Mayfield by Curt Smith
Mayfield was a band I formed after moving to New York to be with Frances and to escape the UK music business. It was a couple of years into my hiatus from Tears For Fears and the premise was to not use my name (hence Mayfield) and just try to rediscover the joys of music through playing live. We regularly played at downtown New York clubs like Brownie’s, Mercury Lounge and CBGB’s, in fact the only criteria was that the club had to be within walking distance of my apartment on Mercer and Houston. The “Mayfield Walking Tour” was born!
These were probably a couple of the most enjoyable years I’ve spent as a musician: no pressure and just doing it for the love of music. These songs were ostensibly recorded live, that is with the band playing together with overdubbing and editing used only to polish a few things. We recorded them over a period of three weeks, and whilst I may question the quality of some of the recording and mixing in retrospect, I still can feel the passion intended today.
I have decided to reissue this CD for two reasons:
1. People have asked me to.
2. The original distribution company is no longer in existence. So you can rest assured that if you buy the original CD, not one cent of what you pay for it will come to me. For this reason, I’ve updated the artwork a little so that everyone can differentiate.
With that said, I would like to add the following thanks: Diva and Wilder, Georgica and Harry, Arlene Wszalek, Gina Vivona, Justine Ungaro, Eric Alper, Michael Tarlowe.
Last, a very special thanks to Janice Whaley for the rerecorded, rearranged version of Trees. If you get a chance visit Janice's page here on Bandcamp.
PS. To those wondering about the name:
Curt-is-Mayfield (geddit?)
Tracklist
| 1. | What Are We Fighting For | 4:44 |
| 2. | Sorry Town | 5:06 |
| 3. | Jasmine's Taste | 5:35 |
| 4. | Reach Out | 4:39 |
| 5. | Trees | 3:47 |
| 6. | Mother England | 5:48 |
| 7. | Snow Hill | 4:18 |
| 8. | I Don't Want To Be Around | 5:13 |
| 9. | Sun King | 4:25 |
| 10. | Gone Again | 3:53 |
| 11. | Trees (feat. Janice Whaley) | 3:54 |
Credits
MAYFIELD
Curt Smith vocals, bass guitar
Charlton Pettus guitar, backing vocals
Doug Petty keyboards
Russ Irwin keyboards, backing vocals
Shawn Pelton drums
Supporting Cast
Steve Ferrone drums on “Snow Hill”
Brian Geltner drums on “Sun King” and bridge of “Sorry Town”
Jimmy Copley drums on “Mother England”
Richard Pagano drums on “Reach Out”
Carol Steele and Bob Muller percussion
Tim Beatty harmonica
Chris Rael backing vocals on “Trees”
Rebecca Martin backing vocals on “Snow Hill” appears courtesy of EMI Records
Georg Brandl accordian
The Irish guy whose name we’ve forgotten whistle
The trumpet player from Cats trumpet
All songs written by Curt Smith and Charlton Pettus and published © Happy Fish Music (BMI)/Margerine Music/Polygram International Music Publishing (ASCAP), except “Mother England” written by Curt Smith, Charlton Pettus, Roger Manning and Andy Sturmer, published © Happy Fish Music (BMI)/Margerine Music/Polygram International Music Publishing (ASCAP)/Sunshine Suicide Songs/EMI Virgin Music Inc.(ASCAP)/Little Green Appletunes/EMI Virgin Music Inc. (BMI)
Recorded at Dangerous Music NY, The Hit Factory NY, and Charlty’s Cave NY
Mixed and Mastered at The Hit Factory NY
Produced by Charlton Pettus
Mixed by Jay Healy (except “Trees” mixed by J. Paul Logus III)
Mastered by Chris Gehringer
Thanks to Frances, Alexandra, Troy, Eddie, Danielle and all at The Hit Factory, Bob, Graham, Drew, the Mayfield on-line crew, Marc, Rick, Marty, Justin, Jimmy at Gibson Guitars, Jill, CMS, Frank, Fred and Lisa, Henry, and Randy.
Rick Patrick Design
Marc Joseph Photography
RE-RELEASE CREDITS
Trees Bonus Track
Curt Smith Lead vocals
Janice Whaley Backing vocals, “instruments,” and arrangement
Produced by Curt Smith and The Reverend Charlton Pettus
Mixed and Mastered by Ryan Coseboom
Gina Vivona for GV Creative Art direction and design
Justine Ungaro Cover photo
License
CC BY-NC-SA 3.0. See the Creative Commons website for details.
Curt Smith is the co-founder of Tears For Fears, with which he continues to tour worldwide, as well as an acclaimed solo musician. He also writes music for film, television and the web, most recently scoring the independent feature Meth Head,. He's a regular speaker at creative, media and technology events including TEDxHollywood, TEDxSan Francisco and the USC Annenberg Online Communities program.