Rob Smith - Never A Dull Moment (2009)

Rob Smith - Never A Dull Moment
(Released 2nd July 2009)
Released by Polar Music New Zealand
Produced by Rob Smith @ Polar Music New Zealand Studio's, Ratapiko, Taranaki, New Zealand
"Free Spirit", "Tears Of The Sun" & "Let Me Out - Produced by Rob Smith @ Polar Music New Zealand Studio's, New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand
Mastered by Rob Smith @ Polar Music New Zealand Studio's, Ratapiko, Taranaki, New Zealand

- Rob Smith (Vocals, Guitars, Bass, Keyboards, Programming)
- Nils-Ole Finbak (Keyboards - "Cinderella")
- Matt Sturgess (Bass - "On Common Ground")
- Richard Anderson (Narration - "On Common Ground")

1. Cinderella (Rob Smith)
2. It's Getting On Top Of Me (Rob Smith)
3. Never A Dull Moment (Richard Anderson, Rob Smith)
4. What Happened To My World? (Rob Smith)
5. Free Spirit (Richard Anderson, Rob Smith)
6. Freedom To Be Who I Am (Rob Smith)
7. You Say You Want To Be Free (Richard Anderson, Rob Smith)
8. On Common Ground (Richard Anderson, Rob Smith, Matt Sturgess)
9. Tears Of The Sun (Richard Anderson, Rob Smith)
10. Good Memories Are Made To Last (Richard Anderson, Rob Smith)
11. Let Me Out (Rob Smith)
12. You're Free (Richard Anderson, Rob Smith)

Written and recorded during several different sessions, this collection is Rob's 3rd official solo album. "On Common Ground", "Good Memories Are Made To Last", "What Happened To My World?" & "Cinderella" were all written and recorded during "GONE WILD II" sessions. "Tears Of The Sun" was the first ever song that Rob Smith and Richard Anderson co-wrote together.

Notes by Richard Anderson:
Rob was initially going to begin recording this album in 2007, but testament to him being a team player, he put aside the bulk of his attention to complete writing and production of both the "Something To Remember" and "GONE WILD II" collections (as well as finishing up work on the Houston Wells collection "Now & Then", and
also remastering several of his own archived releases).

Whenever the moment took him and whenever the muse was kind, Rob was able to write and record several of the songs that make up this album during the middle of the previously mentioned sessions. This in itself shows what a talent Rob is, being able to flit between genre's as if it wasn't a problem at all...it still astounds me.

Other tracks that make up "Never A Dull Moment" have been sitting in the archives for a wee while waiting for their moment in the sun (or rain), it was a pleasure to have been once again involved in the writing process and seeing that Rob's 3rd solo album is brought to light as we had discussed, we have a motto in that if we say we are going to bring an album out, then we will do our best to complete each project.

Skater Rock Vol 1, 2 & 3

Versailles Records - Skater Rock Vol 1, 2 & 3
Released April 2008
Released by Versailles Records USA


