Special Q & A with Ed Bicknell - THE ANSWERS

[dustyvalentino]

Hi! Is it true that you and MK broke up after STP because you wanted him to play again in stadiuns and he didin`t? It´s a pity that you got to follow seperate ways. Thank`s for your atention.

 
THANK YOU for asking that.

Let me clear this up once and for all (I’ve addressed it before)

And just so we are clear a Stadium to me is an enclosed but open air venue in excess of 25,000 capacity up to say 100,000 plus, eg a sports ground, something that was not designed for music. 

NO!  

That idea which has been floated on this forum numerous times is completely false and played no part in our split. None. 

As an aside, I have never been to to a stadium gig by any other act except Live Aid and Nelson Mandela (with them) and never will. The Albert Hall (5000) and Ronnie Scotts (300) are my limit.

Incidentally round buildings like the RAH, bullrings and Roman amphitheatres are ideal from the sight lines and intimacy point of view and Mark loves doing those.

The chapels for laying out dead bullfighters in the bullrings are pretty spooky, not an activity I agree with AT ALL and which are fading out thankfully.

Anyway, I did not want, and I NEVER proposed to MK that he do stadiums on STP which would have been utter madness, and he never in 23 years asked me to do anything in relation to live work except “ follow the sun ” at the second OES planning meeting which because of the Gulf War I wasn’t able to do entirely ( Canada and parts of the US were consequently very cold ).

Overall they were a great act to work with because they trusted my judgement completely in respect of EVERY aspect of their career and they/he always delivered their end, cancelled only one show ( Luxembourg,,,safety reasons) and for the most part tolerated my mistakes!

After OES I did not want to put any musician let alone him in a field or sports ground or any kind of “stadium” EVER AGAIN.

I hated doing them and came to detest them.

Other than money and artists ego there is no reason to play that kind of venue when you can do multiple arenas/theatres/bullrings etc which is easier on the band, the crew and definitely better for the audience.

Going to a stadium to watch big TV screens baffles me (yes, hypocrisy on my part) but the public obviously disagree. Usually they are not given a choice because most acts are too lazy and too greedy to do long runs (and too narcissistic).  

Too often the act becomes a cabaret at a social event. A very few, Pink Floyd, Bruce Springsteen, The Stones, Prince, maybe Garth Brooks and Taylor Swift now, have turned then into an art form but they are the exception. As you can imagine the costs are mind boggling,  probably at least half the gross less VAT. 

I did not think he could even quarter fill stadiums anyway and what I was intending to do was max capacity of say 6-8,000 in Europe/UK , maybe a few multiples, and even that was risky.

In the US definitely not more than 5-6000, so roughly what he ended up doing anyway. Australasia and Japan weren’t even on my screen. 
I had a whole lot of venues held when the separation happened and that was for reasons which as I said on Bob’s podcast were just weird and certainly had nothing to do with the size of venues I was considering WHICH WAS NEVER DISCUSSED. 

What he said at that last professional meeting was grossly insulting, patronising, bewildering and deeply hurtful.

[dustyvalentino]

 

I've been at work, hope this one can squeeze in. My question would be "how many shows were recorded by the record company or instructed by the band / management between 1980 and 1989"? Thanks

"Are you in yet?
"Yes darling, I just squeezed in”
💦

Another I can’t accurately answer BUT, it would have been me or me/band who would have initiated that not the record companies.

I never let them initiate anything (are you kidding me?)

So other than Alchemy, the long-form TV's we did eg Live At Wembley, the last night in Sydney1986 and On The Night ( after your dates) and the audio portions of those I can’t think of any.
If anybody else knows, pitch in.
 
OK. That’s it for the first batch. I hope you got what you needed and if I was rude to anybody, tough.

[dustyvalentino]

Now in hindsight when the complete "On the night" got released and fans all raving about it, why were so many songs cut from the original release? And did you have any thoughts about it back then?

Well your pal and my saviour Love Expresso has saved me responding with his reply.

He’s 100% correct. I will just add that after OES tour listening to all that material AGAIN for MK was daunting and Guy and Neil Dorfsman stepped up to the plate and dealt with a few tech/performance issues that needed overdubs and no, I'm not going to tell you, you’ll just have to keep smiling.

Hi! Is it true that you and MK broke up after STP because you wanted him to play again in stadiuns and he didin`t? It´s a pity that you got to follow seperate ways. Thank`s for your atention.

I think Ed already answered this in his first long message provided by Julio some weeks/months ago

I have given you my final word on this , please can we drop it.

Many friends keep telling me "ask him this, ask him that" and I say to him, I made my question, go to Amit and ask yourself!

exactly the same happened to me

You already know my opinion. I think not everybody (INCLUDING ED HIMSELF ) is willing to take the time to register on the forum to ask a single question or post a comment or whatever, so another amendment to the rules could be possible.

Like allowing one question per person, not per member. The question is gonna be filtered anyway, it may not be answered at all. Whether to ask for proof of how genuinely the question is coming from a single person — that's another thing to consider.

There is no filtering.

[dustyvalentino]

Many friends keep telling me "ask him this, ask him that" and I say to him, I made my question, go to Amit and ask yourself!

exactly the same happened to me

You already know my opinion. I think not everybody (INCLUDING ED HIMSELF ) is willing to take the time to register on the forum to ask a single question or post a comment or whatever, so another amendment to the rules could be possible.

Like allowing one question per person, not per member. The question is gonna be filtered anyway, it may not be answered at all. Whether to ask for proof of how genuinely the question is coming from a single person — that's another thing to consider.

this is not coming from us, but from Ed who awesomely agreed to do this, on his terms. so there is no use in continuing to discuss the rules.

Thank you Pottel. I just don't want to get overwhelmed and end up saying “sorry, I can’t be bothered to answer this”, I'm spending a huge amount of time as it is.

Way more than I’d expected.

Happy to continue but I do have other things to do.

I've asked Dusty to log the extra questions ( ie over the one limit) and I’ll take a look Sept 18. Not promising anything 
It's the QUALITY I'm interested in, not the quantity.

I thought it was pretty clear why. The market back then was difficult for double albums, sales for them were difficult,  plus they had already done a live double album before with Alchemy. So they decided to do a single album which featured the OES content (and Paul Franklin) and cut everything long that already had been released on Alchemy. I doubt that there are other reasons
LE

See above.

