King Crimson’s ex-lyricist, co-producer, lights man and
one-time roadie is celebrating his birthday today. Peter, who has been recovering from heart
surgery, is busy recording a new album as can be seen on his website.
It's not particularly festive but here's a picture of Peter circa 1968 taken somewhere in London.
After the split with Robert, Peter of course went on to
enjoy considerable success writing lyrics for Emerson, Lake and Palmer,
producing albums for the likes of PFM and Roxy Music as well as his own solo
album, Still, featuring stellar contributions from Keith Tippett,
Mel Collins, Ian Wallace, Boz, John Wetton, and many more. Still is one of my all-time favourite albums
from the period – a real time and a place kind of thing.
Anyway, here’s an article about Pete written by Chris Welch which appeared in the Melody Maker in May 1973, which touches upon that album.
"PETE SINFIELD is a poet, and such men do not abound on the music scene. There is Pete Brown of course, and many a lyricist who might be termed a poet, Bob Dylan and David Bowie to name but two.
But Pete is essentially a word-man for whom images must be read aloud as much as set to music.
"Cat’s foot iron claw Neuro-surgeons scream for more
At paranoia's poison door
Twenty-first century schizoid man."
Thus he wrote in his sojourn at the Court Of The Crimson King, when he was a full partner of Bob Fripp in the original King Crimson. Since those heady days, Peter, with a sharp face and silvered hair, has maintained his involvement with rock, writing and producing.
Now he is slowly gathering momentum for a personal launch upon the public platforms, and the poet platforms, and the poet may yet transmogrify into a star.
Peter is small, likeable and blessed, or cursed, with a nose that presents him with many problems. When we met this week he said: "I’m going to see a man about my nose. It’s not really a Cilla Black job, but I can’t breathe and it upsets my balance. The doctor says half of it is blocked up and it makes me lopsided."
He was indeed speaking in a severe nasal twang that would get him work at the Nashville Rooms without too much effort. Whence came this knackered nostril?
"The man who caused it was Boz. We were in a club in Switzerland, when he said: ‘Look!’ and hit me on the nose. I think he meant to nudge me. It was two and a half years ago, and it still hurts. It’s all Boz’s fault — like having two faces stuck together."
What had he been doing, these few years past?
"After leaving King Crimson I spent three months in the doldrums wondering what I was going to do with my life, and finding confidence. I got involved with Roxy Music who had come to E.G. Management with a dreadful tape. But I thought they had atmosphere and produced their first album.
"Bryan Ferry, I remember, wanted to be Noel Coward, and their first bass player burst into tears and had a nervous breakdown. He was replaced. They were not the world’s best musicians, and I wouldn’t let them sound like the Velvet Underground. But they thought I had over-produced the album. It's a matter of opinion.
"They thought I was doing too much on the album, but I don't mind. It’s cool. I just wish they had been on the road for six months when I made the album. Then I thought of doing my own LP and doing all the things I couldn’t do with Crimson.
"Then people said kind things about my voice, and it didn’t seem so bad to me. I found I was in tune most of the time. Then Greg Lake came along and produced the album, and he was really helpful. We got Mel Collins involved — he’s my favourite horn player and he played some fine things."
Other musicians taking part included Boz of nose-bending fame, phantom drummer Ian Wallace and organist Tim Hinkley. The album is called Still and is due for release on the new ELP label, Manticore on May 25.
"The LP is a step forward for me and it may prove to people that perhaps a bit more of King Crimson was me and that it wasn’t all Bob Fripp’s vibes. Apart from that it cost an awful lot of money, and if it's a flop it will be dreadful. I remember the McDonald and Giles album, which cost £13,000 and sold very few copies.
"This one has cost me about ten grand, and I’ve not been out of the studios for four or five months. I’m never going to produce an album again — it's insanity, exhaustion."
Apart from producing his own album, Peter has been working on the Manticore debut of PFM, the Italian ELP-influenced group.
"I’m going on tour with PFM — doing a guest spot," he revealed. "I’ve never done it before, but I’ve never done my own record before. If I like the tour and the LP is a success, then I might form the nucleus of a group. But the responsibilities of forming a band are enormous, and I’d have to get the right people for it to be on a semi-permanent basis. I’m not over keen on touring around the world, nor on flying.
"I need to get outside the music circle to find out what the rest of humanity is up to. The scene can be like a drug, with its round of booze, chicks and hotels. Then you have to sing the same thing every night. I like change — it's the only constant factor.
"I have ideas for my next album already — with very organic music. It’s hard to explain, but there would be very few electric rock and roll instruments. I see myself as a poet, not a singer. People say I’m a writer second, a producer third and a dabbler fourth. Mistakes — I love mistakes. I usually act on instinct and never have fixed ideas.
"There is so little truth in rock music. The music that really has truth is jazz or classical music, but I can’t define my version of truth. It’s music that has a timeless quality.
"I really feel I’ve been messing about for the last few years and that I should be doing something worthwhile. I'm still not sure if the rock business is the place to do it, and I’ve been called pretentious enough times. Sometimes I feel like a rusty key — I don’t fit any door."
