- [first lines]
- Mark Knopfler: Going to Montserrat was like going into a dream. It's always different. Reality's always different from what you think it will be.
- Yve Robinson: Montserrat was colonized by the Irish and that's why the island is so different. Because, it's just a really friendly place. It's just got a magic about it.
- Ray Cooper: When the volcano went off, that was a pinnacle point of change. A point where nothing was ever gonna be quite the same again - in the way we recorded, in the way that music was dealt with. Those magical moments are gonna be no longer.
- Midge Ure: There was no doubt there was a magic on Montserrat. This island was kind of untouched. There were no big corporate signs for chain restaurants and there was no American money in there. Just these old shacks and tin roofs and brightly colored and painted beautifully. And you felt as though you were in a time warp. This little island had a heart that you could feel.
- Nick Rhodes: It was a glorious dream that George Martin had and it's so sad, as always, to see a glorious dream come to an end and be destroyed. It's Atlantis now, isn't it.
- Mark Knopfler: I love the idea of wilderness - on the edge of civilization. I think the volcano itself has become a presiding spirit over the island and it definitely gives you a sense that you're living on the edge of something - seismic.
- Ray Cooper: He knew how to get from you, the best that you could give - which was extraordinary - in the most wonderful way. Elegant, gentlemanly, loving, nurturing way. He would make any musician a much better musician by spending five minutes with him.
- Gerry Beckley: A record producer is not like a film producer. A record producer is much more like a film director. One thing that was unique to George that a lot of producers didn't have is that he was also the arranger. And that's very often a completely different person, a different element.
- Ray Cooper: George's idea was to take people out of an environment, to put them into harmony with nature; but, also have time together to talk, to have dialogue. And what he knew would happen was for a lot of bands that had never been in that situation, that would evoke new ways of thinking and, therefore, new music of ideas.
- Jimmy Buffett: We were, I believe, the second band that recorded there. And, you know, I love island culture and I love the island people and I lived on my boat, off and on down there, for, you know, 20 years. So, I didn't have to go back to London or New York or Nashville to record it. And I was able to take those songs that were written there and go into that studio, that was built by George Martin, you know, you couldn't get anybody who had a better reputation at that time. It was a lovely working environment, because , you didn't leave, I would say, the arena of creativity, you were kind of constantly involved in the creation of this music.
- Giles Martin: I would say Dad, he was a kind of mad visionary in lots of ways. I think he always liked the idea of pushing boundaries. If you think about what he did with The Beatles in the 60s, he pushed the boundaries in the recording studios. He wanted to do something different.
- Jimmy Buffett: When we first got there we didn't know what we were gonna call the record. And we saw the volcano. This was a dormant volcano that was like a tourist attraction. You can walk from like here to you and that was the vent of the volcano. It was kind of fun to go up there and I was always kind of intrigued by that volcano that was, you know, that was sittin' there that was so accessible.
- Verdine White: It touched our spirit in a different kind of way. You didn't feel anything other than just joy in the music. There was no rush either. There was no clock. And by being away from everything and everybody and from "we need a hit record, we need another hit record" and we just put that aside and we're gonna do a double record, you know. And we're just gonna play some music.
- Jimmy Buffett: There are two ways you can go into the studio. You can go in and look for perfection or you can try to capture the magic. And I've always been a capture the magic guy.
- Verdine White: I had heard that the ladies that were working in the field with the machetes, when they were bringing our equipment from the airport to the studio, you know, the big cases with "Earth, Wind and Fire" on 'em. They had their machetes and they dropped them and applauded - cause they knew we were coming. They just applauded the cases! We hadn't even gotten there yet. And it was beautiful.
- Stewart Copeland: The third album, we'd had a couple of hits and the record company are saying; no, this is now going to be the big one - if you get this next album right. And the record company were there with us to ensure that we did not stray from the path of commercial success. So, for the next album we went 12 hours flight away from the record company - down in the Caribbean at Montserrat Studios.