I thought it was pretty clear why. The market back then was difficult for double albums, sales for them were difficult,  plus they had already done a live double album before with Alchemy. So they decided to do a single album which featured the OES content (and Paul Franklin) and cut everything long that already had been released on Alchemy. I doubt that there are other reasons

LE

But also quite a clever solution by making the promo single an EP and adding space for it in the CD case

I'd forgotten that.

Yes. Brilliant indeed. Loved it. Sounds like an idea from Ed! 

LE

Could be!

You already know my opinion. I think not everybody (INCLUDING ED HIMSELF ) is willing to take the time to register on the forum to ask a single question or post a comment or whatever, so another amendment to the rules could be possible.

I can't speak for Ed, don't want to and don't need to, but if I was him I wouldn't register for the forum - he would have private messages constantly from every crazy fan around.

Like allowing one question per person, not per member. The question is gonna be filtered anyway, it may not be answered at all.

For the avoidance of doubt, no questions have been "filtered" by Ed. Ed has answered every single question here.

I removed two questions from someone who either didn't read the rules, didn't understand them or was just plain rude. For what it's worth, I did share them with Ed who found them amusing.

There is NO possibility of me registering for this forum.

I'm not filtering and neither is anybody else .

[dustyvalentino]

this is not coming from us, but from Ed who awesomely agreed to do this, on his terms. so there is no use in continuing to discuss the rules.

I understand though I'm still confused. Good questions aren't exactly growing on trees and a "random" "family member" can ask something that Ed would like and could yield an amazing answer. The quantity of questions has nothing to do with their quality, that's why I had problems with these artificial obstacles from day 1.

Get as many questions as you can, pick the very best ones and answer 'em, I thought it was a simple idea but for some reason, I get bombarded with negativity all the time just because "that's the rules, man". Rules are made to be broken, and I know I'm in the minority of one as always. I apologise for being so pushy.

I know I'm the major pain in the neck here and the rules are going completely against my grain, but thanks for hearing me out.

UPD: Dusty, that's an AWESOME update from ED. Much appreciated.

All good non intrusive questions will be considered in due course.

Ed - Which line-up of DS did you find the most interesting musically?

Aaah. Something to get my teeth into.

Musicality...In some ways the first because they WERE the first and in a sea of punk back then they were new, fresh, different AND M had a RED Strat like Hank Marvin’s.🎸

Read “hero”

They were very different to the other acts I was or had been agenting eg Wishbone Ash, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Elton John, Ramones, Talking Heads, Richie Havens, War, Bobby Womack , Jimmy Ruffin, etc etc etc.

And they weren’t loud which Deep Purple certainly were! .

All the other lineups had their plusses and minuses.

For me the BIA lineup was the best we had, the most dynamic, the most fun, the most creative, the sexiest and the most "of it’s time” …....everything aligned perfectly including that that particular group of players.

In life timing is everything …the age we were , the drive we had, the arrival of CD , the songs on that album, coming off the build of the previous four and so on.

I'd describe the entire experience as magical.

OES ended up too overblown for me but that wasn’t anybody's fault, the alignment had been disturbed and the reasons for doing it were wrong, though it did contain some excellent songs and performances.

Of course the NHB’s were the most fun by far and had easily the best rhythm section 🥁

Sorry I really don't understand your problem here. You write so many words and spend so much energy instead of just ask your question. It's totally clear how the rules are, stick with it or not. It's exhausting really and not attacking you.

I mean if you buy tickets for a show, you don't start to argue with the promoter why it starts at 20:00 and why the concert is on your birthday and you don't want to ask them to start at 19:30 on another day that fits better. If you don't like what Ed has set up, don't participate and please don't be angry and leave the forum (again). Just relax. That's the main key to most if your trouble it seems to me. Stay relaxed, wait 15 min before relpying and breathe! Your contributions are among the most valuable here, really, but your should take it all not too serious here. As Ed said, it's only Pop. Greetings to you dear friend and all the best to you.

LE

You’ve nailed it. The words of common sense instead of a waste of energy.

[dustyvalentino]

Sorry I really don't understand your problem here. You write so many words and spend so much energy instead of just ask your question. It's totally clear how the rules are, stick with it or not. It's exhausting really and not attacking you.

I mean if you buy tickets for a show, you don't start to argue with the promoter why it starts at 20:00 and why the concert is on your birthday and you don't want to ask them to start at 19:30 on another day that fits better. If you don't like what Ed has set up, don't participate and please don't be angry and leave the forum (again). Just relax. That's the main key to most if your trouble it seems to me. Stay relaxed, wait 15 min before relpying and breathe! Your contributions are among the most valuable here, really, but your should take it all not too serious here. As Ed said, it's only Pop. Greetings to you dear friend and all the best to you.

LE

i think we're all good now. let us focus on the questions and no longer on the initial squabble. i believe Ed is having a ball. let's join!

Yes. Really enjoying this. Especially the questions with some meat on the bone.

Sorry I really don't understand your problem here. You write so many words and spend so much energy instead of just ask your question. It's totally clear how the rules are, stick with it or not. It's exhausting really and not attacking you.

I mean if you buy tickets for a show, you don't start to argue with the promoter why it starts at 20:00 and why the concert is on your birthday and you don't want to ask them to start at 19:30 on another day that fits better. If you don't like what Ed has set up, don't participate and please don't be angry and leave the forum (again). Just relax. That's the main key to most if your trouble it seems to me. Stay relaxed, wait 15 min before relpying and breathe! Your contributions are among the most valuable here, really, but your should take it all not too serious here. As Ed said, it's only Pop. Greetings to you dear friend and all the best to you.

LE

Dusty is doing an amazing job of keeping it manageable and enjoyable. I disagree, however, on filtering questions and their quantity over quality. A lot of questions seem to be boring or simple anyway, like all the "list-type" questions even coming from full-fledged, genuine AMIT members. It's entirely subjective and not that interesting, at least to me, so basic filtering could be implemented. You can't answer ALL the questions, right? Learn from Guy Fletcher, who ignores half of the questions on his forum.

And some questions Ed already answered in his interviews. Asking questions is an art form on its own, and we can develop an entire long set of rules just for writing questions. Instead, having more questions and a simple filter can do the trick... Again, my 5 cents. There are truly a lot of good ones, and I hope to see more with less strict rules. LE's analogy is not good because people organized shows for centuries, and Ed coming to the forum is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

I'm only trying to make it better, that's it. I also encourage people to stop fighting me, because again it's the first time a real Q&A is happening on AMIT and it baffles me that nobody seems to care about discussing it, while even Ed himself seems to agree and allows for less strict rules and longer deadlines. A forum is a place for exchanging ideas and views, I'm sorry I'm doing exactly that. And yes, I write a lot of words to explain EXACTLY what I mean.

