Visage have revealed that their forthcoming album 'Hearts And Knives' (their first album in 29 years) is dedicated to Martin Rushent, one of the top English record producers during the late '70s and early '80s, who died in June 2011.
In a message posted on their Facebook, Visage say:The new Visage record 'Hearts And Knives' is dedicated Martin Rushent.
For those of you who don’t know, Martin Rushent died in June 2011 and was one of England’s finest ever record producers. He is best known for his work producing 'Dare' by The Human League, however in his time he also worked with The Stranglers, Shirley Bassey, The Buzzcocks and many more. In 1978, shortly after formed Visage, Martin signed our first ever single 'Tar' to his Genetic Recordings record label. We went on to record our first album at his then new Genetic Studio. In those days it all was a bit embryonic; new gear, in a new studio with us learning as we went along. Martin would pop his head around the door a few times a day “Hi Chaps, how is it going?” as we struggled with some piece of studio gear.
In 2010 we approached Martin to take on an executive producer role for our (at that time) nascent album idea. He kindly accepted and was more than happy to discuss production templates, song ideas and the general direction of the album. He was also halfway through a new version of 'Frequency 7' at the time of his death. Although Martin was unable to see his work through on 'Hearts and Knives' you may notice that some of his mantras, thoughts and ideas have percolated into the fibre of the record. The instrument choices, direction & the musical styling’s are all references to him.
Thank you Martin for your immense help in getting us started in 1978 and everything since.
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| Martin Rushent (11 July 1948 – 4 June 2011) |
