Hello There Big Boy!
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''Hello There Big Boy!'' is an album by British
blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...
musician
Danny Kirwan Daniel David Kirwan (13 May 1950 – 8 June 2018) was a British musician whose greatest success came with his role as guitarist, singer and songwriter with the blues rock band Fleetwood Mac between 1968 and 1972. He released three albums as a s ...
, who was a member of
Fleetwood Mac Fleetwood Mac are a British-American rock band, formed in London in 1967. Fleetwood Mac were founded by guitarist Peter Green, drummer Mick Fleetwood and guitarist Jeremy Spencer, before bassist John McVie joined the line-up for their epony ...
from 1968–72. Released in
1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
on the
DJM Records DJM Records (also known as Dick James Music) was the British independent record label, set up in the late 1960s by British music publisher Dick James. It was distributed by Pye Records in the UK, and various other companies around the world, ...
label, this was his last solo album. It was eventually released on CD in February 2006, albeit only in Japan.


Recording and composition

In comparison with Kirwan's other albums, this album contains less of his songwriting input. However, Kirwan wrote or co-wrote five of the nine songs on the album, while the other tracks were contributed by musicians involved in the recording (with the exception of
Randy Edelman Randy Edelman (born June 10, 1947) is an American musician, producer, and composer for film and television. He began his career as a member of Broadway's pit orchestras, and later went on to produce solo albums for songs that were picked up by ...
's "You"). Backing vocalist
Tony Rivers Tony Rivers (born Douglas Anthony Thompson, 21 December 1940, Shildon, County Durham, England) is an English singer, best known for singing with the groups Tony Rivers and the Castaways and Harmony Grass. Additionally, Rivers sang on albums by ...
provided one song; guitarist
Kirby Gregory Graham Patrick "Kirby" Gregory, often credited simply as Kirby (born 11 March 1953 in Wallingford, Berkshire, England) is an English musician best known for playing with rock bands Curved Air and Stretch. He now works in the field of addiction ...
another, and
Dana Gillespie Dana Gillespie (born Richenda Antoinette de Winterstein Gillespie, 30 March 1949) is an English actress, singer and songwriter. Originally performing and recording in her teens, over the years Gillespie has been involved in the recording of over ...
co-wrote one with manager / producer Clifford Davis (under his usual pseudonym of Clifford Adams) as well as singing a duet on one of Kirwan's own songs. "Only You" was an old Fleetwood Mac song given an update, and was released as a single. Fleetwood Mac's version had not yet been released at that point, though it can now be found on the Volume 1 of the triple '' Live in Boston'' set and the ''
Live at the BBC {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) Live at the BBC or BBC Recordings are recordings originally made for or by BBC Radio 1. Many recordings were released under several name variants. Live at the BBC *Live at the BBC (The Beatles ...
'' 2-CD set released in 1995. "Caroline" was the single's B-side, written by Kirwan about his ex-wife (although her name was not Caroline),Richard Hogan,
DJM DJM is a range of DJ mixers made by Pioneer Electronics. Mixers in the DJM series include the DJM-300, DJM-350, DJM-400, DJM-450, DJM-500, DJM-600, DJM-700, DJM-750, DJM-707, DJM-800, DJM-850, DJM-900 Nexus, DJM-900 Nexus 2, DJM-909, DJM-100 ...
press release for ''Hello There Big Boy!'', 1979.
and a sad insight into his state of mind at the time. It is not clear how much of the lead guitar on the album was played by Kirwan, with Gregory and
Bob Weston Bob Weston (born 1965) is an American musician, producer, recording engineer, and record mastering engineer. Critic Jason AnkenyAnkeny, Jason. " Bob Weston: Overview from Allmusic.com declares that "Weston's name and fingerprints are all over th ...
playing on several tracks, although a press release for the album states that Kirwan took the acoustic guitar solo on "Summer Days and Summer Nights". Producer Davis added the work of 87 outside musicians to the recording, after Kirwan had laid down the basic tracks. On hearing the finished album, Kirwan told Davis that he thought it was "the best thing" he had done. Davis said of the album some years later that it was "so bad...he had to finish it for contractual reasons. I even picked the songs.""
Bob Brunning Robert Brunning (29 June 1943 – 18 October 2011) was a British musician who was, as a small part of a long musical career, the original bass guitar player with the blues rock band Fleetwood Mac. Career Fleetwood Mac When Peter Green left ...
- Fleetwood Mac: Behind The Masks", Hodder & Stoughton, 1990.