I'm trying not to repeat myself but i've no idea who has seen/heard the interviews I've done nor can I remember what I said!

Quizzy ..you are overthinking this.

I’ll decide what I answer.

If they are sensible and interesting to me they’ll get a response.

If not they won’t eg "how much money did you make" will be ignored, yep, had that one. .

Haha, I actually opened a new thread for discussion which Ed even promised to ignore, but it was DELETED and I was attacked beyond belief. Here's for democracy, right?

I genuinely think the problem is not with me, but the problem is with the rules and/or organisation. Look at ways to improve the product, not to attack me personally.

You can make it a questions-only thread and move the discussion somewhere else, but again my main concern is the best result and experience. And I apologised!

“ Now if you feel that you can't go on,
Because all your questions have gone
And life is filled with much confusion
And happiness is just an illusion,
And your world around is crumbling down , darling
REACH OUT  ( BISH BASH BUSH BISH )
DARLIN’ , REACH OUT ( more BOOOOSH )
Quizzy will be there posting post-its by the score "

Sorry. Couldn’t resist.
Chill out. Be cool. Give Isaac Hayes a listen…"By the Time I get to Phoenix" the 19 minute version ..an absolute classic where pop music becomes ART 😎

[dustyvalentino]

"A lot of questions seem to be boring or simple anyway, like all the "list-type" questions even coming from full-fledged, genuine AMIT members"

Anyone who asks a question, this question is important to them. Why do you think some questions are boring and uninteresting?

“ Question” is a great song by The Moody Blues.

I would first like to say the I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to all the interviews Ed has given. Very entertaining! As for a question I thought 'what would I ask Mark if I ever got the chance, something he never mentioned in the interviews he gave'. So here it goes: Have you ever blown up the family radio with one of your instruments?

When he got his first guitar as he’s OFTEN said, somehow he connected it to the family radio and blew that up.

You’ve not been reading his early interviews have you? .

Go to the back of the class and face the wall, I will do the jokes.

Ok, since we're allowed to a second question from family members:

- What do you think of the renditions of the DS classics in the Golder Heart Tour and would you say that Mark was particularly happy of having to fill 2/3 of the show with such material given the massive burnout he went through few years before on the OES tour?

“It’s a family affair, it’s a family affair”

Hmmm. I can't remember the renditions. Sorry.

One of M’s traits is to try and approach the older songs in a fresh way to keep them interesting for HIM. Not unusual, alot of artists do that.

He had a bunch of musicians here who were capable of just about anything technically, really great guys but sometimes what is interesting to musicians is not necessarily interesting to the wider public who want the comfort of familiarity, and thats always going to be subjective.

Any artist with a successful catalogue gets trapped by the audience (rightly) wanting to hear that catalogue “like the records” I don't mean folks who join a forum like this .

I think he did a pretty good job of balancing that with the new stuff.

Whether he was happy I couldn’t say (that is a whole different subject ).

Naturally he’s gradually increased the post DS at the cost of the DS.

One day he will form his own tribute band and send out robots with sparkly headbands to play the BIA set so HE doesn’t have to go on tour, just Guy with an ATMOS ROBOT WIGGLE STICK, one follow-spot and a tour bicycle with a basket full of Mars Bars as a substitute for catering. 

[dustyvalentino]

Hi, Ed.

Thank you for answering my question.
Now that we are able to do one more, i'll go for it.

Explaining part of my first question: I know that you won't listen to Mark's music since 2000. I was made a comparison between the release strategies from MK' music and the DS days. The recent 2.5 MK albums have more songs that the entire DS discography.

Now, my final "question".
For experience, i know that artists (in case, musicians), most of them are "excentrical personas". They have a distinctive point of view about socienty and personal relationships.
I mean "excentrical" because part of an artist personality escapes from the "normal" world.
In  real life, artists are normal people who work hard on their art but enjoys the same jokes, food and places like "normal" people likes.
(Yes, it's hard to me to explain)

However, some of them have some affraid of conflicts or disagreements in general. In the near circle, this is very common.
And, if you are bossy.... hmmmm (problem).


As an admirer of Dire Straits (as a band) and his formation variations, i always saw MK as the guy who avoid conflicts. I am want to go into 'too personal' detais, however, watching interviews from Pick, Terry and David (who can be very idiotic egomaniac sometimes) along my DS fever days, and reading your interviews (and AMIT answers), when someone quitted the band, your job was the worse.
I mean, protect the personal/professional relationships and, above all, keep the "fired ones" as good friends it's not for everyone.

I always saw Mark as a guy who doesn't really care about the fans. He always talk about playing BIA and RJ as a tribute to the fans and bla, bla, bla. Sorry, but to my view, this is bullshit.
I know that is NOT your matter, but The Straits RRHOF thing was a tragedy (for the business and for the fans)

Since your departure, what seems is that Mark were "ashamed" of Dire Straits.
Is always "between the lines" that Mark didn't really like the band (songs/albums/concerts) and his recent songs are WAY better than the DS days.
(I know he talks it because his recent work. But, come on.... ignore the past is nonsense)

Well, Mark it, Mark that...
Like as quoted by a forum friend - Mark didn't want that.
(This is Guy's answer for everything that he can not answer)

For most of the public, Mark was reponsible for 99,99% of the arrangements for the DS songs. To my view, the concerts "represented" this idea.
Well, the band played everything the same every night, the only who "could" play different was... Mark.
There is no bootleg that has information like: - 'Alan was killing this concert' or 'Terry made an amazing job on that song... Was always things like: 'Mark was inspired', 'Mark went crazy during Sultans'...


Now, finally, my question: 
How much input Mark receive from the musicians/co-producers during the DS days? He got input's on his lirycs too?

To my ears, LOG (album) is a Alan Clark masterpiece.
Local Hero soundtrack, for me, it's a collab between Alan and Mark.
The 80's DS sound, to my ears, is much more focused on Alan inputs than Mark's.
Ok, its Mark songs. However, Mark guitar solos would be "nothing" without Alan's magical keyboard layers.
There is a huge (again, in my opinion) rupture on MK's music when he stopped to work with Alan.

Another thought that i had years ago:
Calling Elvis, When It Comes To You, Fade To Black, Ticket To Heaven, How Long, Millionaire Blues.
Those songs are originally planned for a 2nd NHB album?


