Why Terry Wilson-Slesser, a man possessed of a stunning pair of blue-eyed-soul pipes, didn’t turn into a star he deserved to become is puzzle of those people who savored the Geordie warbler’s voice first on a sole, self-titled album by BECKETT back in 1974, then on two platters by Paul Kossoff’s BACK STREET CRAWLER, and after Koss’ untimely passing on two longplays by CRAWLER. It was not that the singer couldn’t write – IRON MAIDEN’s choice of “Rainbow’s Gold” which he co-penned for the B-side of “2 Minutes To Midnight” suggested otherwise – but Wilson-Slesser, for all the multiple appearances he put on with other artists, has never issued a record under his own name. Until now.
And what will be out on digital platforms in November, preceded by a limited run of CDs on September 13th and followed a little later by a vinyl variant is truly special: the album titled “Forever Blue” features quite a few of Slesser’s former colleagues from BACK STREET CRAWLER and CRAWLER. There are Terry Wilson on bass and Tony Braunagel on drums; there are guitarists Geoff Whitehorn, who spent decades with PROCOL HARUM, and Snuffy Walden, who was a leader of STRAY DOG once upon a time before switching to film scores and winning an Emmy; there’s even Rabbit Bundrick whose keyboard sample added another flavor to the sound. Produced by Wilson – not Wilson-Slesser, so there should not be any confusion – in Los Angeles and comprising a dozen original numbers composed by Wilson-Slesser, not Wilson, with keyboardist Mark Taylor from SIMPLE MINDS and Elton John’s band, the forthcoming opus is said to come across as up-close and very personal.
“It’s not ‘Tales Of Topographic Oceans’ but every picture tells story as do the songs,” explains the man affectionately known as Sless. “This album has metaphorically been fifty years in the making. I wrote two of the songs some time ago with ex-ANGELIC UPSTARTS guitarist Mond Cowie, and the rest came over the last three years gradually as Mark Taylor and I just kept on going through the lock-in period and when my BACK STREET CRAWLER friends, the Yanks, agreed to finish off what we’d started, I was beyond thrilled. It was Paul Kossoff who brought us together, and it’s somewhat fitting that we make this final, swansong album that’s my life story, in a way. With John Buckton on guitar, it has subliminally got Koss running through a lot of the tracks, especially in the lyrics which almost always seem to have Koss in mind – very much like another song lyric I wrote, ‘Leaves In The Wind’ that was on the ‘2nd Street’ album, seemed to be a farewell ode… although written just days before we lost our main man. So the band does play on!”
Here’s hoping to have a lengthy conversation with the veteran – and meanwhile, here’s the title track of his belated solo debut.