Disc 1:
1. Midnight Idols - Hellfire

2. Andy Endberg, Marko Pukkila, Vinny Appice & Rowan Robertson - And The Cradle Will Rock

3. The Jones - Jukebox Junkie

4. Signal 99 - Candy

5. LoveBone - Inside Out

6. Ground Level - Another Day

7. The Clear - The Goat

8. Choke On It - You're Not The Star

9. Hollowpoint - Hate To See You

10. Edmund Allan Brown - Daniel

11. Boarders - True Rebellion

12. Fireborne - No Regrets

13. Squirrels From Hell - Difficult/Funny

14. Adam's God - Angst.com

15. Mongrel - The World Loves A Tragedy

16. Limehead - Burn It Down

17. Rosko - Domino

18. Katet - Addicted To Sin

19. Turn - Litigator Snake

20. The Nick Nittoli Project - The Beach

21. Life Is Drama - Get Back To Your Soul

22. Joetown - Feelin' Rock 'N' Roll

Disc 2:
1. Santagata - Flatline

2. Disarray - Edge Of My Demise

3. Highschool Motherfuckers - What's Wrong With You?

4. One Bad Son - Orange City

5. American Dog ft Jason McMaster - Peace Dog

6. Pylon - Anaconda

7. Katet - Push

8. Buried Future - Vivisection

9. Signal 99 - Armed & Dangerous

10. Rebel Rebel - Harness All the Energy

11. Soulsilens - Loves My Mind

12. Chicago Violin - Wasted Away

13. Whiskey Dick 666 - Self-Destruction

14. Silent Scream - Play Loud

15. Danan Healy Band - What I Want

16. Seven Envy - Fear

17. GONE WILD - Escape

18. 784 Itch - Leaving Now

19. American Heartbreak - Primal Scream

20. Second Hand Child - Can't Stop Us

21. Nemesis Divina - Blue

Disc 3:
1. Veritas - 5 Black Skulls

2. Proven - Threw It All Away

3. Midnight Idols - Nymphomicon

4. Second Hand Child - All In Vein

5. 784 Itch - Foolin' The Crowd

6. Dark Miracle - The Drama

7. The Carpet Thieves - Contact Burn

8. Phearus - Fight Or Flight

9. DW - Cold Shower

10. Seven Deadly Sins - That's When Things Got Ugly

11. Pure, Inc. - The End

12. Big Engine - I'm Ready, Let's Go

13. 3 Dead - Al-Queda Waltz

14. Janne Hurme, Costello Hautamäki, Phil Varone & Marko Pukkila - Finish What Ya Started

15. Santagata - The Fire Inside

16. Kissing Pat - Electric Man (Potentia)

17. Through Darkness - Väinämöinen

18. Redeemer - I Am Revenge

19. Danan Healy Band - Despise You

20. The Karen Single Band - The Wild Side

21. Soulsilens - What Is True / Soulsilens

GONE WILD's first official release in the USA. The band were honoured to have their song released on an album featuring band members from some of their own past influences.

Notes by Richard Anderson:
We as a band (and also individually) were quite proud to be on this album alongside the names of some chaps who had been (and are) in some bands who we have listened to for a long time, then upon hearing the album in it's entirety it was a cool thing to know that our track stood up alongside some of the songs that were no doubt recorded in some pretty cutting edge recording studio's.

Rick Bone & Friends - MS Blues

Rick Bone & Friends - MS Blues

Released January 2007
Aching Bone Music
Produced by Scott Rose & Rick Bone

1. MS Blues (Rick Bone)
2. Positive Light (Rick Bone, Scott Rose)
3. Help Me (Rick Bone, Scott Rose)
4. Surfin' Monkey (Rick Bone)
5. We Look Good (Rick Bone)
6. Don't Be Afraid To Love (Rick Bone)
7. Cry Through The Pain (Richard Anderson, Rick Bone)
8. Flying Free (Debbie Kelson, Rick Bone)
9. Pity Party (Debbie Kelson, Rick Bone)
10. The Cavern Monkeys Song (Rick Bone)
11. Payin' For The Rich Man (Rick Bone)
12. Cryin' Out (Rick Bone)

Proceeds from this release were and are donated to MS Research.

Notes by Richard Anderson:
Rick Bone is a friend of Scott Rose, he suffers from MS. "Cry Through The Pain" was my lyrical tribute to Rick, I was amazed at how he would power through his illness to pick up the guitar and play even though all the time he would be in pain. My good friend and co-writer Chris Szkup leant his talents to the cause and played lead guitar on that track too. Chris and I were only too happy to lend our time and efforts to this project, especially given the fact that proceeds were being (and still are) donated to help aid MS research in the US. Since the release of this album, Rick has forged ahead with the Broken Feather collaboration with Debbie Kelson, keeping the MS Awareness vibe flowing.



- Review by Lin Sarnecki-
www.nytedancer.com/MSChat/monster
A professional musician during the '70s and '80s, Rick initially gave up his music career back in 1983 to raise a family. Before that job was done (is it ever,really?) he was diagnosed with MS in 1999, which progressed to the point he was forced on disability in 2001.

Rick became very depressed over the loss of many things, as we all do, but especially over his inability to create and sing his music. For anyone with a passion, to lose it is tantamount to losing a huge part of oneself. We also must compensate for changes in our methodologies as well as adapt to changes forced by MS.

For a long time, Rick was convinced he could never sing or play again - especially at the level he did before MS. He couldn't feel his guitar strings because of the numbness in his fingers, he couldn't be in his studio long due to MS fatigue, he wasn't able to write songs and music due to MS cognitive loss, and he felt his voice quality was forever impaired. I am one of his friends with MS who knows we can do far more than we sometimes believe if we just try. I also knew how beautiful his voice was and is, and have urged him, scolded him, begged him, and even at times yelled at him to get back into his music! At long last, he has.


