Second Site by Whitlan, Stephen

Looking back now, having recently listened to this material with fresh ears, it seems inconceivable that these tracks have slumbered unheard for so long. There was certainly no intent not to release this stuff, indeed 4 of the tracks were played live around then and I still play '(untitled)' once in a while these days. As is usually the case with me, it was only when Ron accidentally heard the 'Leitrim' track, that the whole idea of finally releasing the fabled 'lost second album' took shape -indeed 'Leitrim' has recently been played live with help from Ron, Harold van der Heijden and Frank Dorittke in the UK and Germany.

Back in the 1990's, encouraged by the enthusiastic response to my first disc, 'Map reference', I set out to record a sequel at home in Sheffield (Map Reference had been done on location in the wilds of Bedfordshire). Things went well, and I soon had 4 solid tracks in the bag. Then I got completely distracted by moving to Ireland, and the project stalled with not yet quite enough material for a CD. I did continue writing and recording in Ireland (eventually) but this material was very different and became the K2Project album. Second Site was never finished.

Whilst based in Sheffield, I was also working with John Dyson on projects various, and part to the weekly round was to visit him for an evening an 'do some music'. Sometimes working on his stuff, and sometimes just checking out equipment and as a by-product come up with interesting little demos. These we could knock up in a couple of hours, from start to finish and end the evening with a quick mix-down to cassette. Luckily I held onto these tapes and now find that there are enough pieces to use to complete the aforementioned CD. They are sonically a bit different -they used John's gear and were mixed and stored on tape, whereas the stuff I did at home was done to a Digital tape format. They also rarely featured Moog or Prophet as we used to joke that 'there is no Minimoog on this JD album' -and there usually wasn't on the demos either.

I wonder if it is a universal truth that musicians rarely throw stuff away -gear or old tapes. Luckily I had not only kept those cassettes but also the Digital tape player, so when it came time to rip the music into a 21st century format it was relatively painless. Listened to with fresh ears, and for the first time in many years it was clear that there was more than enough good material to put together a full CD (and more) from this pool. There was a certain push-and-shove as I re-evaluated tracks, and more when other people heard them, but this is probably the CD that would have seen the light of day back in the late 1990's. The hardest task fell to Ron, who has done a spectacular job evening out the sonic peculiarities of the demo tracks and matching them as closely as possible to my finished ones. I am quite amazed at the final result, and it is probably stronger than it might have been back then. So sit back and enjoy my long-lost second album: Second Site.

Stephan Whitlan
Jan 2018
Rutland