Come on, Rolo... shut up.

Well, my life quotes, based on years playing in bands are.
"Every person needs to be in a band once in life to respect "excentrical" personalities"
and
"Every soloist (mainly guitar players) should be bass players for a year to learn how to listen and respect the band"
and the most common one:
"Learn to separate the art from the artist."


i'll shut up.
THANK YOU, Ed.
And a special thanks to your sense of homour.
I haven't laughted this way about music subjects in years.

Rollo Beethoven.

If you want to ask more that's fine..they will go into the Sept 18 pile.

Now to your essay by paragraph, yep, you certainly went for something 🤡.

1. I don't know about those albums. I’ll take your word for it.

2. “Eccentric". PING!!!! I am on the floor eating my shag pile carpet.

Eccentric is definitely part of their makeup., almost HAS to be.

Narcissism at full tilt is common to almost any successful artist not least because they filter critics out of their circle and only hear what they want to hear, even though deep down the intelligent ones know that their real friends and advisers give them honest opinions (essential as a manager) The  danger arises when they don't WANT those opinions and then they generally self combust. .

Think Spinal Tap….. that was based on the band Styx by the way.

I understand completely what you are getting at.

3. Yes. Nailed it. Anyone in particular your thinking of?

4. It’s Mark’s personality do almost anything to avoid outward confrontation. I can count the arguments we had on the fingers of one hand. It might have been better if we’d had more.

Now please ..all of you…do not mention David K to me.
I have a weak heart, high blood pressure, acid indigestion, piles, constipation, impotence, my life hangs by a thread , please don’t cut that thread, I'm already uncomfortably numb.

Being a manager frequently means doing things the musicians won’t or can't do themselves and saying “no” is top of that list, holding their cocks for the pre show pee is next….Coldplay actually employ someone to do that called Shakin’ Stevens an old UK pop singer with the shakes, perfectly qualified . Google him.

Yes. Management is like spinning plates. I've managed to stay friends with many musicians  who came and went in numerous bands, not just DS, and crew, my staff, significant others, it just depends on the individuals and my personality of course, and I'm very easy going . I LIKE people unless they try and screw me ( or the people I’m representing).

5. Interesting that he comes over that way to you.
He definitely cared about them at the beginning.
Signed autographs happily, chatted, enjoyed interacting.

Then it all got VERY big and some fans ( who are not fans) became threatening/demanding, idiots appeared in droves, John Lennon got shot, he had to have a bodyguard on tour which puts a wedge in the way, the fan-mail got VERY weird especially from girls, loads of really medical nude polaroids , fantasy letters about him fucking whoever ( female fan stuff is out there but they aren’t fans they are fantasists) and of course, death threats.

Mandela gig gave rise to hundreds, really worrying stuff ( pre social media, it would be nuts now)
Girls camping outside the office offering me sex if I’d introduce them to him but they never had any teeth so they got a pass (I didn't tell him any of this).

A stalker who stole his garden gnomes ( yes!) .

The whole lot.

So that had/has an effect, it would on you, you become suspicious, pull back, become untrusting.

I don't think that's really what you’re talking about when you say “ashamed” , I just can't say how he feels about DS but I kind of know what you are hinting at. .

I just don't know how much he cares about audiences now and I’d be speculating so I won’t.

I haven’t been to a gig in YEARS and when I did I noticed a completely different feeling to, say, the NHB shows at Ronnie’s.

He didn't talk to them., it was like a recital, don't recall which tour. .

I went home to watch Newsnight as did all my previous office staff , all of us  baffled by what the shows had become. No smiles, felt he was sort of detached. .

Actually I got completely involved in the RRHOF thing and not because I wanted to.

I'm very close friends with someone in that ( really fucked up) organisation who tried to get me to mediate.

There is a long and incredibly tedious tale behind that involving the RRHOF policies about who does/plays what and insane politics over which MANY acts have kicked back eg Kiss, Steve Miller, Blondie ( watch the clips) , and the issues between MK and DK and DK’s indignation about the expenses he had to pay.

Pick was first to bail and I completely understand why and it's personal to him.

There were also weird politics from Alan Clark and Crockford was just doing what he always does, bowing to MK’s wishes, but he and I did agree they should all go for the fans who don't care about any of this BS,  but the sibling thing proved impossible to resolve.

To me the whole thing was a shambles.

As Guy said at the time , it opened up old wounds that had never healed.

I wasn’t invited and wouldn’t have gone…….to Cleveland?

It was nice of John to pay tribute to Paul C and myself but  really their appearance ( the three) without M and John’s bland excuse “ its a personal thing “ sounded and looked pathetic.

But he did the best job he could so fair play I guess.

Just my opinion.

Once M said he wouldn’t go the HOF couldn’t get ANYBODY to induct them. Whoever they had lined up ( Keith Urban I think, might be wrong ) pulled out .

NO ONE, so there’s John doing it, a first for the HOF and probably the last.

Says it all.

So DS accepted basically as a backing band.

Really sad.

The US media had a field day.

7. I can't speak for MK but DS is the monkey on his back.

At the end of the day he’s a two hit wonder SOS and MFN , maybe WOL, certainly in the eyes of the media and general ( non fan) public and maybe the BIA album is remembered. Maybe.

Unfair..yes.

Realistic..absolutely, and before you rubbish that, think really hard about what I’m saying. Not about what you as dedicated fans think, what the man/woman on the street thinks and how many people NOW have even heard of him or DS?.

Modern culture is disposable at an ever faster rate.

I've met kids of 25 who have never heard of the Beatles or Elvis, why would they? .

MK’s solo career has been sustained by the fan base. I doubt he’s expanded his audience at all and without DS he wouldn’t have had a career, probably not even a record deal.

Yes. Harsh but pragmatic and I could be completely wrong.

But ask yourselves, am I ?

8 Guy is an extremely sweet bloke with a lovely wife and family and he’s not about to bite the hand etc. and why should he? He loves what he’s doing and he has a completely non confrontational personality and can bend to anything. Love him.

9. Your words not mine ( you are 100% right) .

10. You have a question? Bugger, I was enjoying this.

No input on lyrics.

One of the things you all seem to miss is the producer input, Muff, Jerry/Barry, Jimmy and especially Neil Dorfsman who should have been paid a % on BIA  …...great guy as is Chuck Ainlay.
Those two had a BIG part to play in the stuff they worked on, way more than the musicians who basically do what they’re told or rather the songs determine what they play ( not a criticism).

