Unfortunately, Randy… with the operatic range and smooth style… was starkly contrasted by Reggie’s powerful voice, which didn’t have the range of Randy’s, but seemed to fit the heavy music a little better. These sessions were engineered by long-time Huntridge figurehead, Richard Lenz. So Raven brought in powerhouse singer, Reggie Richards, to lay the vocals at Huntridge Studios in Las Vegas. Vinny Appice once again came to Vegas and recorded the drum tracks for the new songs, but Randy was unavailable. However later on, a couple new songs were written that Raven wanted to add to the record. The recordings from that session are now available as “ The London Sessions” on Tune City. Randy’s voice came out of the speakers with that Zeppelin-like reverb!ĭuring the sessions, Raven recorded most of the main guitar solos and miscellaneous overdubs, including the melody lines on “Black Widow,” suggested by Benji, that didn’t exist before. Raven immediately put it in the nearest cd player and confirmed what he had hoped…. One day, when Raven was sorting through a pile of cd’s, most of which were rough mixes of countless recording sessions, he discovered one with “London Sessions” scribbled on it, in what must have been Benji’s writing. It was believed that no recordings existed of the original London mixes. He was in awe of seeing Benji’s gold and platinum records from Robert Plant and Led Zeppelin. Benji even let Raven stay as a guest in his home for some extended time in London. The bonus to this is that he got to work with Benji Lefevre, who was Jimmy Page’s right hand man throughout the Led Zeppelin years, and went on to co-product many of Robert Plant’s solo albums. While in London, he looked for a studio where he could finish up the recording and get a mix, and he found Hoxton Studios. He left to Sweden to meet up with his manager, Ulf Wahlberg of XTC Productions in Stockholm after the vocal sessions, but was not able to finish the guitar solos. Once again, a deadline approached and Raven had to keep to a travel schedule. Raven traveled back home to Las Vegas to get vocal tracks laid down by Randy Williams at Aryan Blakston’s studio, Digital Dreamland. Some keyboard tracks were recorded at Musicalen Studios in Stockholm with Tord Määttä at the board. Flying Duck was operated by the producer and members of the popular Swedish pop-group, Sonic Dream Collective (they later dropped the “Collective” from their name for their 1999 release, “Dustproof,” which Raven laid rhythm and solo tracks for). Olof engineered his own bass tracks, as well as Raven’s rhythm guitar and many of Monica’s keyboard tracks. The bass, rhythm guitar, and keyboard sessions were recorded in Sweden through late ’96, most of which took place at the Flying Duck studios in Uppsala. The Project started out with a big kick in 1996 having the legendary Vinny Appice lay down the drum tracks for the six original RSP tunes, and two more later on. Much like Spinal Tap always had issues with drummers, RSP was plagued with revolving singers, as well as meager finances and distraction (mostly the distractions of daily survival). It’s not for a lack of new ideas, which Raven is always working on… but out of a need to “finish” it the right way. It certainly became an international album project, with the writing, recording, and production occurring in numerous places in several cities in four different countries over the course of six years, with occasional remixes and re-releases still taking place. These songs essentially were recorded for one album, which was to the the debut of the Raven Storm Project.
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Finally, Allegheny Records has released two Raven Storm Project albums on Tune City!