Rise (Mike Peters album)

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Released26 February 1998

Recorded1998

LabelEagle Rock Entertainment

Rise

Studio album by

Released

26 February 1998

Recorded

1998

Eagle Rock Entertainment

Mike Peters chronology

Feel Free
(1996)

Rise
(1998)

Flesh & Blood
(2000)

Rise is an album by the Welsh musician Mike Peters.^[1] His third solo album, it was released in 1998 by Eagle Rock Entertainment.

All songs were written by Peters, except "In Circles", which was co-written by Peters and Billy Duffy.

"In Circles" 4:47
"Transcendental" 5:17
"Rise" 4:06
"You Are To Me" 5:01
"My Calling" 4:42
"First Light" 4:59
"High On The Hill" 4:40
"Ground Zero" 4:06
"White Noise [Part II]" 4:37
"The Wasting Land" 4:40
"Burnout Syndrome" 7:00

Promotional release

To promote the album in the US, a compact disc release was made available for the complete album. This edition included three tracks not released in the UK:

"I Want You"
"The Message"
"White Noise Part III"

There was also another compact disc release for the US only titled "Mike Peters Sampler" containing:

"Transcendental - Radio Edit" 3:52
"Sold Me Down The River" 3:04
"Rain In The Summertime" 3:15
"Rescue Me" 1:45
"Interview With Mike Peters" 10:11

North American release

The North American release of the album included three tracks not released in the UK:

"I Want You"
"The Message" (The Mess-age mix)
"White Noise Part III" (Snakebite mix)

Album background

Peters' describes In Circles as about living in the present, stopping to appreciate the here and the now. It's about life as the best drug available and the human being as the most interesting lifeform in the universe. Peters was kicking the song around in a minor key when Billy Duffy suggested the major key. Peters wrote the chorus and the lyrics whilst on tour in France.

Transcendental began life as a Jules Jones composition based around the main piano melody and verse. Peters later added the bridge and chorus. The song was first demoed using harmonica and acoustic guitar but when it entered the second phase using the band, it was decided to get as close to the original piano feel as possible. To this end Peters experimented with an old electric piano, and then came across the 'Procol Harum' organ sound. The drums were recorded using only one microphone and a lot of compression to achieve that authentic sound and mixed in with a trip hop loop.

High on the Hill is dedicated to Chris Anderson who was a great friend of Peters. Anderson was a great source of encouragement and faith when Peters Himself was diagnosed, and subsequently cleared, of having cancer. Later, Anderson was himself diagnosed with the illness not long after Peters received the all clear. Anderson died shortly before the recording of the 'Rise' album. Peters dedicated 'High On The Hill' to Anderson and also used his guitar to record the song with. His family were all present for the recording session.

Peters describes The Wasting Land as a requiem of lost opportunity.

In Burnout Syndrome Duffy strapped on his guitar and lashed into a solo. Duffy even blew the amps during the last bar of the song and listeners can actually hear the electronics burning out in the recording of the song.

Credits

Mike Peters Producer and vocals

Billy Duffy Guitar

Rise Tour

Rise demos release

In 1999 Peters released a double compact disc edition of the album titled "Rise demos" (also referred to as "mikepeters.rise. demos")via His own 21st Century label.

This featured the ‘Rise’ album tracks at 3 different stages:

Conception – Early ideas and sketches of songs from Peter’s notepad tape recorder.

Acoustic – The songs taken one step further with the addition of acoustic guitar, drum rhythms.

Electric – Where Peters took the songs into a demo studio to test them in an electric environment, played by the band.

Track listing was as follows:

Acoustic

song introduction
my calling
break bread with me
song introduction
down the road
songwriting extract – untitled
rise
in circles [mark one]
songwriting sequence – first light
first light
songwriting extract – untitled
transcendental
white noise pt.II
songwriting extract – the wasting lands
the wasting land
songwriting extract – high on the hill
high on the hill
i’m falling
songwriting sequence – untitled [one]
songwriting sequence – untitled [two]
burnout syndrome
songwriting extract – untitled
you are to me
songwriting extract – untitled

Electric

ground zerø
white noise [pt.II]
the wasting land
first light
i’m falling
i want you
you are to me
rise
high on the hill
burnout syndrome
songwriting extract - in circles
in circles
transcendental
break bread with me

Peters stated on 30 March 1999 regarding this release:

"Where does an album begin and when is an album finished? Personally, I never try to think I am working on a specific album as such, I never stop writing songs for starters, my whole life seems to revolve around one huge album with each title merely a snapshot of my experiences along the way. You see, songwriting is my passion, I like nothing better than attempting to fit words to music and music to words. I do it for many reasons, but for the most part I do it because I enjoy it. To be able to record something that has been created out of nothing and share it with someone else is a wonderful experience.

To make a new album, I try and write as many songs as possible without putting my own ‘self’ in the way of the creative process until certain themes begin to reveal themselves and can collectively be heard as a complete album. Sometimes, I feel like I am working in the dark, compelled towards some unspecified goal. Sometimes, I have begun only to find I have finished. Sometimes, a whole universe can be opened up where at first I sensed nothing. Sometimes what is right can be revealed by what is wrong. When putting together this collection of "mikepeters.rise. demos", I decided to present the songs in the order that they were recorded.

I hope in this way, you can hear everything in the sequence that I first heard it, and maybe begin to understand the excitement I felt, as the "Rise" album was revealed to me."

References

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