The Journey Box Set
An Interview with David Suff
October 2006
RALPH, ALBERT & SYDNEY
The Journey Box Set
An Interview with David Suff
October 2006
I was lucky enough to
meet David Suff, who compiled Ralph's Box Set in London last month. David kindly
agreed to answer a few questions about his work on The Journey for the web site.
I know David is a very busy man, so was grateful he took the time to do this.
Andy Langran
October 2006
Dear Andy
Sorry to have taken a while - life's been a bit hectic. Went to see Ralph in
Derby at the weekend - splendid show.
David
How long did it take you to put the
Box Set together?
It took about 2 years from start to finish. My work
on The Journey began in May 2004, though
most of the work was done between September
2005 and July 2006. It obviously got busier as we got closer the completion and
release date.
What were your aims when compiling
the Box Set?
I wanted to paint
a broad portrait of Ralph McTell - writer, performer, man. To try to tell the
story of Ralph's career in music over the past 40 years. It was important to
select material which might interest the devoted fan and the new listener.
Were you surprised by how much
material there was to go through in the selection process?
I was surprised, but perhaps I shouldn't have been. I was after all looking at a
40 year career, lots of official releases to go through, before I started on the
unreleased material which there was plenty of.
Where did the material you chose come
from?
The material I chose for The Journey came from a variety of sources. This
included radio broadcasts, soundboard recording from Ralph's tours over the
years and Ralph's own private archive.
Did you have to set aside some of
your personal favourites to keep the
aims and objectives of the Box Set on track?
Yes. One or two songs failed to find a place on the set. At first 4 full
CDs seems an enormous amount of time. Inevitably everything on the wish list
fails to squeeze on.
Did you have to set aside some of
Ralph's personal favourites and not use them? Ralph has said he doesn't like
listening back to old material, which suggests he left you free to compile the
Box Set as you wanted.
I listened to everything we could find, made the selections and then took
them to Ralph. Over a few months we refined the selections, found extra
possibilities and batted the selection back and forward.
Nanna proved to be an invaluable pair of ears and often helped with the
final selections.
With some of the older recordings how
were they cleaned up. Can you explain a little of the process?
Modern technology allows the best to be got from older tapes. Some masters from
the 1970s needed to be baked in an oven because the oxide layer is now quite
fragile before I could even listen to them.
Most of the "cleaning up" was done by our wonderful mastering
engineer Denis Blackham. He's one of the very best in Britain. Our rule
as always to preserve the musicality of any performance. In the end poor quality
recordings were rejected before final selection, so there wasn't too much
"cleaning" at the mastering stage.
How was the whole Box Set assembled
in terms of the writing and photographs that make up the Box Set. Is it all done
on-line these days?
I sketched the design on a train to Cornwall. John Haxby the
photographer/ designer came to London for the photo shoot, then we had one
meeting in North Yorkshire to finalise the design concept.
Everything else, including all the notes were written and edited via
e-mail. Towards the end of the project Ralph and I might have exchanged ten or
more e-mails in a day.
Were there any songs you wanted to
include, but they had to be rejected?
Yes, several had to be rejected because of the poor sound quality, as I
mentioned above. No amount of cleaning up would have resulted in them being good
enough to include on the Box Set, which was a shame.
Where did the photographs come from?
Mainly from Ralph's archive and we had a special photo shoot for the
front cover.
I've long wanted to hear Ralph's take
of Randy Newman's 'Marie'. I can't
think of many Newman cover's I like, I did like Ralph's performance of Marie a
great deal and it's probably one of my favourites on the Box Set. Have you got
some personal favourites?
As I am sure others will find, I have different
favourites depending on the day, mood, etc. I'm particularly fond of the
recording of 'A Leaf Must Fall' with John Renbourn.
11. Did Ralph reject any of your
choices? For what reason? Who won in the
end?
Of course the artist has to have the final say on what can be released
and what can't. If there was a performance that they were unhappy with then it
can't be used - simple as that. On 'The Journey' we had a couple of heated
conversations. I didn't keep score but Ralph (quite rightly) won more than I
did.
Are you pleased with the finished
result?
Yes very much so. It is always very satisfying
seeing the end result on a project of this nature.
I think box sets, if they are good,
are not just about the music. I
think Ralph's Box Set is exciting to look at and has a great impact
visually, before you even hear the first track of music.
Absolutely. It was an important consideration when putting
everything together for The Journey. A box
set can make quite an impact in the modern crowded record
shop. The design of the box was always an important element in this
project. We didn't, for instance, want it to look too "folky".
Have you got any similar projects
coming up?
Nothing definite in the near future. I've been working on an Acoustic
Guitar box set for awhile and dream of compiling a Robert Wyatt set.