UPDATE COMING SOON
There are many rumours circulating around Lene's third album. One of these rumours is that Lene has remixed the album or re-recorded songs at the wish of her record company in order to make the recordings more commercial,
or that the tracks on the "New Toy" EP reflect what Lene had in mind for the album, while the album itself does not.
All of this is incorrect.These misunderstandings mainly go back to liner notes of CD re-releases, which contained only bits and pieces of this complicated story but not the complete information, and have been taken too literally.
In addition to this, liner notes or news items often tend to get elaborated by those who write them.
Unfortunately, the contents of these liner notes seem to stick in many people's heads ever since those CDs have been released in the 1990s.
Also, these misunderstandings partly originate in the fact that Lene did not always tell every single detail about the story to interviewers, or because not everything that she said was actually printed.
The above-mentioned unfounded statements about remixing or re-recording have also been made in an article on an early-1980s Stiff Records fanzine sheet, written by somebody who was not well informed for those same reasons.
The following is based on various interviews (mainly from 1981-1983).
The first part of this writing is an attempt to rectify the above-mentioned incomplete facts around "No Man's Land" and "New Toy"; the second part is the story of Lene's third album in general.
Lene and her partner Les Chappell had started to record their third album at Sound-Suite Studios (Islington Road, Camden, London) in late autumn 1980. These sessions were continued in early 1981 (not confirmed). "New Toy", the first single from the album sessions, was released in February 1981. According to a Stiff Records press announcement, "No Man's Land" was given a catalogue number, scheduled for release in late March 1981.
Stiff Records decided to prevent further work on the album when "New Toy" had only become a minor hit. Having become a more commercially orientated record company since Lene's last album "Flex", they could not see much hit potential in Lene's newest recordings. The postponed album, now with a new catalogue number, was expected to be out around September 1981.
However, it was clearly the fault of Stiff Records that "New Toy" did not sell better, despite massive radio airplay. The promotional release of the single has been played frequently on the radio, but it was released two weeks before the official single would be available. By the time it was finally in the shops, radio stations had already started to play the song less frequently.
After work on the album had been stopped by Stiff Records, Lene became ill and stopped working for awhile at doctor's advice. She used that time for introspection, of which she came out strong and confident, finding that there was nothing wrong about what she was doing. She was very determined not to compromise at all.
Stiff Records wanted Lene to change and record songs that were not recognisable as being hers, even down to taking on an anonymous singing style. Also, Dave Robinson (boss of Stiff Records) started to develop the idea that Lene should record a cover of a Motown song in order to have a hit record. Their policy would have been to force Lene to change by stopping her from recording.
Lene pointed out she wanted to stay true to herself and was having none of this.
To record the remaining songs and to do mixing work, Lene had to try and grab studio time whenever Dave Robinson was in good mood, which is why it was done at scattered sessions in different studios (1981).
It was in some ways an "acceptable compromise" how the album was finished and released.
Lene made clear in interviews that these compromises were "acceptable" in that she used them as means for everything to turn out the way she wanted it to be, that she would compromise only in terms of how to get there.
The way how she could persuade Dave Robinson to let her go to the studios was by working with his producers of the time.
However, Lene has pointed out (source: 1983 interview for Québec Rock magazine, plus other interviews) that she had used these producers just as engineers (assignated studio times were brief, and Dave Robinson was not aware - or interested - what exactly was going on there in the studios).
It is the reason why they are not credited as producers on the album's rear sleeve, but as "Recorded with ...".
Also, Lene had sent the finished tapes to Stiff Records, to no response; so she turned to Epic Records in America.
Epic Records pointed out that having recorded in different studios with different engineers resulted in an overall uneven sound for the album as a whole, so they wanted this to be fixed in order to make a release possible.
Lene was not aware there was a commitment for Stiff Records to finance this, as there was a contract between the two record companies that if Epic Records decided to release something, Stiff Records were obliged to finance the finishing of the product.
When Stiff Records sent Lene to New York to remix the album at Bob Clearmountain's studio, the record company hoped that he would take out all the "craziness".
Lene was worried about this at first, but when she and Les Chappell got to New York with their multi-track in late September 1982, working with Bob Clearmountain and his engineer Dick Wingate turned out very well.
Bob Clearmountain did not remove or add anything. The album is just as Lene had recorded it in England (source: 1983 interview for Music Sound Output magazine, plus other interviews).
Bob Clearmountain only provided better sound balance in order to make it appear as "one" record, so it would not be noticeable that the songs have been recorded in different studios with different engineers.
