Standard Time

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Disc 1

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About

From Wikipedia:

Standard Time is the debut album by former Wings guitarist Laurence Juber, released in 1982 on vinyl and never re-released. Some of the songs where recorded when Juber was still a member of Wings. Fellow Wings members Paul McCartney, Denny Laine and Steve Holley also performed on the album.

From “Have guitar, will travel: Maverick Wings axeman Laurence Juber steps out“, by Jeremy Roberts:

How would you classify the six-song album Standard Time? Released in 1982, wouldn’t that have been your first solo album?

Standard Time is kind of a separate, albeit interesting thing. Not really part of what I’ve done as a true kind of artist. I almost approach that album a little more coming from it like a studio musician in a sense. It’s a very eclectic collection of stuff.

Solo Flight was my first album where I really put the focus on being a solo acoustic guitar player. Standard Time came about when Paul McCartney asked me to record various tunes out of his music publishing catalogue, MPL Communications, in the summer of 1979.

It was produced by Richard Niles, a very talented individual. His work is particularly evident on the track “Stormy Weather.” Even before Wings, Richard and I used to do a lot of session work together.

If you’ve paid attention to the Wings’ CD reissues, you’ll see his name. For example, there was an arrangement of the long-unreleased “Blue Sway” on the reissue of McCartney II, featuring Richard’s orchestration. When I played at the Soho Pizza Express Jazz Club in 2011, Richard opened for me at that show.

“Maisie” was my songwriting contribution to the album. It was really my first finger-style guitar piece. It was recorded with Paul, Steve Holley [drums], and Denny Laine [rhythm guitarist] — he’s playing harmonica on the track — so it’s essentially a Wings song.

The Standard Time stuff was really well recorded, mostly at Air Studios in London. It was actually used to demonstrate expensive Hi-Fi equipment at trade shows in 1980–1981! Which is interesting, because many years later I did a DVD called Guitar Noir [2003].

It won a ‘Demmy’ Award from the Consumer Electronics Association for being something that was really good at demonstrating expensive equipment! So I seem to have an affinity for high-end Hi-Fi. Once in awhile I make records that are just really sonically cool and make expensive equipment sound even better [laughs].

The version of Standard Time that came out was not everything that I recorded. I really didn’t want to release an entire record at that time. The four unreleased tracks were “Four Brothers,” “After You’ve Gone,” “The Christmas Song,” and “Autumn Leaves.” I did the latter with a string sextet. “Autumn Leaves” has a really kind of interesting, dark, near classical vibe about it.

After I recorded Standard Time, I sat on it for nearly three years. I was just too busy during the interim, touring with Wings and doing various session work. Things later got complicated during 1980 when Paul was busted, John Lennon was murdered, and the band’s future became uncertain. […]

I was basically given license to the recordings, but they’re actually owned by Paul’s company MPL. I do have my publishing on “Maisie.” I got in touch with MPL, and they graciously helped me obtain the masters. […]

Last updated on March 13, 2018