Bernie Marsden Announces Sept. 30 Release Date for Shine via Mascot Label Group’s Provogue Records
GuitarWorld.com Premieres Lyric Video for “Linin’ Track”
Bernie Marsden (L) and Micky Moody in Whitesnake circa 1980
Bernie Marsden and Mascot Label Group’s Provogue Records have announced a September 30 release date for Shine. Marsden has been a prolific artist since the early 1970s, contributing performances to approximately one hundred albums. He has enjoyed a successful long-running solo career in addition to being a key member of groups that include Whitesnake, UFO, Wild Turkey, Babe Ruth, Paice Ashton & Lord, Cozy Powell’s Hammer, Alaska, M3 and others.
Looking towards the release of Shine, the Buckinghamshire-born guitarist shares, “To me, it’s a classic rock album with a modern feel. When I asked the bosses at Provogue what type of album they wanted from me, they simply replied, ‘Make a Bernie Marsden album.’ And that’s what I did.”
Enjoy the video for “Linin’ Track here and a trailer for the album here.
Still from “Linin’ Track” video
The light, airy commercial feel of Shine is due largely to producer Rob Cass, who pieced together its contents in Studio 3 of the legendary Abbey Road facility, though the backing tracks for three of its selections were cut at Riverside Studios in Somerset. During the 1980s, Cass had actually spent six months as the lead singer of Marsden’s group Alaska before carving out a career as a successful producer for a wide range of rock, pop and classical artists. It was Cass who sought out Marsden, emailing him to suggest they catch up over a reunion lunch at the home of his production company, located at Abbey Road Studios.
Bernie at Calella RockFest 2014
Marsden recalls, “Rob wanted to thank me for having sent him an air ticket to come to London from Ireland [to join Alaska] and helping to get his career underway. Coincidentally, I was looking for a producer because I’ve been writing, playing and producing for too long. I really liked the sounds that Rob gets, and that’s how the whole thing came together. If people think I was recording at Abbey Road because Whitesnake’s ‘Here I Go Again’ made 18 gazillion quid then they’re quite wrong…though it did make 17 gazillion quid!”
Watch/listen to the video of Whitesnake with special guest Bernie Marsden performing “Fool For Your Loving” & “Here I Go Again” and also catch Bernie performing “She’s Nineteen Years Old” with Gov’t Mule.
Bernie in the early days
Marsden believes that the famous facility has an atmosphere that permeates the sounds created within its walls ~ hence why the album’s final instrumental song, NW8, is titled after the studio’s postcode. He reflects, “The Beatles recorded Revolver, my favorite album of theirs, in Studio 3, so it has that sense of history. I honestly believe Abbey Road to be the best studio in the world.”
Although Marsden was wary of flooding the credits with too many special guests, Shine does feature some extremely well-known names, from Joe Bonamassa, Whitesnake singer David Coverdale, and the Deep Purple duo of Ian Paice (drums) and Don Airey (keyboards) to Jimmy Copley of Jeff Beck fame behind the kit and Mark Feltham of Nine Below Zero supplying some breathtaking harmonica playing. Marsden says quite honestly, “I can’t help it, I’ve got a lot of mates ~ and quite a few of them are guitar players.” Marsden has quite a few impressive guitars, too, among them his PRS SE Signature Guitar and “The Beast,” his 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard; for a look at his collection, check out this page.
L – R, Bernie and David Coverdale
The complete Shine track listing
“Linin’ Track”
“Wedding Day”
“Walk Away”
“Kinda Wish She Would”
“Ladyfriend”
“Trouble,”
“Who Do We Think We Are?”
“Bad Blood”
“Shine”
“Dragonfly”
“You Better Run”
“Hoxie Rollin’ Time”
“NW8″
Mascot Label Group’s Provogue Records will issue the album on August 18 in Europe.
Mr. Bernie Marsden, 2013