Paul played bass on the whole record.
Probably more than anyone, Paul is the soul of the album. I am biased beyond belief because he’s one of my best friends now, but I have to try and explain why…
We met on the Ronan gig. It turned out he lived just round the corner from me – literally a three minute walk. Any TV shows, we’d share cars, and the chat was great. He is an instantly loveable person, so very soon, I found myself hanging out with him, heading into London for nights out, listening to music, drinking cups of tea on the patio in summer. The tours were another great time of getting to know each other, and the opportunities for bigger and better expeditions of chaos and disorder came thick and fast…
His bass playing blew me to bits when I got on stage with him. Rock solid, never too fussy, planting the one with a seriously funky disposition. His CV speaks volumes about how good a player he is (George Michael, Annie Lennox, Kylie, and ahem Take That – D. hero-worships Paul for that very reason – and he’s even on a Bootsy Collins track!!) but until you are there feeling the low end as Paul plays bass, you can’t quite understand. Wicked.
When Angels In Drag was being recorded, I had thrown shapes at a few tracks on bass, as I’m not too bad, but Paul is in a different league. I didn’t even ask him if he’d play, thinking it was a bit presuming of me to assume he’d do it. But, totally in keeping with his personality, he jumped in and offered to play as much as I wanted, whatever… I couldn’t resist.
In all spare moments he’d be round with those lovely old basses, tearing each and every track to bits, giving every track a new vibe and bringing a slightly different perspective to the sound. Even on tracks where I had the whole bassline worked out, he just played them so fluidly and so ON IT that it just transformed the music. Every session was a joy, a true success, and my debt to him was enormous, getting bigger by the note. In the end, he played on every track that has bass on it!
We’ve been all over the world together at this point, had the best times, and his contribution to the album is the anchor to it all, something beyond value and way beyond the call, the true measure of his generosity of spirit.
He’s been out touring with Annie Lennox recently, having a ball… he is, as they say, the man. And who am I to disagree. Long live P*STAR.