As the Editor of Classic Rock Revisited I get a lot of music sent to me for review. Most of it is unsolicited so therefore I do not always have a chance to get to it. Usually, if it is an artist or band that I have never heard then I will try to give it a quick listen and make a snap judgment and decide if the disc goes in the review rotation or not. More often than not, it goes in the wastebasket. Trust me, there is a lot of bad music out there. Just think of it as bands that have the same deluded belief as many of the people who try out for American Idol.

Once in a while, however, a CD comes in that I didn’t ask for, didn’t know existed and am not readily aware of who the artist is and I end up loving it. Such is the case with Liam Davison’s Treasure of Well-Set Jewels. Think Pink Floyd meets early Genesis, Gong and a touch of free form Jazz and you have the music that is bouncing around in Liam’s heart and soul. This is good stuff. So good that a simple review was not enough. I wanted to find out more about this man and where this music came from.

While I was not aware of Liam’s career, once I read the press release I realized he has been involved in the UK band Mostly Autumn, a very good prog band, think Floyd meets Jethro Tull.

It is exciting that there is still music like Mostly Autumn and Liam Davison out there. As classic rock lovers we may need to seek out bands across the pond from the USA to discover them but they are there and once you discover a good one then you put them on your iPod play list forever. Read this interview then head over to Wymer Records and snatch this sucker up. You can thank me later.

Liam: Thank you, it’s much appreciated.

Liam: The only reason it has been released is because it got backing from Wymer Records otherwise I wouldn’t have imagined it going beyond the four walls of my room.

Liam: Definitely, Dave Gilmour has always been highly respected, the influence is definitely there but to be compared is a compliment within itself.

Liam: Throughout the years of the Floyd influence I’m more into Wish You Were Here and Animals. The Final Cut I felt was more like a Roger Waters solo album. Atom Heart Mother, there are tracks there that have influenced but the main part of the whole Floyd genre is the guitar playing and songwriting of the albums I have mentioned.

Liam: Well I love them both in different ways. That’s not a cop out. I love the collaboration; there again I love Gilmour’s solo albums. I tend to lean more towards the Roger Waters solo albums: Pros And Cons Of Hitchhiking and Amused To Death, a personal favorite. Then there is the Rick Wright album Broken China, which I absolutely love. Very dark, but that album influenced me a lot with atmospherics and keyboard sounds. I also love David Gilmour’s

voice and the genius, unpredictable lyrics of Roger Waters. It’s difficult to break down. I find it difficult to pick out certain things beyond the obvious. And certain aspects of the genius of Syd Barrett, which I love. The whole atmosphere influenced me, definitely, throughout my life.

Liam: It’s very simple. Bryan [Josh] and I play the same instrument and when Bryan writes a song, he’s the guitar player. He takes care of his lead guitar, but then he adds 12-string guitar, nylon guitar, then he employs me as a session musician to go out on tour to cover those areas. So my lead guitar playing in the Mostly Autumn camp is not relevant really.

Liam: I wasn’t nervous, I needed to release the album at some point as it was something I needed to get out of my system. Originally, even if nobody heard it, it was more of a hobby of mine. I’ve consistently written songs all through my life but going back to the Wymer Records thing it then became a reality.

Liam: Interesting question. It came to me in about four – five minutes, I struggled with the second verse. It was written on the back of a motorbike going through Interlaken in Switzerland. It’s one of the shorter and happier songs on the album but there is a very valid reason why I didn’t have printed lyrics on the album, although you can hear the lyrics. I just chose certain lines relevant to the concept of the song, which I think makes more of an impact because all the songs are very personal to me, but also for the same time it’s nice for others to listen to the songs and relate to their own life, and make up their own ideas about it. Then if they get me

in a corner they can ask me and I will explain it from my point of view.

Liam: Effortless, a very comfortable environment. I’d written the music beforehand on a nylon acoustic and I couldn’t think of anyone else but heather to sing it and luckily she agreed to do it. I explained the concept and she took the music away in a demo version of it, came back, she added the lyrics and sung it once an we demoed it once, and she added the melody, and it was very natural. And she pointed out that it was actually the first time we had ever worked together on a piece of music, which I didn’t realize at the time.

Liam: It’s an introduction to Eternally Yours and it goes back to a period of my life about six years ago when I was in Ireland on the shore and the wind was blowing a gale. I grabbed hold of my niece’s hand and obviously the lyrics to Eternally Yours were written about that and the trust of a child.

Liam: Whether I write on the piano or the guitar, sometimes I write on the piano and use the notes on a guitar or vice versa, and riffs wise they are pretty much immediate and I will then bang it down on my home studio, normally just voice and acoustic guitar then I sit back and listen to it and decide what type of guitar and affect I need to compliment the song and build layers and layers. Sometimes I do it the other way round then take the guitar out and add in one with a completely different sound. There is no actual conscious texture of the guitar. It depends on the style of the song, but I never full know until I’ve done everything. Obviously

pre-production is different to how it ends up as a complete piece of work. It can start out on acoustic guitar and end up on a screaming over driven Les Paul.

Liam: There’s been a consistent pattern when I record in my home studio. I get the atmosphere right, that final thing to add to the song. In Fairview studios I played with my eyes shut and then go off in to a self-indulgent journey of my own and then suddenly I’m back in the room and I don’t really know what I’ve played. It’s hard to describe but there was a point in the studio where I opened my eyes, the song had finished and I nearly fell over because I’d lost my balance. Those kind of takes are the best and I normally don’t need to change anything. I just go off on the journey and it just happens.

Liam: David Gilmour, Jeff Beck, Ritchie Blackmore, Jimi Hendrix and Steve Hillage.

Liam: Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd, a classical compilation of selected artists, Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, Lamb Lies Down On Broadway by Genesis and X & Y by Coldplay.

Liam: Well if you are prepared to wait another twenty years [laughs]. I’m always actively songwriting, who knows?