John Greaves

Passage du Nord Ouest

Tracklist:

1. One Summer (Greaves)

2. The Price We Pay (Greaves)

3. The Mirage (Greaves/Cunningham)

4. The Magical Building (Greaves)

5. Almost Perfect Lovers (Greaves)

6. Solitary (Greaves/Blegvad)

7. Dedans (Rose c’est la vie) (Greaves)

8. Deck Of The Moon (Greaves)

9. For Bearings/Silence (Greaves/Blegvad)

10. Kew Rhone (Greaves/Blegvad)

11. The World Tonight (Greaves)

12. Lullaby (Greaves)

13. Swelling Valley (Greaves/Blegvad)

14. How Beautiful You Are (Greaves/Blegvad)

15. Karen (Greaves)

about Passage du Nord Ouest

Dedicated to François Ovide and Michel Pintenet.

I’m very glad to see this gig available.
I’d been invited to play the club several times by the the sadly deceased and greatly missed Michel Pintenet (Thank you Michel).
I found this recording in the disorder of my archives. The songs are what they are. What gave me a thrill was the performance of these dear friends. I remember that another great friend, Elton Dean, was in the audience that night, and said “Such talent on stage my life. Such talent”. He was right. Listening to the recording - with all its faults technically and otherwise - I find that it goes beyond the virtuosity of Sophia, François and Paul, the vocal intuition of Peter and David’s uncanny knack of finding the right note. They were there to redefine my music with their generosity and skill. And I thank them for what we did and I’m proud that it’s on record.
In the previous week one of my favourite authors, Anthony Burgess, died. After rehearsals we found ourselves across the street from the club in the offices of “L’Autre Journal”- a fine magazine run by the wonderful Michel Butel - just as they were going to print. David Cunningham, a Burgess connoisseur, whipped out an eulogy to Burgess translated directly into French by Marie-Rose Lefèvre on sale the very next day. At the gig, Saïda Naït-Bouda, later, belly- danced deliciously to “Karen”.
I wrote a song called “Earthly Powers”.
Coincidence is everything.

John Greaves, April 2020

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This record captures a magic night, a wonderful concert that we decided to release as a special limited edition, the third in our Ephemerals series. I am very proud to have it released in this tough year as it represents to me the beauty of live events, I am sure we will start over again.

Max Marchini, June 2020
 

recorded live in Paris @ Passage du Nord Ouest on November 22nd, 1993
original recording by Maz Pinaud

produced by Max Marchini

edited and mastered at Elfo Studios in Tavernago (Italy) by Alberto Callegari

cover artwork by Lino Budano

Credits
John Greaves: Vocals, Bass Guitar, Piano

Sophia Domancich:Piano

François Ovide: Acoustic Guitar

David Cunningham: Electric Guitar, Kalimba, Electronics

Peter Kimberley: Backing Vocals, Egg.

Paul Rogers:Double Bass