You can purchase this album here

Rob Smith - Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Rob Smith - Actions Speak Louder Than Words


Released in 2006
Released by Polar Music New Zealand
Produced by Rob Smith @ Polar Music New Zealand Studio's, Ratapiko, Taranaki, New Zealand
Mastered by Michael Hill @ Killermoa Music Studio's, Waitara, Taranaki, New Zealand

- Rob Smith (Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards, Programming)
- Catherine Smith (Backing Vocals - "An Angel Flies")
- Laura Smith (Backing Vocals - "An Angel Flies")

1. My Sanity (Rob Smith)
2. Why Did We Fall So Far (Rob Smith)
3. Actions Speak Louder Than Words (Richard Anderson, Rob Smith)
4. An Angel Flies (Richard Anderson, Rob Smith)
5. What Don't Kill Me Will Just Make Me Strong (Dawn Sinclair, Rob Smith)
6. What I Would Do For You (Richard Anderson, Rob Smith)
7. Let's Get To The Heart Of The Matter (Richard Anderson, Rob Smith)
8. In The Bottom Of A Bottle (Richard Anderson, Rob Smith)
9. I'm Gonna Miss You Baby (Rob Smith)
10. Forget Yesterday (Dawn Sinclair, Rob Smith)
11. Can't Stop Loving You (Rob Smith)
12. Inside Me (Rob Smith)
13. How Do You Feel? (Rob Smith)
14. The Woman I Never Knew (Richard Anderson, Rob Smith)
15. When The Wind Blows (Rob Smith)

Rob's second official solo album.

Notes by Richard Anderson:
After the release of "Be Careful What You Wish For", it was easy to see that there were still other tracks there left over from the same sessions that could be used for a second solo album. So we put aside some of those tracks and also co-wrote some new material specifically for what was to become "Actions Speak Louder Than Words".

Another lyricist was brought into the fold, English lyricist/poet Dawn Sinclair, who had been writing a fair bit with other artists, but took an instant liking to Rob's writing and recording style. As a thanks for her support, Rob included 2 Dawn Sinclair co-writes on "Actions Speak Louder Than Words".

I liked the fact that Rob was able to progress musically into rockier places where need be on this album - whilst it still sounding like a Rob Smith album, there was indeed some progression rather than just getting caught into repeating an exact formula, something we wanted with this label's releases was to always keep mixing it up. Thankfully Rob is inspired by a lot of different types of music and artists (and life experiences too), and as those things are all thrown into the pot with his own experiences the Rob Smith sound is always going to be varied.

It was an interesting experience seeing this project come together, as we had written some things that we both felt rated up there (and still do) as some of the best and most heartfelt things either of us had written, I take great pride in knowing that we were able to follow-up a great album that is "Be Careful..." with something equally as brilliant.

Rob Smith - Be Careful What You Wish For

Rob Smith - Be Careful What You Wish For

Released 2005
Released by Polar Music New Zealand
Produced by Rob Smith @ Polar Music New Zealand Studio's, New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand
Mastered by Michael Hill @ Killermoa Music Studio's, Waitara, Taranaki, New Zealand

- Rob Smith (Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards, Programming)
- Otto Beesling (Bass - "Le Merci" & "Wish")
- Robin Wellaway (Sax - "Wish")
- Catherine Smith (Backing Vocals - "Wish")
- Laura Smith (Backing Vocals - "Wish")

1. One Heart (Rob Smith)
2. Emerald Isle (Rob Smith)
3. It's Over (Rob Smith)
4. Mary Doesn't Need Tomorrow (Rob Smith)
5. Le Merci (Rob Smith)
6. Lost Without Your Love (Rob Smith)
7. The Memory Of Us (Rob Smith)
8. Nobody's (Rob Smith)
9. Wish (Rob Smith)
10. Lately (Rob Smith)
11. The Time Of Your Life (Rob Smith)
12. In The Beginning (Rob Smith)
13. Without You (Richard Anderson, Rob Smith)
14. We Won't Be Forgotten(Rob Smith)
15. Toddyar (Rob Smith)

Polar Music New Zealand was formed especially to release Rob Smith related recordings, "Be Careful What You Wish For" having the distinction of being the first release from the label, as well as being Rob's first official album.

Notes by Richard Anderson:
I met Rob at Music Services in New Plymouth early in 2004, at the time I had been doing some online promotion for the Tim P Hall Band, Rob had heard about what I had been doing for them and wondered if I might be able to help him do the same. It quickly became apparent to me that Rob really did have a gift way beyond his humble saying "I dabble a bit", so I discussed with him some goals and how he should really set about releasing his material to the world, so we put together the independent label Polar Music New Zealand.

My intial role was to help manage Rob and to also take care of online promotional actitivies. We also co-wrote a few things together, "Without You" being the first official release, but "Tears Of The Sun" was in fact the first song we co-wrote, Rob also gave me some titles to write lyrics to with the plan being that he would set those lyrics to music and we'd release them on various projects we had planned on putting together over the next few years (we have actually sat down and wrote a few ditties in person too...more on those later)...needless to say this album itself is very special to the Polar Music New Zealand family as a standalone entity, but also in the grand scheme of things it helped create a vision.

Pleasingly, 5 years after this albums release we still get people commenting on the songs favourably, new people have taken an interest and it continues to sell (thats right folks you too can own a copy if you want to contact me about purchasing a copy that'd be great!)

