of the producers, Jason & Oscar in Room To Studio in Barcelona that finally persuaded me to believe in the song after all that time. The production transformed it and gentrified it from (as I saw it) a folksy ballad, into a much more elegant anthemic piece; and completely reinforced the lyrical content. I wasn’t sure I could sing in a subtle voice, as I’ve always rather seen myself as being natively a more strident kind of singer - but I was encouraged to embrace it more sensitively, and I think it worked really well…

Hasta La Pasta!

The single cover for Country of the Blind which released on May 19th 2023
Recording Wayward Child at Room To Studios in Barcelona. Photographer credit: Cody Cloud.