''The World's Not Big Enough'' is the only solo album by

John Du Cann John William Cann (2 June 1946 – 21 September 2011), later known by his stage name John Du Cann, was an English guitarist primarily known through his work in the 1970s band Atomic Rooster. Life and career His early bands included the Wilt ...

, who was best known as

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

and vocalist with

Atomic Rooster Atomic Rooster are a British rock band originally formed by members of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, organist Vincent Crane and drummer Carl Palmer. Throughout their history, keyboardist Vincent Crane was the only constant member and wrote ...

and

Hard Stuff Hard Stuff were an English hard rock group which included John Du Cann and Paul Hammond, formerly of Atomic Rooster. Also in the line-up were vocalist Harry 'Al' Shaw, formerly of Curiosity Shoppe and latterly Export, and John Gustafson, fo ...

in the 1970s. The album was recorded in 1977, but remained unreleased until 1992, and was

remaster Remaster refers to changing the quality of the sound or of the image, or both, of previously created recordings, either audiophonic, cinematic, or videographic. The terms digital remastering and digitally remastered are also used. Mastering A ...

ed in 1999.

Recording

During the mid-1970s, Du Cann was signed to Quarry Management, who also handled

Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, political, religious or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the current state of social structure and/or values. W ...

. When Du Cann presented some demo tracks to

Arista Records Arista Records () is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously handled by BMG Entertainmen ...

, it was suggested that he record them in a studio with Status Quo guitarist

Francis Rossi Francis Dominic Nicholas Michael Rossi, (born 29 May 1949) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He is the co-founder, lead singer, lead guitarist and the sole continuous member of the rock band Status Quo. Early life Rossi was born o ...

acting as producer. A group was assembled to record the album, including bass guitarist John McCoy, who later played with

Ian Gillan Ian Gillan (born 19 August 1945) is a British singer who is best known as the lead singer and lyricist for the rock band Deep Purple. He is known for his powerful and wide-ranging singing voice. Initially influenced by Elvis Presley, Gillan ...

;

Liverpool Express Liverpool Express (also known as L.E.X.) are a British pop rock band formed in 1975. They are best known for charting hit songs such as "You Are My Love" (which Paul McCartney once declared one of his favourite songs), "Every Man Must Have a D ...

and

Original Mirrors Original Mirrors were a British new wave band formed in Liverpool in 1979. Featuring members of several earlier punk/new wave bands, they signed to Mercury Records and released two albums before splitting up in 1981, with members going on to play ...

and future

drummer

Pete Kircher Peter Derek Kircher (born 21 January 1945, Folkestone, Kent) is a retired English rock/ pop drummer. Between 1982 and 1985 he was a member of Status Quo, performing with the band at Live Aid and on the albums '' Live at the N.E.C.'' and '' Back ...

, and keyboard player

Andy Bown Andrew Steven Bown (born 27 March 1946) is an English musician, who has specialised in keyboards and bass guitar. He is a member of the rock band Status Quo. Career Bown's first major band was The Herd, along with Peter Frampton. After The H ...

who was signed to

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...

but also performed with

, prior to being a full member in 1982. Ex-Atomic Rooster drummer Paul Hammond also played on several tracks. The band subsequently performed concerts in London, but Arista ultimately decided not to release the album.Sleeve notes for ''The World's Not Big Enough'', Claes Johansen, 1999. The album was eventually released in 1992, and featured Du Cann's 1979 UK hit single "Don't Be a Dummy", which he performed on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

''. The 1999 CD version also featured a number of bonus tracks, mostly demos and rough versions of songs not featured on the original album. "She's My Woman" and "Where's the Show!" were re-recorded when Du Cann rejoined Atomic Rooster, and were released on the band's 1980 album ''

''.

Reception

Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born January 19, 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' ...

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

described ''The World's Not Big Enough'' as "peculiar, though not half-bad, power pop/new wave with a mainstream slant", although he described the bonus tracks as "closer to hard rock in mood".

Track listing

* All tracks written by John Du Cann unless stated. #"Don't Be a Dummy" (

Ronnie Bond Ronnie Bond (born Ronald James Bullis; 4 May 1940 – 13 November 1992) was an English drummer, best known as the original drummer with the 1960s rock band The Troggs. Born in Andover, Hampshire, Bond was the original drummer with The Troggs, ...

) – 3:05 #"You Didn't Know Any Better" – 3:23 #"Fashion Fantasy" – 2:34 #"When I Was Old" – 2:35 #"Only One Night" – 3:00 #"Where's the Show!" – 2:25 #"She's My Woman" – 2:30 #"Throw Him in Jail" – 2:28 #"Evil You (Part 1)" – 2:42 #"Don't Talk" – 2:25 #"Your Application Failed" – 2:52 #"If I'm Makin'" – 2:58 #"Street Strutter" – 2:22 #"Evil You (Part 2)" – 2:42 #"Hesitation" – 2:26

Bonus tracks

"Exodus (Johnny and His Epic Guitars)" ( Ernest Gold) – 2:41 #"Moody Child" – 3:24 #"Truck Stop" – 2:48 #"Well Let's Go" – 3:56 #"Paradise" – 2:47 #"I Want to Be Alone" – 2:28 #"Ode to Mai West" – 2:30 #"Wise Man" – 2:56 #"Ooh Be Doo" – 3:39 #"Thanx for Nothing" – 3:59 #"Who Cares?" – 2:07 #"The Door" – 0:21

Personnel

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

;

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

on tracks 16–25 *

– guitar on tracks 1–15 & 26 * John McCoy – bass guitar on tracks 1–15 & 26 *

–

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

on tracks 1–15 & 26 *

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

on tracks 1–15 & 26 * Paul Hammond – drums, percussion on tracks 13 & 16–25 *Produced by Francis Rossi and John Du Cann *Remastered by Nick Watson

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:World's Not Big Enough 1992 albums John Du Cann albums