''Schizophonia'' is the second solo album by English singer-songwriter

Mike Batt Michael Philip Batt (born 6 February 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, record producer, director, and conductor. He served as the Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry. Batt created the novelty pop band T ...

, backed with the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

. It was released in 1977 by

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...

Background and content

According to Batt, ''Schizophonia'' was originally a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

with the title ''The Adventures of God and His Pals'', with

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

being like Lord Snooty from ''

The Beano ''The Beano'' (formerly ''The Beano Comic'') is a British anthology comic magazine created by Scottish publishing company DC Thomson. Its first issue was published on 30 July 1938, and it published its 4000th issue in August 2019. Popular and ...

'' comic magazine. Having started writing songs for that album, Batt thought the theme was "a bit silly", before imagining an Arabic story and then discovering one "about Mohammed the Fifth and the Berber Revolt in the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

''." ''Schizophonia'' partly contains a theme of

Arabic music Arabic music () is the music of the Arab world with all its diverse List of music styles, music styles and genres. Arabic countries have many rich and varied styles of music and also many linguistic Varieties of Arabic, dialects, with each countr ...

, which persuaded film producer

Elmo Williams James Elmo Williams (April 30, 1913 – November 25, 2015) was an American film and television editor, producer, director and executive. His work on the film ''High Noon'' (1952) received the Academy Award for Best Film Editing. In 2006, Williams ...

to commission Batt to write the score for the 1978 film '' Caravans.

Track listing

All tracks written by

, except where noted. Side one Side two

Personnel

Adapted from the album's

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or cassette j-cards. Origin Liner notes are descended from the prog ...

Musicians

– vocals (side one: tracks 1, 3, 4; side two: tracks 1, 3–5),

Wurlitzer electric piano The Wurlitzer electronic piano is an electric piano manufactured and marketed by Wurlitzer from 1954 to 1983. Sound is generated by striking a metal reed with a hammer, which induces an electric current in a pickup. It is conceptually similar to ...

(side one: track 3; side two: track 4),

ARP synthesizer ARP Instruments, Inc. was a Lexington, Massachusetts manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, founded by Alan R. Pearlman, Alan Robert Pearlman in 1969. It created a popular and commercially successful range of synthesizers throughout the ...

(side one: track 4; side two: track 4),

Clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

(side one: track 5), arrangement (side two: track 2), keyboards (side two: track 5), accordion (side two: track 5) *

Anthony Camden Anthony Camden (26 April 1938 – 7 March 2006) was the principal oboe and chairman of the board at the London Symphony Orchestra. He was also a founding member of the ensemble London Virtuosi and went on to become the provost and director of th ...

– oboe (side one: track 1),

cor anglais The cor anglais (, or original ; plural: ''cors anglais''), or English horn (mainly North America), is a double-reed woodwind instrument in the oboe family. It is approximately one and a half times the length of an oboe, making it essentially ...

(side two: track 3) *

Clem Cattini Clemente Anselmo Agustino Cattini (born 20 August 1937) is an English rock and roll drummer of the late 1950s and 60s, who was a member of The Tornados before becoming well known for his work as a session musician. He is one of the most prolifi ...

– drums (side one: tracks 1, 3, 4; side two: track 1) * B. J. Cole –

pedal steel guitar The pedal steel guitar is a console steel guitar with pedals and knee levers that change the pitch of certain strings, enabling more varied and complex music to be played than with other steel guitar designs. Like all steel guitars, it can play ...

(side one: tracks 3, 5; side two: track 4) *

Ray Cooper Raymond Cooper (born 19 September 1947) is an English musician who has worked as a session and road-tour percussionist. During his career, Cooper has worked and toured with numerous musically diverse bands and artists including Elton John (as ...