Not sure I agree re the AC bit.

Most of what he played came from MK who certainly back then had a very clear idea of how he wanted the completed music to sound. I'm not trying to dilute AC’s talents or place in this , not at all, that's just my observation from being there.
I can’t comment on why M stopped working with him.

11. No. There was never going be a second NHB album. Thank God, if I had been included  I would have really not wanted to play TTH ( cant stand it) HL, MB ( we did the others except FTB).

12. Very funny. All correct.
Especially the last one.
Quizzy are you reading this?

It’s my pleasure, this is really interesting for me, rather more than blowing up radios. .
Glad you enjoy the laughs.
That's the MOST important thing.

[dustyvalentino]

Great Dusty, my colleague and friend Jeppe who is a great fan of Pink Floyd just as I am of DS/MK. He would like to know if (back then) there was ever any collaboration thoughts between Knopfler and David Gilmour ?.

I love your questions Peter.

So simple and direct.

No. They didn't meet until recently I think, I’m off to see him in October ..one of the greats for sure. The last time I saw DG I would rate in my top 5 gigs ever.
And he is a fab guy except he’s called DAVID.
Oh no…………aaaargh , waahhhhh Ddddddddd DAVID 😱🤮😩💀.

I promise not to write more off-topic content as admins will kill me, however, I do have yet another request. Dusty, could you please think about making a separate thread for each new batch of Ed's responses? Like "Special Q & A with Ed Bicknell - THE ANSWERS (PART 1)" because otherwise if you put all answers in one thread, it will be doomed to be clogged with responses and it will be impossible to follow. Just another 5 cents in the collection of possible amendments. Even the Constitution of the United States had 27 amendments, bear with me.

I think he’s going to. That’s his end of things, not mine. I'm not going to be responding to responses as I said yesterday but that shouldn’t stop anybody. I know it went stop you! 😀

Ed,

Off-topic:  You mentioned the Blue Nile.  From what I have read, managing them must've been sort of like herding cats.  Could you give a short synopsis of your work with them and maybe an illustrative anecdote or two?

Blue Nile

Yes. It was, a very frustrating experience. .

I took them on as a favour to Warners US and because I liked them as people.
Bad call.

There's a book about them called Nileism by Allan Brown I was interviewed for.. Get that.

Poorly written but he gets their essence which to me was they were playing at being a band.

It took 7 years to record “High" the record I got. RIDICULOUS.

That was motivated by fear.
The fear of it coming out ( not uncommon) .

They had no momentum to their career, Paul Buchanan over intellectualised everything and eventually PJ bailed in an absolutely histrionic row involving cutlery.

Paul could not take criticism and I was up his ass about the sheer nonsense of how they approached things.

They got a huge advance and it disappeared. I don't mean it was stolen, it disappeared. Several million dollars.
This was before I arrived.

They had the most fucked up situation I ever encountered.

I wasn’t allowed to leave the record with record companies after Warners dropped them and I was trying to get them a deal.
They had to decide on ONE listen, so no takers. RIDICULOUS.

When I got them $300,000 off Warners as a settlement he objected to paying me the commission.

After 7 fucking years of nothing!

I switched off then .

I eventually got them a deal, the band promptly broke up and I PRETENDED to the record co they were going to go on tour when they weren’t.

The album did about 150,000 worldwide and just about recouped.

Then the record co went bust ( Sanctuary).

So it all fell apart.

But I'm still in touch with Paul and I really like him, good soul. .

But he blew what could have been a spectacular career , a real shame.

[dustyvalentino]

Dear Ed,
What's the best question we could ask where the answer isn't "Mark didn't want to?"

I’m not sure I understand your question which may be translation. Could you re ask in a different way please and I will do my best to re address? Thanks.

I'm sure wakeywakey meant something along these lines: As DS was an authoritarian band (was it?), a lion's share of answers could end with "Because Mark didn't want to". As in: Mark didn't want to go to Poland (just as an example, not to offend Polish people!), didn't want to release his version of "Private Dancer", etc.. And the question is, I guess, what is something (the best) that happened to DS without any connection to MK, his desires whatsoever, or even against them?

wakeywakey, please correct me if I'm wrong.

Aaah. Quizzy. You’ve been quiet for a while. Hugs x

You’re not seriously asking me if it was an authoritan band are you?.

Democracy in bands never works so thank God it was!

I'm going to wait for Wakey to answer but based on your input I'd say most of his career at least when I was doing it.

He came up with the music and I came up with pretty much everything else and that's not ego on my part, that's how ALL the successful artist/manager relationships work, or should.

Of course he and John were "connected" but we discussed it, I came up with a plan and they went off and did it.

And it worked.

Ed do you remember why Dire Straits never came to Poland? The same question applies to Mark Knopfler first tour.

Ed:
Hmmm. No. No one ever approached me and back then I don't think I could find a promoter let alone a reliable one. A shame, I tried very hard to get the band into new territories partly for the fans but also to keep it interesting for the musicians.

That's what I suspected. It was our fault And the other side of the coin is that it was a time when we had too much phonographic piracy.

Not your fault, a consequence of the times sadly.

"A lot of questions seem to be boring or simple anyway, like all the "list-type" questions even coming from full-fledged, genuine AMIT members"

Anyone who asks a question, this question is important to them. Why do you think some questions are boring and uninteresting?

Exactly, and what others find "deep and clever" could come across as nerdy nonsense with no little value to others. Like, I'm very curious about setlists, songs that were rehearsed and not played live and so on and couldn't care less about "behind the scenes gossip". if someone stole a sausage and Mark got mad over it, who cares, right? But there might be a few "who-s" who genuinely care, which is fine. It's a bit like comparing ACDC to something like a classical composer. Just because one of them is a bit more basic and "straight forward" than the other, doesn't mean it has less musical value or is objectively of less quality. If the question brings something new out to the public, then it is very much a valid question. Also, we can't expect people to keep track of all interviews. If something is already answered, maybe pasting the answer from "back when" is a good solution.

As for more questions, it all depends on how many of them there are and how many there is time to answer - we can expand from two per member if there is room for it, too. I don't have anything against expanding the # of questions from each member, but in reality it's not a "family member" who is asking additional question, it is the person behind the keyboard.

My first question is: "How do unreleased tracks make their way into set lists, especially when multiple albums are already released?"

