Tim Burgess

Tim Burgess began writing the songs that would end up on "I Believe" almost four years ago, while The Charlatans UK were on the road. The band never write on the tour bus, deeming it, possibly rightly — a bit hippie-ish. Yet, 12 years since the band formed, he had a newfound desire to express himself. He would take himself off to the back of the bus and get busy with pen and paper.

“I had this strange moment of clarity, and started writing songs instead of getting wasted. I just knew that I had to do it. This is what I’m good at. I mean, I’m great at partying too, but I didn’t realize my worth, and by doing it and succeeding and getting a record deal it’s helped me to feel a lot better about myself.”

Really, Burgess always came across as the consummate performer, “Mr. Rock‘n’ Roll,” belting out the hits with a cocky swagger. Was that not always was the real him? “Well, a lot of people’s down point on me is that I’ve never believed in myself as much as I should have.” This record definitely helps diminish that judgement.

The first solo song he wrote was “Years Ago,” a short, pacey, ramblin’ man tune that refers to a specific corner of Burgess’ rather large record collection — that of forever Dylan. This song is fragments of thoughts, really —just saying what needed to be said.”

He continued writing, in his Hollywood home, mainly on guitar. He would demo songs at home on his little Dictaphone. These would then be worked up to eight-track level in his producer’s home studio. Every day during recording Burgess would walk the two miles between his place on Franklin and Cahuenga, to his producer’s place on La Brea and Franklin. He would duly arrive motivated and, usually, inspired by something he’d seen on his tramp across Hollywood.

The first song recorded was the melodramatic, string-laden, horn-studded “We All Need Love.” The last was the hands-and-glasses-in-the-air anthem “All I Ever Do.”

As for, “I Believe in the Spirit,” Tim reflects, “I knew it’d be the first track on the LP. It just summed me up at that time, it was a mantra. That song just fell out of me. We needed the crudest instrument for the lead and so enter the Exile On Main Street inspired sax.”

“‘Oh My Corazon’, Percy Faith, an old lounge composer from the late Fifties, he did an album called Corazon, and there’s a track called, ‘First Light’, which was very inspirational. It’s linked with The Clash’s, ‘Spanish Bombs’ and to top it off, a Cure sounding bass solo at the end!”

What else?

Tim Burgess has already launched his solo career at home in the UK. I Believe received the instant seal of approval from Mick Jagger, who’d read good things about the record in the NME, or perhaps he admired another large-living, spotlight-attracting, full-lipped front man making a break for (temporary) solo freedom. Perhaps, in Burgess’ falsetto and his desire to tap into the musical spirit of the Jamaican/Caribbean vibe, he heard echoes of the Stones’, Black And Blue and Goat’s Head Soup, or maybe he just heard a great rock’n’soul record.

Tim Burgess keeps on keepin’ on. He’s heading off on to an artistic retreat in Palm Springs soon to work on songs for the next Charlatans UK album with Mark Collins, following an earlier writing sojourn on an island off the coast of Wales.

There are also tentative plans to write with Tim Wheeler, singer with Irish power-punk band Ash & there are hopefully more collaborations looming with The Chavs: last year Burgess formed the supergroup with Carl Barât of The Libertines, Martin Duffy of Primal Scream and Razorlight’s, Andy Burrows —for one night only, but you never know, so be on the look out for more activity from this thrilling mix of seasoned and brand-new Brit rock innovators?

But first and foremost, there’s I Believe.

“I didn’t set out to make a trendy record or something achingly cool, Burgess’ bluntly concludes, just something that reflected the wide range of my tastes and my spirit, that was as much Gram Parsons as it was Curtis Mayfield. Something that was a day-to-day record of my life, and that featured a really nice picture of me sitting in the Californian desert with a guitar! Growing up round Manchester, that’s the kind of thing you can only dream about.”