Messages is the debut studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by English singer and musician Steve Swindells

Steve Swindells

Steve Swindells is an English singer-songwriter, keyboardist, party organiser, club promoter and journalist.Swindells grew up in the Bath and Bristol area, dropping out of art college to play keyboards with the rock band Squidd. Relocating to London in 1973 and living in squats, he recorded his...

, released in 1974 (see 1974 in music

1974 in music

-January–April:*January 3 – Bob Dylan and The Band kick off their 40-date concert tour at Chicago Stadium. It's Dylan's first time on the road since 1966.*January 17...

). Produced by his manager Mark Edwards, Swindells felt the production poor despite the presence of quality musicians.

A follow up album Swallows was recorded, mastered and test pressings manufactured, but "Edwards had blown Steve’s deal with RCA by sweeping everything off the managing director’s desk with his umbrella in a drunken/druggy rage". The 2009 re-issue of the album includes a bonus CD of this previously unreleased second album.

Track listing

All tracks written by Steve Swindells

1. "Miles Away Again"
2. "Energy Crisis"
3. "The Earl's Court Case"
4. "Living in Sin"
5. "I Don't Like Eating Meat"
6. "Shake Up Your Soul"
7. "Surrender"
8. "I Can't See Where the Light Switch Is"
9. "Messages From Heaven"

Swindells Swallow

1. "Flash In The Pan"
2. "The Walking Song"
3. "When The Clapperboard Has Clapped"
4. "Easy On The Night"
5. "Dealing With The Feeling"
6. "Better Times Are Here"
7. "Doodiboogie"
8. "The Last One To Know"

Personnel

• Steve Swindells – Keyboards, Vocals
• Bruce Knapp – Guitar
• Mark Warner
  Mark Warner
  Mark Robert Warner is an American politician and businessman, currently serving in the United States Senate as the junior senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Warner was the 69th governor of Virginia from 2002 to 2006 and is the honorary chairman of...
  
   – Guitar
• Caleb Quaye
  Caleb Quaye
  Caleb Quaye , is an English Afro-European rock guitarist and studio musician best known for his work in the 1960s and 1970s with Elton John, Mick Jagger, Pete Townshend, Paul McCartney and Hall & Oates...
  
   – Guitar
• Danny Thompson
  Danny Thompson
  Daniel Henry Edward 'Danny' Thompson is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as a double bassist and businessman...
  
   – Bass
• Dave Wintour
  Dave Wintour
  Dave Wintour is a bass guitarist and session musician.He has played and recorded with artists such as Rick Wakeman, Pete Atkin, Kenny Young, the pioneer jazz-rock band If, Clifford T. Ward, Roger Daltrey, Slapp Happy, Steve Swindells, The Pretty Things, Stealers Wheel and Leo Sayer.From 1995 to...
  
   – Bass
• John Gustafson
  John Gustafson (musician)
  John "Gus" Gustafson also known as Johnny Gustafson is an influential bass player who has had a thirty eight year recording and live performance career...
  
   – Bass
• Barry DeSouza – Drums
• Michael Giles
  Michael Giles
  Michael Giles is an English drummer, best known as a co-founder of King Crimson in 1969...
  
   – Drums
• Morris Pert
  Morris Pert
  Morris David Brough Pert was a Scottish composer, drummer/percussionist, and pianist who composed in the fields of both contemporary classical and jazz-rock music...
  
   – Percussion
• Chris Mercer – Saxophone
• Barry St. John – Vocals
• Rosetta Hightower
  Rosetta Hightower
  Rosetta Hightower is an American singer,and the former lead singer of the 1960s girl group The Orlons....
  
   – Vocals
• Doris Troy
  Doris Troy
  Doris Troy was an American R&B singer, known to her many fans as "Mama Soul".She was born as Doris Higginson in The Bronx, the daughter of a Barbadian Pentecostal minister. Her parents disapproved of "subversive" forms of music like rhythm & blues, so she cut her teeth singing in her father's choir...
  
  – Vocals
• Mountain Fjord Orchestra Orchestra
• Mohamed Shinan - bass

Release details

• 1974 – RCA Victor – UK: LPLI5057
• Single released: "Energy Crisis" / "Shake Up Your Soul"
• 2009 – Esoteric Records – UK: ECLEC2163 link