Q – It’s always seemed you weren’t too thrilled with the way Easy Pieces turned out. And I guess I assumed a lot of the brass and backup singers were Langer and Winstanley’s idea. How did you end up working with them again around the time of “The Collection?”
A – It’s always easy to pin the blame on someone rather than accept responsibility, isn’t it? I don’t think Clive and Alan were a great match for us, but the songs are the problem on Easy Pieces. I do think some of them are great, but some are very weak. The brass, r’n’b thing that Clive had going was attractive at the time, especially as I was really into Exile on Main Street that year. But we didn’t give ourselves enough time to really think what we wanted to do, so there it is.
In 1997, my manager Derek came up with the idea. I was out of ideas, production wise, so we gave it a try. It wasn’t a great move, but it was nice to see Clive and Alan, both are lovely guys, and the songs were strong, so it worked out not badly.