Lene has mentioned that she did not want the album to sound patchy; she wanted it to appear like "one positive impact".
She was so happy to work with Bob Clearmountain that she said he would use him again in the future.
As for the rumours that Dave Robinson wanted Lene to re-record tracks to make them sound more commercial:
"Savages" and "Special Star" were released on both the "New Toy" EP and the album. "Savages" on the EP was more experimental with its fragmented lyrics. There is no doubt that Stiff Records were happy about not having a sort of semi-instrumental track on the album.
Still, this was not the reason why the complete lyrics have been used for the album release (which has the same backing track as the EP release, while "Special Star" is a re-recording).
The different versions of these two songs were made because America, Canada and Australia (where the EP had been released) were important markets for Lene's records, so it would not make sense to release exactly the same recordings again on the album.
"Savages" was recorded with complete lyrics for an early 1981 BBC radio session (see below), and was played live always with complete lyrics (first time in 1981).
When Lene plays "Special Star" live, it was never played like the original recording from the "New Toy" EP, but always like the album re-recording.
Lene has explained that the initial recordings of these songs (as released on the "New Toy" EP) reflect how they were originally conceived, and that the album versions stand equal with the EP versions - not necessarily having developed these songs for the better, but taking them into different directions.
(When listening to the album re-recording of "Special Star", it is incomprehensible why some people make it out to be "more commercially appealing" than the original recording. Both versions are haunting and spacey in their own right.
What is actually more commercially appealing about the album recording is the sound quality, in having more of a hi-fi sound to it.)
In addition to this, people unsurprisingly tend to make up their own stories. About the fact that Lene has recorded a cover of "It's You, Only You (Mein Schmerz)" by Dutch band The Meteors (not the British band of the same name), they think she "somehow" must have done this because Dave Robinson wanted her to do a Motown cover.
Apart from the fact that the Meteors' songs are totally different to the Motown sound,
that particular song was already around at the above-mentioned initial recording sessions for "No Man's Land" (before they got stopped). Lene had asked the Meteors about covering that song when she invited them to be one of the opening acts for her autumn 1979 tour (when "Flex" was already recorded but prior to its release).
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Lene and Les Chappell did not have very much time to work on the songs for the first two albums. Some of the original songs on "Flex" have actually been written in the studio. Before recording sessions for the album started, they had only three original songs ready ("Monkey Talk", "Joan", "Bird Song"), plus tapes with many little bits of ideas recorded at home.
They decided to take more time for the third album, which they did after Lene came back from an extended visit at her family's place in America in the summer of 1980.
They visited producer Conny Plank's recording studio near Cologne in 1980. Contrary to what was written in the media, Lene did not go to Japan in 1980 to check out Japanese recording technology (her only visit to Japan was during her 1983 tour).
At one point in 1980 Lene wanted Ennio Morricone as (co-)producer for "No Man's Land", because of the different slant from which he would have taken everything into, but he was already booked well into the future.
Lene was very put off when she learned that The Cars' producer Roy Thomas Baker has claimed in some 1980 music paper that he's going to produce Lene's next album.
When further work on the work-in-progress album has been basically stopped by Stiff Records after the relatively poor sales of "New Toy" and Lene was having to grab time for scattered recording sessions (see above), Epic Records intended to release the song "New Toy" in America (where up to then it was available as an import).
The US release of the single was eventually withdrawn because Epic came to the conclusion that an extended release with more tracks would make more sense commercially.
It was decided to put out the six-track 12" EP "New Toy" with recordings from the "No Man's Land" sessions: "New Toy", "Savages", "Special Star", "Never Never Land", "Cat's Away", "Details". The EP was released in America in July 1981 (see albums discography). It also came out in Canada, and in Australia later in 1981.
(The Japanese six-track 12" EP "New Toy" (released in spring 1981) and two other 12" EP releases of the same title (released in Australia in spring 1981, and in France in late 1982/early 1983) are NOT releated to the actual "New Toy" EP. Also, these three releases are unrelated to one another. See specifications at singles discography.)
Epic Records may have financed mixing these tracks for the upcoming EP release. This is unconfirmed though; Lene may have finished mixing previously, before it was decided to release the EP. It is not unlikely that mixing these tracks just took place at the same occasion when "New Toy" and "Cat's Away" have been mixed for their upcoming release on the "New Toy" single (February 1981).
"Cat's Away" on the EP (different mix than on the "New Toy" single b-side) might be an up-till-then unused mix from these sessions.