Reason for asking: if you choose a basic setlist for a tour (with a wild card or two in the rotation), and you have dozens of tracks to choose from, there is obviously limited space for songs - especially if you do extended versions which limit the # of songs you can play. My first thought is that there are numerous popular tracks that would fit that are left out, and it seems less obvious to give priority to songs people can't buy on a record and listen to later. (this is not a critique, thanks to bootlegging I'm very grateful for the unknown tunes that have found their ways out of concert arenas on various tapes)

"Uncle Fester bonus question": Has there ever been considered doing less extended versions of songs live to be able to include more tunes in the set lists? I'm interested in some thoughts on the balance and compromises here (DS seemed to be a bit more heavy on the longer/extended tunes than most other bands I have come across).

Quick story.

For the OES tour DS rehearsed up a huge number of songs so they could change them around at will.

The first time they tried that Chas our brilliant lighting guy came running into the dressing room “ Its going to take me 3 hours to reset the computer”

So they went back to set one and played that at EVERY show to the end.

Pretty depressing actually, music controlled by the lighting. .

Unreleased tracks.

That happened ALOT at the beginning because Communique was recorded but not released BEFORE the first US tour and they just played a lot of material the US audiences ,who are very open to this, hadn’t heard.

That became less later on ( I don't know post 2000) and its just when M fancies doing them, really its no more complicated than that and he always had a very good sense of the audience and their expectations.

I never made a set list suggestion EVER. Didn't need to.

In the NHB’s we constantly played stuff with NO rehearsal.

Audience requests etc., great fun and usually not DS stuff.

But we were special.

Fester..no. Not that I know of. I don't think that would occur to anybody ..first time that’s ever come up. You got what you got!

[dustyvalentino]

Thanks Ed, this is really kind. 
I saw you play drums with the NHBs at Ronnie Scott’s.   It was a perfect night.  Steak and chips, red wine, and this amazing band.   What was your happiest memory of the DS/NHB era - a day or night when you just thought ‘life doesn’t get any better than this’      Thanks again. Steve Szalay

Yes I remember you 🕺.

You ate Ronnie Scotts food and lived.MAJOR kudos.

Glad you enjoyed it.

Wow there were so many. So many and that was just the girls 👩.

First Madison Square Garden in 85 with a number 1 single and album.

Actually all those Ronnie Scott nights. The perfect venue to play and the band were so tight by then.

The Australian tours , great place.

Really the first 12 years were living the dream, one of the happiest times of my life.👩👩👩👩👩

Hello Ed, you said 'What he said at that last professional meeting was grossly insulting, patronising, bewildering and deeply hurtful.'. Given that you basically never listened to his music after that gives me the impression that Mark never apologized for that. Given that another family member got a chance to ask a question, I'm afraid that I have to give my dirty uncle the chance to ask his question. I personally wouldn't dare to ask you this, but my uncle assured my that you would enjoy the question: 'Did what Mark say involve the size of your knob?'.

I don’t think I told you to come out of the corner, did I? Please advise your uncle that the career he’s thinking of in stand-up comedy is a non starter and to stick to cutting hair.

Hi Ed, thanks for taking the time to answer our questions, it's much appreciated.
Edit: I changed my question because I realized it had already been asked!

About the 96ers! Choosing the Nashville guys was a good idea in my opinion, and I particularly wanted to talk about Chad Cromwell. Did he really suffer from hearing problems that would have pushed him to leave the 96ers later on? Perhaps he was less docile than the others?
What direction would you have taken with the 96ers if you had continued?
Ahh I so wish I'd had an official recording of the 2000-2001 tour, what a great album STP.

I hadn’t heard that about Chad so can't say.
Real shame if he did/does.
Yes, he was “less docile” ( funny) he’s a DRUMMER. 🥁....Glenn, Jim, Richard are so laid back they’re horizontal.

Good question.
Made me think about it for the first time.

The direction is defined by the music.

Probably pretty much what happened , Crockford just does what he’s told and is quite open about that, fair enough.

I will say that although the end of my professional involvement with M was extremely sad and unnecessary in the way he went about it, we had reached...no ...passed our sell by date and it was time to part.

I'm not the kind of person who could represent somebody if i'm not 100% into the music they are making and i'm sure its clear to all reading this that the changes starting with GH didn't float my boat and thats as much down to me as it was to him.
After all, he wasn’t making music to please me!

Anyway, I was worn out physically and mentally and needed to get away from it for a while and just have a life instead of living surrounded by unpacked boxes., spend time with my gorgeous kids and wonderful friends and travel to places and SEE them , not the inside of some soulless arena. I have no regrets about that life change at all and he went on to do what you all know. 


That's it for today.

[dustyvalentino]

Hi Ed, a family member would like to know: Do you think Mark going solo was always inevitable from more or less the beginning of Dire Straits?

I never thought about at the time but, yes.

It gave him complete control and then I went and he got complete control in that area.

Hi Ed, it is a magnificent gift you are giving us, thank you.

Three questions, but you can pick one:
- we know many artists make special requests for tours, in the sense of things they always want to find in the dressing room, or special food. Such requests from MK?
- What do you think of Mark as producer of the DS records?
- John Illsey speaks very badly in his book about DS's Italian concerts, at the level of organisation above all. Do you confirm his impressions? (I am Italian)

You’re welcome. Thank you

Yes. Sausages, In padlocked metal boxes to which only he had the key looked after by a “key roadie” who had no other function, called The Ultimate Warrior.
Big fat sausages with the ends split and circumcised, dipped in English mustard with the fat dripping off and pooling on the Tiiffany gold plate that was his and his alone.
 “ Mark’s Plate” it said round the edge , “ do not touch or The Warrior will shag you”.

Seriously no, they got what the caterers put in and what we could afford at the time and its pretty standard fare …crisps, sandwiches, salami/ham, celery, dips , an apple or two, juices. Beer. Some wine , gnat’s piss usually. That kind of thing.
Oh and cocktail sausages on sticks. Lots of those to dilute the desire for Mark’s sausages and the risk of a random muso, or wife, or gf, being arse blasted by The Warrior who’s booming voice would yell “assume the position” if they even APPROACHED the padlocked box.

Production. Once he got the hang of it after MM, world class.
Same on the 3rd party things he did eg Wally de Vile and the soundtracks. You can HEAR it.