Reception

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 ...
critic Joe Viglione described the album as "light pop on a mission", and "perfectly produced" by Davis. Comparing "End Up Crying" to the "soft rock" Fleetwood Mac, he also highlights "California" and "Spaceman" as "more accessible than some of the popular versions of Fleetwood Mac". He also singled out the "intricate guitar lines" and "sterling vocals" of "Summer Days and Summer Nights".


Track listing

Side One #"Wings of a Dove" (
Danny Kirwan Daniel David Kirwan (13 May 1950 – 8 June 2018) was a British musician whose greatest success came with his role as guitarist, singer and songwriter with the blues rock band Fleetwood Mac between 1968 and 1972. He released three albums as a s ...
) – 2:52 #"Gettin' the Feelin'" (
Tony Rivers Tony Rivers (born Douglas Anthony Thompson, 21 December 1940, Shildon, County Durham, England) is an English singer, best known for singing with the groups Tony Rivers and the Castaways and Harmony Grass. Additionally, Rivers sang on albums by ...
) – 3:46 #"End Up Crying" (
Kirby Gregory Graham Patrick "Kirby" Gregory, often credited simply as Kirby (born 11 March 1953 in Wallingford, Berkshire, England) is an English musician best known for playing with rock bands Curved Air and Stretch. He now works in the field of addiction ...
) – 3:51 #"Caroline" (Kirwan, Clifford Adams) – 3:08 #"You" (
Randy Edelman Randy Edelman (born June 10, 1947) is an American musician, producer, and composer for film and television. He began his career as a member of Broadway's pit orchestras, and later went on to produce solo albums for songs that were picked up by ...
) – 3:42 Side Two #"Only You" (Kirwan) – 3:52 #"California" (Adams,
Dana Gillespie Dana Gillespie (born Richenda Antoinette de Winterstein Gillespie, 30 March 1949) is an English actress, singer and songwriter. Originally performing and recording in her teens, over the years Gillespie has been involved in the recording of over ...
) – 2:35 #"Spaceman" (Kirwan) – 3:18 #"Summer Days and Summer Nights" (Kirwan) – 3:32


Personnel

*Danny Kirwan –
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 ...
s,
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 ...
*
Kirby Gregory Graham Patrick "Kirby" Gregory, often credited simply as Kirby (born 11 March 1953 in Wallingford, Berkshire, England) is an English musician best known for playing with rock bands Curved Air and Stretch. He now works in the field of addiction ...
– guitars *
Bob Weston Bob Weston (born 1965) is an American musician, producer, recording engineer, and record mastering engineer. Critic Jason AnkenyAnkeny, Jason. " Bob Weston: Overview from Allmusic.com declares that "Weston's name and fingerprints are all over th ...
lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...
on tracks 2 and 5 *Tex Comer –
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 ...
*Fran Byrne –
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 ...
*John Cook –
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 ...
*Kevin Kitchen – electric
piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...
*Chris Fletcher –
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 ...
*
Dana Gillespie Dana Gillespie (born Richenda Antoinette de Winterstein Gillespie, 30 March 1949) is an English actress, singer and songwriter. Originally performing and recording in her teens, over the years Gillespie has been involved in the recording of over ...
– duet vocal on track 9 *
Tony Rivers Tony Rivers (born Douglas Anthony Thompson, 21 December 1940, Shildon, County Durham, England) is an English singer, best known for singing with the groups Tony Rivers and the Castaways and Harmony Grass. Additionally, Rivers sang on albums by ...
, Stuart Calver, John Perry –
backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...
*Arrangements by Clifford Davis and Tony White


Production

*Producer – Clifford Davis *Engineer – Louie Austin *Second engineer – Bob Broglia *Photography & sleeve design – Seabrook Graves Aslett *Recorded at Kingsway Recorders during January 1979 *Mixed at DJM Studio by Louie Austin


Release Information

*UK – DJM DJF20555 – 21 March 1979 (LP & cassette) *USA – DJM DJM-22 – 25 April 1979 (LP, cassette & 8-track) *Canada – DJM 9238-22 – 1979 (LP & cassette) *Peru – MAG LPN-2583 – 1979 (LP) *Japan – AMR Archive AIRAC-1177 – 22 February 2006 (CD) The Japanese CD release came in a cardboard sleeve.


References

{{Authority control Danny Kirwan albums 1979 albums DJM Records albums