Craven, Ben - Last Chance to Hear CD + DVD
SKU
19-DC1011
This is multi-instrumentalist Ben Craven's third album. On his second release, which we carried, he referred to his album this way: "If Pink Floyd had recorded a soundtrack for Star Wars, it might sound something like my music."
That still remains a quite reasonable summation of what he does!
This release includes a 'making of' DVD.
"Australian cinematic progressive-rock singer-songwriter Ben Craven is releasing his highly anticipated third album “Last Chance To Hear”. The new release features guest contributions by YES legend Billy Sherwood and iconic actor William Shatner (yes, Capt. Kirk himself!!!).
Says Ben, “ ‘Last Chance To Hear’ is loosely inspired by the end of the music industry as we knew it. There’s never been a time when so much new music was being made by so many people and being listened to by so few people. The concept of paying for new music is now alien to a lot of the audience. Digital downloads have made physical media virtually obsolete. Streaming services mean that anybody making new music is now competing with the whole history of recorded music. And the album format is in danger of becoming extinct. There’s never been a time full of more ‘opportunity’ than now. So I made an album about it.
“The new album is a logical progression from my previous album, ‘Great & Terrible Potions’. The arrangements are more confident and more purposeful. But probably the biggest difference is that there are fewer vocals on this new one. ‘Last Chance To Hear’ is more about having the confidence, and presumably the competence, to let the music do the talking.”
The obvious question is how did Ben recruit such iconic artists as William Shatner and Billy Sherwood to guest on his new album? Ben explains, “I was not my first choice to perform the vocals on ‘Spy In The Sky Part 3. I pored over the melody and the lyrics to get them just right. But when I finally ran through the completed lyrics in my head, I could only imagine a speaking voice.
“Immediately I thought ‘William Shatner!’ and loved the idea. Then reality kicked back in and I got on with the job of singing my own vocals. Except the idea never went away. It kept nagging and eating away at me, like all good ideas do. And here I was willing to give up my own vocal performance on the most dramatic piece of music on the album! So I had to stop ignoring it. “I reached out to Billy Sherwood who as you know produced William Shatner’s last album, the excellent ‘Ponder The Mystery’. Billy would have been my first and only choice to record the session. I asked him if he thought the concept of having Shatner appear one of my songs would even be possible. Amazingly, everyone agreed, and Billy is the one who actually made it happen.
“Deep down I felt a lingering terror that the music might collapse under the weight of a William Shatner vocal performance. But I suspect Shatner realized the opposite. He played the lead vocalist role perfectly, as boldly and grandly as the music aspired to be. It is an awesome combination and he brought the track up to a new level altogether. I love it.”"