Ah yes. John’s non fact-checked ghosted book full of humour and jokes, a required read for every DS fan who likes their literature DRY.
But he’s right about the first two Italian tours.
Pure chaos, didn't get paid properly, lost money and DANGEROUS, I was endlessly threatened with death if certain people didn't get the dates, we never played in any contracted venues, the capacities were ignored, no security, but great audiences.
Ferrara was particularly good because you were there.
 I know it's much changed now with a new generation of proper promoters and newish venues. The OES dates were fine.
Wonderful country, love it. I wish I was there now instead of on AMIT, answering questions about my knob, which I have on good authority is a beast of a thing with a mind of its own 🍆.

One person in DS was so active in that area, his body just became a life support system for his penis.
For a bonus UNFILTERED question anybody like to guess who?

[dustyvalentino]

Dear Ed,
thanks for your replies. Very nice facts to know about.
For most of us OES tour was the first and only time we saw DS.  It is quite sad to read about being so hard for almost everyone involved who has talked about it. I love every bit of it, and the new expanded On The Night has been a gift.
Question... There were a few names of musicians that could have done it but declined... Jeff Porcaro, Vince Gill, Manu Katché¿?...  Were there any other musicians proposed that finally did not make it?
This question could be used for other tours, if you are so kind.
Again, thank you very much.

Well the OES tour was sustained by the crew who were magnificent and n n n nearly all of the band who in spite of everything were total professionals throughout.
Heroes, the best. .
Along with my office staff and me of course. I was singularly fabulous.

Manu and Jeff declined because, I’m sure you know why by now, and Vince decided to keep going at his own career and ended up joining the World’s Most Dangerous Band, The Eagles who are winding things down. At last. Hopefully. When Henley decides he has enough money.

In my time up to 2000 I can't recall anybody being proposed who declined.
I got Terry in, Paul Cummins knew AC from Lindisfarne, my office found Hal having his hair permed, Joop just picked up a tambourine one day, I got Mel in, Neil Dorfsman recommended Tommy, I got Guy and Chris White in, Mark knew Jack , Crockford was “managing" Chris Whitten, Danny I can't remember who recommended him, a shed builder perhaps?
Seriously, with one exception ALL great guys , we were lucky to have them.

Dear Ed,

A great big thank you for doing this, and I'm pleased to read that you're actually enjoying it. It's so interesting what you say about MK really being a two-hit wonder. Sure he's a talented songwriter, hardworking and an unbelievable guitar player, but was he so much better than say Richard Thompson or Ry Cooder? I've always thought he was extremely lucky to be in the right place at the right time twice. And listening to his (very long) solo albums, it is evident that not everything he creates is gold. The two albums that have stuck with me are the first and second DS albums. They are just amazing in every respect much due to the true band feel that comes across, Mark's fantastic guitar work, Pick's drumming, and that they for some reason sound timeless.

Forgive me the rambling. I do have a question, and it's not DS/MK related. Since you're passionate about music, I assume you have a top-notch sound system, or maybe even a dedicated listening room. Would you care to tell us what your sound system consists of (components and brands)?

Cheers!

Let me just clarify the “hits” thing I mentioned .
 
You could say, and you’d be right, that DS had many more hits than two/three and a brief tour through any of the Hits/Best Of’s will demonstrate what I mean.

The biggest seller of the compilations was the first one ( MFN) and that did about 15 million mostly in countries where the preceding studio albums had NOT sold eg Central and South America.
That's quite a bit LESS than the population of Greater Los Angeles (18m +) so equivalent to just ONE US city which gives it some perspective.

So I’m not talking about the dedicated fans like you lot who bought ALL the studio and live albums but maybe NOT the Hits collections because try as I might I couldn't get any new extra tracks recorded,  say,  for MFN (and I did try….a  normal marketing trick for those things back then).

What I'm talking about is the wider general public who perhaps bought ten albums a year OR less, for whom pop music isn’t that important it's in the background, who may not follow ANY acts , only have “Thriller” by MJ …don't know his other stuff , used to go into record stores ( remember them?) , look at the singles chart behind the counter and say “ I'll have 4, 6, 11,15 and 20” based on the SONG title and not the artist, and I've seen that happen many times.

It’s like streaming now, people in the main go for songs, not acts, but of course the big acts DO have dedicated followers and they are the ones who convert into ticket buyers.
So THEY are the ones who MIGHT know SOS, R and J, PI, MFN, WOL if that.
And if they are under the age of say 25 they probably don't know DS at all, definitely not MK, unless they’ve heard via their parents.
And who wants to listen to what their parent’s play?

Many years ago, early 2000’s, M asked me if MTV still played DS vids and I said “ yes but only MFN, very occasionally SOS ” which didn't best please him because it clearly meant that the programmers of that saw him as a one/two hit wonder.
Ditto “Sledgehammer" by Peter Gabriel, "Brass in Pocket" by The Pretenders, "Dancing in the Dark" by Springsteen, “ Jump” by Van Halen and so on.

Quite simply there is too much music out there.
Too much noise you have to break through to get heard.
About 100,000 songs are uploaded to services like Spotify EVERY DAY.

So before you lot get your knickers in a twist , that's what I mean when I say that for MOST people, DS is a two, three hits act at most, MK is a no hits act and his solo career has relied totally on the launch pad DS provided and the loyalty of a smallish part of that original fan base because you will never convince me that he’s picking up fans from the under 25 age group and it doesn’t matter.
He has found exactly the niche he wanted to be in, good luck to him.

And in that he’s NO DIFFERENT than just about all the artists of the generation he belongs to. When I go to see David Gilmour next month I will be astonished if I see any young people there. They can't afford the tickets to start with ( the whole ticketing thing is a rip off disgrace eg Via Go Go , Ticketmaster etc) ! 

End of lecture.

Sound system .
Great question.
Unfortunately my kit has been in storage for a while ( house move screwed up by Covid but I didn't die…7 friends did including David Stewart who worked as a TM for me then ran British Grove for M, terrible loss ) and I can't remember the model numbers.
 It was bought around 2006/8 and its top of the line stuff…..KEF British speakers, Bose noise cancelling headphones, a beautiful Technics deck ,Technics CD player , original Phillips CD player ( number 2! ), Technics amps etc. I don't have a dedicated room but in my previous house it was all wired into the walls, speakers embedded in walls etc.

I only have vinyl and CD’s.
No cassettes., alot of vinyl including a huge number of original Blue Note and ECM jazz albums that were given to me by the label which have wonderful artwork .

I mostly listen to soundtracks, classical, ambient, jazz, big bands, classic soul, drum stuff, the rock and roll and pop I grew up on. No contemporary pop , no hard rock or heavy metal ( I worked with the best at that so ….) no hip hop or rap.

