ESP

Espionage’s second album saw them signed to Warner Bros’ Elektra Records, but troubles quickly arose after a sudden pullout from the label left PASH and Espionage’s other cofounder as the only remaining members.

“They told us to get on a plane to L.A and record the album anyway”.

Without a band in the studio, PASH went back to Roy Thomas Baker for advice, whose fellow producer Gordon Fordyce was working with Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac.

Five weeks later, Lindsay Buckingham was just one of a star-studded supporting cast who lent their talents and sounds to ESP, the band’s adventurous, jazzy sophomore album released in 1985.

Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee laid down drums, bringing legendary L.A drummer Carmine Appice in tow: Grover Washington Jr. contributed the record’s saxophone and the Phenix horns brass flourishes: The Cars’ Elliot Easton added his signature angular guitar to the album’s expansive, cutting-edge analogue production.

PASH remembers the wild studio atmosphere with them all; hazy jamming sessions rife with collaboration.

“40 years on I think that there were some beautiful songs with groundbreaking production. The album had a mix of commercial and experimental tracks; we used analogue synthesisers to replace conventional instruments creating a sound with an electronic backbone yet woven with guitar, drums and brass for emphasis”.

ESP’s opening track I Couldn’t Get to sleep Last Night captures the collaboration that gave life to the album - analogue synths and Cars-esque guitar licks are lifted by Grover Washington’s sax and PASH’s ear for expansive, catchy production.

And as the first track spirals to an outro of orbiting synths and cruising saxophone solos, you can hear the L.A world that it was born in - as a comment under the track online remembers - “the heat, the sun, the 80’s”.