– percussion (side one: tracks 1, 3–5; side two: tracks 1, 3–5) *

Terry Cox Terence William Harvey 'Terry' Cox (born 13 March 1937, in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire) played Drum kit, drums in the British folk rock bands Pentangle (band), The Pentangle, Duffy's Nucleus and Humblebums. He also drummed with several oth ...

– drums (side one: track 5; side two: track 4) * John Fiddy – bass guitar (side one: track 5; side two: tracks 1, 4) * Chris Gent – saxophone (side two: track 5) *

Herbie Flowers Brian Keith "Herbie" Flowers (19 May 1938 – 5 September 2024) was an English musician specialising in bass guitar, double bass and tuba. He was a member of groups including Blue Mink, T. Rex and Sky and was also a prolific session musician. ...

– bass (side one: track 3) * Warwick Hill – violin (side one: track 1) * Les Hurdle – bass (side one: tracks 1, 4) * Seoud Islam – spoken voice (side one: track 2) *

Kenney Jones Kenneth Thomas Jones (born 16 September 1948) is an English drummer best known for his work in the groups Small Faces, Faces and the Who. Jones was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as a member of Small Faces/Faces. Biograp ...

– drums (side two: track 5) *

Chris Karan Chris Karan (born Chrisostomos Karanikis, 14 October 1939) is a Britain-based Australian jazz drummer and percussionist of Greek descent. Life and career Karan was born in 1939 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Karan played in the Three Out ...

–

tabla A ''tabla'' is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments a ...

s (side one: tracks 1, 4) *

Rick Kemp Frederick Stanley 'Rick' Kemp (born 15 November 1941) is an English bass player, guitarist, songwriter, vocalist and record producer, best known for his work with the British folk rock band Steeleye Span. Projects In the 1960s, he shot to prom ...

– bass (side two: tracks 3, 5) * Peter Knight – fiddle (side one: track 1) *

– orchestra (arranged and conducted by Mike Batt) * Roger McKew – guitar (side one: tracks 1, 3) *

Alan Parker Sir Alan William Parker (14 February 1944 – 31 July 2020) was an English film director, screenwriter and producer. His early career, beginning in his late teens, was spent as a copywriter and director of television advertisements. After abo ...

– guitar (side one: tracks 1, 4, 5; side two: track 4) *

Chris Spedding Christopher John Spedding (born Peter Robinson, 17 June 1944) is an English guitarist and record producer. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Spedding is best known for his studio session work. By the early 1970s, he had become one of th ...

– guitar (side one: tracks 1, 3–5; side two: tracks 1, 3–5) * Richard Studt – violin (side one: track 1) * Toose Taylor – guitar solo (side two: track 5) * Les Thatcher – guitar (side one: track 3)

Technical

* Mike Batt – producer *

Tim Friese-Greene Timothy Alan Friese-Greene is an English musician and record producer, producer. He worked with the band Talk Talk from 1983 to their breakup in 1991. He currently releases solo albums under the name Heligoland. He is the grandson of filmmaker Cl ...

– principal recording engineer * Mike Thompson – principal recording engineer *

Michael Hasted Michael Hasted (born 1945) is a British artist, writer, director for the theatre, and photographer. Early life Michael Hasted was expelled from school at the age of 16 for spending more time backstage at his local repertory theatre, The Everym ...

– cover paintings * Peter Lavery – photography * Maurice Wilson –

typography Typography is the art and technique of Typesetting, arranging type to make written language legibility, legible, readability, readable and beauty, appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, Point (typogra ...

* Recorded mainly at

Wessex Studios Wessex Sound Studios was a recording studio located at 106a Highbury New Park, London, England. Many renowned popular music artists recorded there, including King Crimson, Queen, Sex Pistols, the Clash, Pete Townshend and the Pretenders. The prop ...

, London, England; also at Lansdowne,

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

& CTS, London, England

Charts

References

{{Reflist

External links

''Schizophonia''
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

1977 albums Epic Records albums London Symphony Orchestra albums World music albums by English artists Albums produced by Mike Batt