And so 1995 arrived with Chris heading off to make a new beginning setting up home in Bangkok Thailand. For F/P it was time to take a well deserved break. In the 4 prior years they had recorded 6 full studio albums that had essentially drained the band of its artistic resources.
But 1995 also was the year that the green shoots of inspiration would start to appear that would in time grow and develop into fully fledged album contenders. Chris had bought a new keyboard. In the past he had always relied on the traditional piano but it was time for a fresh start and the keyboard afforded him more sounds with which to experiment and conjure up ideas for the next F/P album. Back in England Nick too was busy building a catalogue of new material a pile high.
Given that this was the first year, since the release of their debut album, that F/P had not recorded any new material, it was not surprising that the creative juices were overflowing and demos were being recorded and exchanged at a furious pace. By early 1996 the band already had enough stellar material stored up to release 2 strong albums. And yet in early 1996 there was still no firm schedule for F/P. The fans, unaware of the multitude of demos, were worried that Mayfair might be the final word in the Fawcett / Poustie legacy.
It was in June 1996 that the announcement that everyone had been looking forward to came. After a telephone conference together the band had decided that they were to go into the studio in July. Chris would fly to England, together with his new keyboard, and they would again set up shop in the band’s spiritual home; The Coach House.
It was an amazing triumph after a year-and-a-half in the wilderness that F/P were back together again. Chris and Nick had not even seen each other during the whole recess period. The buzz was back. The band had decided, quite incredibly, to record 2 albums in the space of 5 days ! Quite unthinkable, quite astonishing and quite an undertaking!
On Monday 8th July at 10 a.m. Chris arrived at the Coach House and they began to set up their equipment. For the next 5 days the boys would work 20-hour days to ensure that they completed the mammoth task of recording two albums. The plan was for both albums to be in the classic 10-song format of their vintage albums. As it turned out they fell behind schedule on the first day of recording by only managing 3 songs compared to the target of 4 songs per day. They never recovered enough ground and so Fawcett’s 10th song was dropped. So they recorded a 10-song album and a 9-song album.
As in the past the album title came from an inspired session in their local pub The “Rocking” Red Lion. There were 31 names suggested ranging from the ridiculous to the even more ridiculous. There were 4 rounds of voting until they arrived at the final title. Some of the loopier suggestions which went out in the first round included “Mountain”, “Caterpillar”, “Black Stuff”, “Manuscript”, “Monastery”, “Scarlet” and “Colossus” ! Making it through the first round of votes were such titles as “Trail Blazers”, “Dander”, “Ocean”, “Legend”, “Vineyard”, “10,000” and “Monster”. The favourites, which managed to stay in the running for the first 3 rounds included “Show Time Suckers”, “7-Wonders”, “Hello”, and “On Guard”. The winning candidate was simply “Framed” and the albums were numbered I and II. The recording schedule ran strictly and smoothly. The only major hiccup was Chris having a cold and almost not being able to sing. The first morning they started the proceedings by recording Chris’ rocker “You’ve Got Me Hanging By My Skin” which was followed by a quick lunch in the Red Lion and then back to the Coach House to record “Going To Mexico” and “Earthquake”. Lyric tracks were laid down until 4 o’clock in the morning.
Tuesday, 9th July work started at 10.30 a.m. with “Lonely People” before lunch followed by “You’re Gonna Pay” and the beginning of “Uncle Bernard” before a fish’n’chip takeaway break for dinner. After dinner “Uncle Bernard” was polished off and the boys headed for a quick session in the Red Lion from 10.30 – 11.30. Arriving home from the pub “And There Was Suzy” was laid down and lyrics went on until 4.30 a.m.
Wednesday 10th, Chris started the day at 11.30 a.m. with his lyrics for “And There Was Suzy”. By 12.15 recording started proper with “If You Love Me”, and “Sunny Day” before a hotpot-bean-fest which was followed with “10,000 Tuesday’s”, a song with reference to “The 10th of July” and “Waterfall”. Lyrics went on all through the night!
Thursday 11th started early with “Catch Me I’m Falling” before the band traveled into Northwich to recuperate their supply of beer. After listening to the Jazz FM radio station on the way “Peace” was recorded in the afternoon featuring an inspired jazz improvisational passage. Next up was “War” which had been named as such as at one point they had considered calling the album “War and Peace”. Finally they squeezed in “Going on Holiday”.
Friday 12th started quickly with “Just One Kiss” and “Lost Child” recorded before a celebratory luncheon with Nick’s Grandmother Gertrude in the Red Lion. “Show Time” and “I Wanna Be Your Postman” were laid down in the afternoon and mastering went on through the night until the album was finally finished at 5.30 a.m. on the Saturday morning.
The breathtaking and back-breaking schedule had produced earth-shattering results. The listening party which took place on the Saturday morning confirmed their suspicions. They had recorded the greatest album of their career. A masterpiece without comparison. An energy bomb ready to explode in the face of the world !
Somehow, someway, Nick and Chris had managed to overcome a year in the wilderness and jump straight back into the saddle at full pelt. Framed I & II was a miracle of sweat, inspiration and pure genius. It was 2 brand spanking, super tight, super-charged, slabs of pure brilliance. Far outreaching their boldest expectations they had not only recorded their greatest album of all time, they had recorded their 2 greatest albums of all time in one unimaginable swoop.
As the world waited with baited breath, word was out that the albums were utterly killer. No-one was quite ready for what was about to be unleashed. F/P were back and on top of the world, a world that was about to erupt in Euphoric celebration.
(Coming Soon ! - Jimmy Hill)