[dustyvalentino]

Question from a family member.

Hi Ed.  Thanks for squeezing my bro in.  Moving on...

Do you think that there are any music producers out there or were considered who would have brought something better to either Dire Straits output or Marks solo career? My feeling is with the latter and OES he would have definitely benefitted from some more overtly outside influence but really interested in your view and wther other producers were ever considered during your tenure as manager.

Not really. All the third party producers we worked with were/are top of the line and of their time. No others were considered that I know of , maybe Phil Ramone would have been a good choice but academic. George Martin did a bit of arranging ( TTH) but wasn't  asked to produce a truly amazing man) .
I cant speculate about what a difference they might have made.
The engineers also made a big contribution.
And the assistants who made tea.

Many thanks for doing it for us - get-a-lifers, Ed. It's an absolute highlight in the history of this Forum.

Following up on hunter's great question above (who hunted my original question - re "was he so much better than..." ), I'd like to know your opinion on why DS was as successful as they became. I was listening the other day to Chris Rea, similar age to MK, with some really good songs, interesting deep voice, characteristic guitar playing (slide), (red strat is his thing too btw) etc. Many ingredients for potential huge success are there and yet, he got nowhere near the level of DS/MK popularity. He was quite popular in Europe but rest of the world doesn't know him.
So, what was it that made DS so huge? Surely more than just being at the right place and time? Although it must happen at some point if you want a serious success I suppose. When asked about these things, MK always says that you really must want to do it, regardless of the ups and downs in your life, you got to be addicted to it, it has to be compulsory. But surely there must be other factors that make someone a world act instead of a toast of the town. Does (good) management play a key role? BTW, I always loved the name of your company - Damage Management. Says a lot about your sense of humour  Is that what it comes down to at this high level? Damage management?

How long is a piece of string?
My partner Sadie doesn’t believe in luck.
She calls it “ perfect alignment ”
I can't think of a better answer to your question, that's what we had.

So, breaking that down
Timing ..now they wouldn’t get a record deal or radio play. No TV, no sex symbol.

Talent ( the songs, the guitar SOUND, the original line-up minus David, the vocals, Muff’s production. )

Drive and work ethic is way more important than talent ..talented acts fail because they are not driven.
MK is absolutely right about that and he had drive in spades
Acts with little talent often make it through drive , we could all name dozens.

Personalities …the original 4 blended perfectly but David wasn’t able to handle the rapid rise in popularity ( not everybody can) and didn't think “it was supposed to be like this”.
He once tried to get me to STOP the record companies promoting the first album which got squashed very quickly... “ SHUT UP ” MK.

Once he’d gone the shackles came off and off we went to the topper most of the popper most.

Other than the talent the single most important element is great…not good…great management with a dedicated team which I had ( one person eventually let me down very badly but that's life, you just have to get on with it ) .
All the acts with long and successful careers have great managers and the relationships tend to be for the entire career.
But not always, as we know🔥🤮

Yes, damage control or as I used to put it, managing expectations.

Hi Ed

My, um, sister, Busty Valentino, has this question for you:

Who were the top acts you worked with, and also the more “challenging”, during your pre DS days at Hull University and as an agent?

I once shared a red Woolworths light bulb in a dodgy guest house in Leeds with an enthusiastic dancer who introduced herself…” they call me Busty June” and I ended up deaf.

That's a LONG list.
At University the big ones I put on ( 1967-1969) included The Moody Blues x2 , The Who x2 , Pink Floyd, x2 , Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Jethro Tull, Ten Years After, Free, John Mayall, The Kinks, Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger Trinity, Family x 2 ( best of the lot) plus a bunch I've forgotten.
No problems with any and some…...Justin Hayward, Pete Townshend ( amazing guy..brightest  man in music and funny as fuck) became pals.

As an agent , pretty much the same story and I've mentioned some above.
Only one asshole springs to mind, Bobby Womack RIP. Drugs sadly. Total shit.
Elton had his moments but underneath a good guy, funny.
Sabbath were pretty funny. Loved their stuff back then, ditto Purple.
Talking Heads were a great bunch, nearly managed them but not ready.
Gerry Rafferty was difficult, alcoholic and bi polar which killed him but he opened alot of doors for me and thereby for DS.
Wally de Vile RIP was a 100% total asshole and BIG mistake for MK which I had to tidy up , completely pointless.

Worked with some good people on festivals and TV's…..Rory Gallagher, Robert Palmer,  Talking Heads, Barry White, Charles Aznavour ( brilliant), Marvin Gaye, The Police, Gordon Sting, others I cant remember.

[dustyvalentino]

Hi Ed and thanks again for you disponibility, huge sens of humour, kindness, and mindblowing informations for all of us

one of my blog followers asks me always the same question : is it true that Mark doesn't choose what songs are released or not on an album ?
is it really the record compagny who decides this ?

for example, who decided to put Eastbound train as B-side and not on the album ? same for Badges, stickers, posters and T-shirts, or Millionaire blues and Kingdom come... lonesome wild blues (NHB), gravy train, my claim to fame... (I just gave examples during the time you had the job)

Thank you for your kind words.
I've always enjoyed interacting with fans,(  especially electric ones when it’s hot), although not the idiots of which I’m afraid there are many.

That is utter rubbish.

One of the great benefits of having that initial success was it gave me the leverage to keep the record companies, especially the Phonogram UK lot, OUT OF IT.

We delivered finished recordings including all the B sides you mention to them and I worked with them on campaigns to put them out and market, promote and sell them.

At no point did they have ANY say in the content or artwork.
But I DID let them choose singles with the exception of PI which I kind of forced on them because M wanted that and I thought it was utterly brilliant.
I was stupefied it did so well because of it’s length.

We also didn't let them do edits ( but radio stations did them anyway eg R and J )
In the US I learned an important lesson.
The music was what came BETWEEN the commercials, not the other way round.
Warners did a two and a half minute edit of TR which I just point blank refused to let them issue, hilarious really as they acknowledged.

I can't recall why the tracks you mention weren’t on albums ( rubbish perhaps?) .
Probably because after putting Les Boys on MM just to fill time ( unlistenable after two plays), the stuff you describe just didn’t “ cut it ‘’ i.e not good enough or didn’t “fit” conceptually.
All those songs are art, and the rest weren’t , so they were put aside to be stored in a box marked “ POP ART “ with some Andy Warhol photocopies 
 
But that’s an opinion, I just can't remember.