- Andy Summers: We were coming out of, you know, the punk scene in London which went from about 1977 to about 1980 and then it sort of petered out. But, it was a wonderful, colorful moment in music history. It was the crucible for The Police. That's where we started.
- Sting: Well, think the success of The Police really was a happy accident, because, it was the beginning of the MTV era. And we has a whole slew of videos already made and there was this channel, custom built, to receive these videos. And we became a staple on MTV, which, of course, added to our success.
- Sting: The Police wrote three albums in dingy, sunless recording studios in England and in Holland - where we would work from 10 in the evening till dawn. And we lived that kind of existence for a couple of years.
- Midge Ure: It was the early 80s. Record company budgets were reasonable and afforded artists to go and take over a studio - a residential studio. So, when you went to Montserrat, it was yours. It was your environment, you know. Your bar. Your kitchen. Your whole place. So, it was something that was really quite special. You know, there weren't many residential studios of that quality.
- Sting: It was a period of stratospheric success. And a part of that, the speed and the size of that success, also distorts your perception of it. And we were so filled with this forward momentum we didn't really get a chance to appreciate it - except for Montserrat, which allowed us to calm down.
- Ray Cooper: Music is the liquid architecture of our emotions and George was a wonderful architect. He had a way of putting things in place, in the right place, in a place that was comfortable and a place that grew. It was fruitful.
- Nigel Olsson: Montserrat was a whole different deal. The room was fantastic. It just had great atmosphere. It had George all over it, actually, in the studio. It was just so cool.
- Davey Johnstone: I remember the day that we wrote "Guess That's Why They Call It The Blues." Because, to me it's one of the greatest love songs of all time, you know. And we wrote it in 20 minutes. Again, it was like - it wasn't like a big thing. It was like, okay, this - this - this. Oh yeah, that's great and let's get the guys in and let's record it.
- Nigel Olsson: We're all on the same wavelength. We didn't have to tell each other how it should be. And the beauty also was that we kind of heard the songs being written. So, we were in there from the start.
- Ray Cooper: In London, I was often overdubbing in the studios on work that had come from Montserrat. I would say sometimes, "Is this from Montserrat?" And they'd say, "Yeah, how'd you know?" I said, "Well, I can hear it, believe it or not. There's something in the air that's surrounding these notes." There's a sympathy between the notes. There's an understanding. And that can only come when you're working with George or in one of these environments.
- Nick Rhodes: One thing that was a bit of a shock was that we were used to living out our lives completely under media scrutiny. And it was days when you'd wake up and there'd be someone hiding in your hedge in your front garden and, you know, you have to draw the curtains quickly when you're having breakfast. So, suddenly there - there was no one. It was like suddenly going under water and there was silence.
- Nick Rhodes: When we arrived, it was like being in a surrealist painting. You go and there's black sand everywhere and the volcano and these *giant* iguanas.
- Stewart Copeland: We went there for the isolation; but, we soon found without anything else around us, we had only each other to drive each other bananas. *And* we all kind of saw the irony of it. Although, we were screaming and shouting at each other that here we were in this paradise, which we soon turned into a living hell.
- Nick Rhodes: We just sort of finished the Rio album and we were chasing The Police. Cause they were a little bit older than us, they were ahead of us in America, and it was time to make another album. And then we thought we can't go back to England, because it was just a little bit too crazy with ally the hysteria at that point. We really couldn't move in the street. So, we wanted to get as far away as we could. Air Studios Montserrat looked very appealing from the brochures. And, of course, having George Martin involved, we figured that every things going to be - perfect.
- Chris Kimsey: Montserrat was a huge part of rebooting the Stones - helping them get back together, particularly Mick and Keith. It was, you know, pretty sad when we all left. Because, they hadn't been that close for such a long time. There was a sense of, you know, when you finish school for the first time and you all break up and it was a bit like that. Breaking up for the summer holidays.