The release of the "New Toy" EP made room for more tracks on the upcoming album itself. Obviously it would not make sense to release an album with mostly the same songs that were already available on the EP.
The songs that would be released on the "New Toy" EP, plus "Faces", "Walking Low", "Blue" (which became a single b-side), and "Savages" (the album version has the same backing track as the EP version) have been recorded during the initial album sessions at Sound-Suite Studios (late 1980, perhaps continuing into early 1981).
Most of the other tracks on the album have been around for the initial sessions, but have not yet been recorded by the time these sessions were stopped by Stiff Records.
The songs "Savages", "Rocky Road", "Maria" (along with "Details") were first heard as special radio session recordings for BBC host Richard Skinner's programme in March 1981. "Savages" from that radio session stands out with its haunting double-tracked vocals on the verses.
The decision to cover "It's You, Only You (Mein Schmerz)" was made in 1979.
Whether "Sister Video" has been around for the initial sessions is unconfirmed, but likely.
Both "Blue Hotel" and "O Seasons O Castles" did not yet exist during the initial sessions.
The album version of "Blue Hotel" was recorded around autumn 1981, in order to be performed at Sanremo song contest festival (Italy, late January 1982). The original song was a demo recording by the writer of the song, with dreadful English lyrics.
When the contest jury remarked that Lene had changed the original song too much for the performance at the festival , she recorded a different version that was musically closer to the songwriter's original demo.
This new recording, which became virtually a different song, was performed half-playback (vocals live) twice at the festival, and released on single in Italy in early 1982. It was also released in Germany in 1983.
"O Seasons O Castles" was recorded around early 1982, specially for the French television film "Rock", in which Lene plays a leading part.
It is unknown if Lene had considered this song to go on the album at some point. It became a single b-side in Australia and Germany in 1983.
(See upcoming page with information on all songs.)
Justin Hildreth, Lene's drummer since the recording sessions for "Flex", played drums on the songs from the initial sessions for "No Man's Land", and also at the above-mentioned BBC radio session.
He was not available for later recording sessions, which is why Fingerprintz drummer Bogdan Wiczling was playing drums for "It's You, Only You (Mein Schmerz)" and "Rocky Road".
Lene and Les Chappell preferred the sound of a drum machine for "Special Star", "Sister Video", "Maria" and "Blue Hotel".
Stiff Records were concerned that the word "no" in the album's title might put the audience off, so they asked Lene to explain the title on the sleeve, which is the reason why she would write the poem that is printed on the rear sleeve.
A concert in New York in September 1981 (part of a brief East Coast tour) was filmed for television by the production company of American band The Osmonds (they were the only people who wanted to put money into this).
Lene and Les Chappell took photos for the album cover at the Great Salt Lake Desert when going to the Osmonds' place in Utah to do editing work of the New York concert's filming.
Some film footage they had shot at the same occasion in the desert was used for brief scenes of the video for "Blue Hotel" in 1983.
The following credits are taken from the inner sleeve of the album's Japanese release (except the studios). See albums discography for more "No Man's Land" credits.
Apart from the initial sessions being confirmed to have taken place at Sound-Suite Studios, the other studios are listed on the album's rear sleeve but there is no specific information mentioned.
Following internet research for the engineers and studios, the locations of the individual recording and mixing sessions listed below are virtually confirmed (except where noted).
Recording engineers:
"Faces", "Walking Low", "Savages", "Blue", "New Toy", "Cat's Away", "Special Star" (from "New Toy" EP), "Never Never Land", "Details": Alvin Clarke, Peter Rackham (Sound-Suite)
"Special Star" (from "No Man's Land"), "Maria": Martin Rushent (Genetic)
Recording engineers:
"Faces", "Walking Low", "Savages", "Blue", "New Toy", "Cat's Away", "Special Star" (from "New Toy" EP), "Never Never Land", "Details": Alvin Clarke, Peter Rackham (Sound-Suite)
"Special Star" (from "No Man's Land"), "Maria": Martin Rushent (Genetic)
"It's You, Only You (Mein Schmerz)", "Sister Video", "Rocky Road": Steve Nye (Air)
"Blue Hotel": Gordon Fordyce (Good Earth)
"Faces", "Walking Low", "Special Star" (from "No Man's Land"): John Walls (Wessex)
"It's You, Only You (Mein Schmerz)", "Sister Video": Bryan Evans (Good Earth)
"Blue Hotel", "Maria", "Savages", "Rocky Road": Damian Korner (Konk ? / Basing Street ?)
