Event (18 July 07) - The Aled Showcase for the media launch of Aled’s CD, "Reason to Believe", which comes out in October of this year.
The showcase was held in a small club in the centre of London; after refreshments, Aled was to perform four of the songs from the CD. The club was downstairs in a smallish low ceilinged room, with a stage at one end where the backing musicians were to play, and the bar at the other end. In between, the seats were curved against the wall, four curved benches each side with round white tables at the centre, and as more people arrived, more tables were brought out into the centre of the room with pouffes placed around them to accommodate the increasing numbers. On some of the tables were labels - "Radio 2", "Nonstop". In the background, music played - typical club music, slightly jazzy! Waitresses brought round the food - an interesting variety! And for drink we were served from the bar.
Eventually Aled was to be glimpsed near the stage, and I could also see his wife Claire and daughter Emilia. (I asked Aled when I saw him at a later time if I could mention this - "of course you can" he replied, "why ever not? - they were there!" Thanks, Aled!)
The backing group had moved onto the stage and Aled, dressed all in black, as so often, stood at the corner of the stage when, at about 8.00.pm, Mark Wilkinson, General Manager of Marketing at UCJ, rose to give fairly detailed background information about Aled’s career, from his treble career through to his varied professional career as an adult, broadcasting, singing, dancing - and recently, drumming! And then, to introduced Aled, he called upon Emilia, who said, in a very clear voice (she’s obviously developing her father’s clear diction!) "Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome my daddy, Aled"!
Aled’s first song was ‘Father and Son’, written and originally performed by British singer Cat Stevens, and also performed by Aled on his albums ‘From the Heart’, ‘Morning has Broken’ etc. It will be interesting to hear Aled in the new album and compare his voice with that in ‘From the Heart’, which was issued in 2003. Because of the low ceiling etc, Aled’s voice sounded a little different, not quite so light and emotional as is usual in a concert hall, and so it was difficult to judge how it would sound on the CD.
Aled then spoke to the audience saying that "Reason to Believe" was his sixth album with UCJ (and he was signed up for another five) and his 23rd album in total. He said that he hoped everyone would enjoy themselves that evening, but added, in typical Aled, fashion that he was paying for it all so people shouldn’t drink too much! And then asked for applause for the backing group, the original session musicians who formed the rhythm section for the album, as Dom Kelly, Aled’s musical director, later informed me.
Next Aled introduced a duet, saying that he was singing this with Cerys Matthews, who had fronted the band Catatonia. However Cerys could not be there that evening as she was in the middle of moving back from the USA to Wales. (I remembered that, during my interview with Aled at Lowestoft in early April, I had asked Aled "Who would you most like to collaborate with in future?" and his answer had been "I have a list of about 20! One would be Cerys Matthews, who used to be the lead singer with Catatonia". We had understood that Aled would be performing a duet with Gretchen Peters on the CD - so maybe he had had his wish granted and was also singing with Cerys and there would be two duets? - all will be revealed when the album is released! Anyway, for this evening, Aled had Irish singer, Leona, to duet with him for ‘Some Kind of Wonderful’.
Then we got a couple of snatches of the jokey Aled - "A true Irish girl" he said as Leona left the stage, "She doesn’t go back there -but heads straight for the bar!" And then "Maybe in the first song you thought I was one half of RyanDan (Canadian twins, who I had heard at a recording of Friday Night is Music Night), not the ex-choirboy, ex-dancer, ex international drummer…." And Aled took his cue from what he had just said, went onto the stage, took the place of the drummer in the accompanying backing musicians and gave us an impromptu drumming performance - to much applause! As he came back towards the front of the stage to continue, someone was scurrying towards the door - "Don’t leave, it’s not that bad" he said, to their embarrassment and everyone else’s amusement!
Next we had ‘If’, lyrics by David Gates of Bread, which I have heard Aled sing number of times before at concerts, and which suits his style beautifully. After clapping the musicians in his usual manner, Aled said "There is plenty to eat and drink - or would you like another song? You could have one of two…." There were calls for both possibilities, but he opted for ‘Always There’ - again a song I have heard him sing before a number of times at recent concerts, and my own particular favourite of those I have heard from the new album. The song is by Secret Garden and is rather in the mould of ‘You Raise Me Up’, another song which Aled sings so beautifully and so movingly. The song suits Aled’s voice and his way of singing so well, it is so emotional and is clearly going to be the song on the new CD which, for me, is replayed so often that the track is worn away!
To much applause, Aled left the stage, and started to move around the room, speaking to his guests. At one point I saw Emilia standing on one of the pouffes, close to her father and with Aled with his arm around her - a lovely family portrait to counterbalance the professional one which was, of course, the actual reason for the evening! Eventually he arrived at my table, and I was able to ask him how he felt the evening had gone - "I loved it" was the typical Aled reply! And I did too Aled.