- Chris Kimsey: Well, the Stones were the last band to record in Montserrat. There's been a few studios where they've been the last people to record in. But, they're not the reason they've closed down. It's always an act of God.
- Andy Summers: You know, maybe the best music comes out of this sort of tension. I've always believed that. I think that, you know, The Police had three distinct personalities which were not the ideal bedmates, because, we weren't mellow guys. But, I think that kind of firecracker complex is what sort of fuels the music.
- Stewart Copeland: After we finished The Police album, Sting stays there for a bit of a holiday. And the next band in is Dire Straits. And - the rest is history.
- Sting: [singing] I want my MTV...
- Sting, Andy Summers, Stewart Copeland: [shouting] I want my MTV!
- Mark Knopfler: I'd seen on MTV The Police doing an ad for it and I thought, well, if I stick that to "Don't Stand So Close To Me", those notes, that would fit. Anyway, we were recording "Money For Nothing" and I said to somebody, "I wish Sting was here." And somebody said, "Well, he is here. He's on holiday."
- Yve Robinson: The thing about the Stones is where they do this thing where in the old days they used to trash things and they said well, you know, this is what we usually do on the last day, we trash the place. And, anyway, Hurricane Hugo did it for them. You know, because, as soon as they'd gone, the hurricane hit.
- Sting: Well, you know, the conflict in the band is kind of storied. Um. And it may well be exaggerated. Uh, but, for me it was a function of the creative process, you know. You have three alpha males trying to forge something that points in one direction and not three. Um, I mean, we weren't physically aggressive with each other; but, it got pretty heated in there. But, really, because we cared passionately about what each of us were doing. And, um, but, it was not - easy. So, it was great to have an environment around us where you could escape to. You know, I could go walking in the hills. In fact, I went up to the volcano a couple of times. You'd come back smelling of sulphur - like you'd been to hell.
- Andy Summers: We were playing together but we weren't seeing each other. We were all completely isolated and playing through head phones. Which was sort of bizarre. I mean, what they all wanted in those days, this is a different period of recording techniques, was perfect separation. All right, and that's what we had and that's what we were going to be as people too. Perfect separation.
- Chris Kimsey: We were listening back to "Mixed Emotions". Peter Mensch was taking to Keith suggesting that a arrangement change should be made. At which point Keith delved into his doctor's bag - one of these beautiful old leather doctor's bag - and brought out a knife and pinned it between his legs. And said to Peter something in the terms of, "Listen, Sonny, nobody tells The Rolling Stones how to write a song." Which I thought was classic. Wonderful. And the arrangement never changed.
- Sting: I went sailing past Montserrat a few years after the volcano erupted. And sailing past Plymouth and just seeing what looked like nuclear winter. It was covered in white dust. And this thriving, bustling Caribbean town was a ghost town. And it was frightening and upsetting, because, I had so many happy memories of that place with by bandmates, my children, my family.
- Mark Knopfler: Recording studios - they all have a shelf life. Because, in the end, they're ruled by forces that are bigger than us.
- Gerry Beckley: I think the demise of the album is directly related to the shift from analog to digital. A lot of the restrictions that we dealt with in recording analog were lovely parameters to keep the reins kind of tight. And with digital came unlimited options. And I think things took a pretty serious shift at that change.
- [last lines]
- Ray Cooper: George knew the space between the notes was as exciting as the notes you played. That rhythm that keeps us alive. The heartbeat. It's in all of us. It's the heartbeat you hear in your mother's womb that entices you out to dance. And we need that. We need to touch base with what we do as human beings. And what better example than making music. And it's about collaboration. It's about the dream that George had - at that wonderful space in Montserrat where you had the sun, the sea, nature, each other's company, and music.
- Giles Martin: My father was a man who got enormous pleasure from other people's happiness. He passed away years ago, but, he passed away as a, you know, as a very content man - what he had done in life. And Montserrat was a huge part of that life and a huge part of a dream that he fulfilled in doing something amazing.
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