I’m getting a Fairlight!!!

Ok, I can’t lie. So here’s the truth and the facts.

Yes, I am getting a Fairlight.

No, I won’t be owning it (not unless a rich uncle drops dead or a set of randomly chosen balls happens to match a set of numbers I picked at random)

Yes, I will get to play with it.

No, my wife isn’t happy.

Yes, I’m feckin’ ecstatic!

So this is the deal. Some weeks ago, I was contacted by Peter Wielk. Peter has often been mentioned on this page because he is, without question, the best Fairlight engineer/restorer on the planet. Having worked at the original Fairlight company with the legend that is Peter Vogel, and having purchased much of the left over stock when that incarnation of the company bit the financial dust, Peter soon found a nice little sideline in keeping CMI’s around the world functioning at their best. Even today, when he visits the U.S. or U.K., Peter is besieged by CMI owners to arrange meetings to swap parts, get tips and have the Fairlight doctor diagnose and cure their CMI ailments.

Anyway, Peter and I talk via email quite a bit. We tend to follow the pattern of shooting the breeze about the good old days and then aspire to do some stuff together, like build a proper website for his business, but we’re both so busy with our respective lives that it never gets properly going. But when I got an email about three weeks ago, our conversations took a rather pleasant turn. I was in southern Germany at the time, down by the Rhine near Wiesbaden, doing what I do for a living to pay the bills. I read the email and got decidedly giddy. Peter told me he had acquired a Series III CMI whilst in the U.K. and was planning on restoring it, making sure it had the latest and greatest of everything, and then selling it on. But he didn’t want to ship it all the way back to Australia. He felt he could easily sell this in Europe, so decided to leave it here. What Peter was after, however, was someone to do the restoration work, under his remote stewardship. And Peter had decided to ask me! How could I say no??

There was one final detail. This particular CMI, like many of the ones that remain in existence today, has a rather illustrious owner. This machine was once the property of Ian Stanley, one part of British pop act Tears for Fears. Ian was/is a bit of a musical genius, a member of the “Bath Massive”, as I like to call them. The South West of England seems to breed and cultivate incredible musical talent. It’s the home of many a great musician, Peter Gabriel for example, and Ian was part of that too. After offering Roland & Curt (Orzabal and Smith) some studio time, they went on to write and record the first TFF album, ‘The Hurting’ and subsequently their 1985 masterpiece, ‘Songs From the Big Chair’. He went on to work with them on their “difficult” third album, 1989s ‘The Seeds of Love’, but left part way through due to musical differences. He’s also worked with Lloyd Cole and the Commotions, A-ha, The Pretenders, Howard Jones, Ultra, Republica, Naimee Coleman, Stephanie Kirkham, Natalie Imbruglia, DNA, Propaganda, The Human League, Tori Amos, The Sisters of Mercy and The Beautiful South. To the best of my knowledge, he still resides in Ireland, or possibly France and has, allegedly, retired from the industry. I hope to try and make contact with Ian sometime soon.

Anyway, Peter bought this via Mark Frith and Chris Hughes who still work in the South West of England, and now, very soon, this machine will be here at Failed Muso Towers, where I will be, amongst other things, restoring it under Peter’s expert guidance. As I write this, there is a box of parts, including at least one hard drive, about to wing its way to me for insertion into the main unit. The Series III was launched in 1985, the same year that ‘Songs From the Big Chair’ was released so unless Ian had a CMI SIII prior to a commercial launch is unclear. I will be contacting Peter Vogel to see if he can remember. But there is every chance this may have been used on a subsequent tour (all components are suitably flight cased) and given that work began on ‘The Seeds of Love’ in 1987, it may have even seen use on those sessions. Initial investigations are proving to be unclear, with Mark & Chris stating that this was one of three Fairlights used in the studio at the time. Yes, you read that right. Three Fairlights!

So, my intention is to document the whole process, from collecting the system (sometime in the next week or so), through its restoration, testing and demonstration, possibly even writing some original music on it, and then finally selling and shipping it off to its new owner which, unless I start pooping solid gold eggs, won’t be me 🙁

Please stay tuned for updates and if anyone has any information about this particular machine and its unique history, please do get in touch.

To get things started here are some pictures taken by Peter…