Annan - I Wish You Love

Annan - I Wish You Love

Released in 2003 Japan (Out Of Print)
Desert Lake Label / Southern Air Records

Producer: Annan
Executive Producer: Akira Minamino

Annan: Vocals, Guitars, Piano, Percussion etc.
UK Kurita: Percussion and Chorus

Guest Musicians:
Tetsuji Ogawa - Guitars
Toshiaki Furihata - Drums, Guitars and Chorus
Takeo Konishi - Drums
Nok "Yuichiro" Koshila - Computer Programming

1. I Wish You Love (Parrish Coppedge, Annan, Rosei Kobayashi)
2. Cheers! (Annan)
3. My Guardian Angel (Richard Anderson, Yohei Eto)
4. The One (Annan)
5. Freedom (Annan)
6. Maze (Annan)
7. YOKOHAMA (Annan)
8. ごめんね～ひとつの心残り (Annan)
9. 砂の仮面 (Annan)
10. 日常 (Annan)

Notes by Richard Anderson:
After having worked together on the last of the Kween EP's, it was nice that Yohei had asked me to come onboard to collaborate on his solo endeavour (under the name of Annan), in fact he rang me from Japan about 3 years before this album was released to ask me if he could use my lyric and put it to music and use it, which I thought was particularly nice of him. "My Guardian Angel" was written as a tribute to Kara Graff, a lady from the US (and another Queen fan, who Tim Davis used to visit), sadly she passed away much too young but was a wonderful support to me in our brief friendship, in fact she was the one person who managed to persuade me to let the world in on my lyrical meanderings.

Sadly this album is now out of print, I had hoped that perhaps the label might have picked it up for a bigger release. Annan did make a couple of quite good videos for the album.

Several times since we have discussed working together on something new - which is something that I hope we can bring to fruition here at some point.

003 - Not For Sale

003 - Not For Sale

Released in 2001 in Japan

Produced by 003

Shun'ei - Vocals, Keyboards
Luigi - Guitar, Bass, Backing Vocals
Roman - Drums, Backing Vocals

1. Chasing The Sun (Richard Anderson, Luigi Yamagata)
2. Welcome Song (Luigi Yamagata)
3. Morning (Luigi Yamagata)
4. Birthday (Luigi Yamagata)
5. Horizon (Luigi Yamagata)
6. Sakaba no Taishou (Luigi Yamagata)
7. Afternoon (Luigi Yamagata)
8. Angel (Luigi Yamagata)
9. Tadeima (Luigi Yamagata)
10. Mitsukenikui Sagashimono (Luigi Yamagata)
11. Ashita no Hako (Luigi Yamagata)
12. Sorahe (Luigi Yamagata)
13. Yamato Daikon
14. Sakaba-Daikon (Live Take) (Luigi Yamagata)

Notes by Richard Anderson:
From memory I think this collection served as a kind of "Best Of" collection, so was rather pleased that 003 would deem our little ditty worthy of inclusion alongside some of their own material.

003 - Chasing The Sun

003 - Chasing The Sun

Released in Japan in 2001
Produced by 003

Shun'ei - Vocals, Keyboards
Luigi - Guitar, Bass, Backing Vocals
Roman - Drums, Backing Vocals

1. Afternoon (Luigi Yamagata)
2. Tadeima (Luigi Yamagata)
3. Ashita no Hako (Luigi Yamagata)
4. Chasing The Sun (Richard Anderson, Luigi Yamagata)
5. Mitsukenikui Sagashimono (Luigi Yamagata)
6. Sorahe (Luigi Yamagata)
7. Yamato Daikon (Luigi Yamagata)

Notes by Richard Anderson:
I came across 003 online, and whilst all their music was in Japanese (which I couldn't understand a word of) I appreciated their efforts and their great ear for melody, so I sent the lead vocalist/guitarist Luigi Yamagata a note to ask him if he would be interested in co-writing a song in English, thankfully he was up for it.

"Chasing The Sun" was inspired by a conversation I had on a bus trip with a chap named Terry Blake in 2000, he had seemed like an inspirational type of gent, often wandering off on his jaunts for weeks at a time. It struck me as to what his family might be thinking while he was off wandering - he said to me "I am chasing the sun",which I thought would make a great song title...in the end I used our whole meeting as inspiration for this tune.

003 even wound up having a picture of a car with the number plate reading "003" on the front cover of this collection, which I thought was rather cool.

Later, 003 performed "Chasing The Sun" live in a reggae kind of format, thankfully I was able to obtain an mp3 of this performance (I once had the video footage too, but thats since seemingly been lost unfortunately), it really worked quite well in this style, I was stoked to have had a co-write performed so far away live for the first time.

Unfortunately this was the only song that we collaborated on, 003 have since seemingly split up.