2007 /2008 UPDATE
The year 2007 finished with an amazing show at the O2 Arena to a capacity crowd of 22,000 people who came to experience the updated The War of the Worlds. Having completed a sell out tour of Australia and New Zealand during the Autumn the show then came to the UK and proceeded to enthral audiences across the UK and Northern Ireland with Gary looking after all sound aspects of the show including taking on the role of Senior Sound Advisor and Senior Front of House engineer. At the beginning of 2008 Gary was instrumental in helping Martin Fry complete a new ABC album for release this year. He has also taken charge of the FOH duties for a new Virgin signing PALLADIUM.
Garys recording career began as an assistant engineer at SARM Studios where he worked closely with founder and renowned producer Gary Lyons, his first and foremost tutor, Mike Stone, Roy Thomas Baker and the interminable Trevor Horn.
Starting out as a tea boy /runner, Garys enthusiasm soon saw him progress to an assistant on a variety of hit albums including, Queens A Night of the Opera News of the World and Day at the Races and was present to witness the first edited playback of the timeless Bohemian Rhapsody (which many will know was constructed in three sections due to its length and complexity).
During his time at SARM, Gary worked on many classic recordings including Lexicon Of Love, ABC and Yes and has been instrumental in creating numerous hit records including UK number ones for Spandau Ballet, the Boomtown Rats hit album Rat Trap and The Buggles Video Kills The Radio Star for which he received the NME Engineer Of The Year Award. Gary also worked and appeared on Malcolm Maclarens 1982 album "Duck Rock".
Gary was also a founder member of the ground-breaking group, Art of Noise. Resulting in numerous hits including Tom Jones rebirth hit Kiss, the Max Headroom experience with Paranoimia, and, most notably, a Grammy Award for the cover of the Peter Gunn theme on the Visible Silence album. This was a personal landmark for Gary as well as the music industry in general as it broke new barriers.
In 1983 Gary, formed One Management, which looked after the interests of various engineers/producers/keyboard programmers, before founding the illustrious Metropolis Studios in Chiswick two years later.
Alongside his Metropolis business commitments, Gary continued to engineer, produce and mix albums and singles for a variety of top artists including Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, Scritty Politti, Public Image, Billy Idol and Spandau Ballet who he became close working allies with, producing four of their five albums.
The nineties saw Gary venture onto the international stage with a spell in the States working with a selection of producers including Jon Carin, of Pink Flloyd fame, and mixing Billy Idols hit album Whiplash Smile, and in Europe working with The Stranglers Hugh Cornwell on Wild before teaming up with Chris Hughes (better known as Merrick, the drummer and Producer for Adam and the Ants and Co-producer and drummer with Tears for Fears) for a variety of projects including albums for Propaganda and Gay Dad.
Present day and Gary has just completed 5.1 mixes for the Spandau Ballet DVD Live (at the NEC) and Jeff Waynes epic - War of the Worlds as well as albums for James Pleased To Meet You working alongside legendary producer Brian Eno, Wilds debut album Time (EMI Classical new signing and brainchild of impresario Mel Bush). Gary was also once-again reunited with Trevor Horn for Lisa Stansfields sophisticated new album The Moment and the soundtrack for the remake of cartoon classic Magic Roundabout, whilst also finding time to record singles for hotly tipped London rock act Roosters self-titled debut album and work with PSII on the research and development of new game Play Mix.
The War of the Worlds is described, in Garys own words, as An original masterpiece of epic proportions and due to the depth of Jeff Waynes 1978 original composition there has been no stone unturned in the production of the 5.1 version, The complexity of the original meant it was one of those definitive albums made for 5.1 mixing. (WOTW is released by Sony Music on 6 July 2005).
Gary is represented by Karen Goodman at Upfront Management
Hi Gary - thanks for the add - it is very much appreciated. Love your work so keep up the great work in the coming year. Hope you like our rough stuff. With very best wishes.
Hi Mr Langan, thank you very much for adding me. you allways have been i kind of "idol"/inspiration to me, since i was 5 years old. in my point of view, you toghether with "the art of noise" (SUPERB work!) were the first people which "invented THE electronic music". it wasn't kraftwerk, it was you, the BBC radiophonic workshops and other nice people in background/underground, with really futuristic and impressive concepts. thank you for the inspiration!
hi gary, hope you're well. sankha said to call, i have his number if you need it. weird, relaying messages from sth ldn -> tko -> sth ldn...... but whatever makes the world go round ;-)
HA ! and I thought getting hold of Invisible Silence LIVE on laserdisc would be a good idea .... try then finding a laserdisc player.... such a short lived format, I hope this turns up on DVD one day.
Many, many versions of Close (To The Edit) - do you have a favourite? Was this a tough one to get a definitive of, or was it part of the ZTT marketing machine?
My personal faves at present are Edited from the pic disc and the rough mix.
FOur of us went to TWOTW at the dome, and it really was like hearing it again for the first time. My elder brother sat me in front of the album when I was 10-12. Every little detail, and sound was a step back to my childhood. Its a great body of work, and you really brought the epic up to date and sacrificed nothing. Hope you are feeling better since your fall, its great to still have you around as you have touched on most of the music that made growing up special - from scritti to ABC and AON
GGGAAARRRYYY!!!!!!hello hello.how are you?i hope all is well.just thought id send you a message to say our album is out on monday 26th.its called 'johnny flynn - A Larum' so keep an eye out.have you heard theres another TWOTW tour happening next may?i bumped into jeff not long ago and he was telling me all about it.i told him i didnt care if all i had to do was wash dishes or dress up as an martian i just wanna be in it! anyway,i hope your'e well and i look forward to hearing from you. take care,lots of love xx
