John Jones Music

One of the first projects that Dee Long and I were lucky to work on in Studio 5 at AIR Studios, Oxford Street, was Sir George Martin and Anthony Hopkins’ version of the Dylan Thomas play; Under Milk Wood, “Thomas’ tale of a day in the life of the mythical Welsh seaside town of Llareggub” (buggerall backwards!)

Sir George’s plan was to add more music, written by Martin, Sir Elton John, Ron Edwards,  Troyte and Andy Leek, to the original play, and perform it with a multitude of Welsh stars, including Anthony Hopkins, Tom Jones, Mary Hopkins, Jonathan Pryce, Bonnie Tyler, Freddie Jones, Mark Knopfler, Sir Geraint Evans and many others, in AIR Studios, and on location in Wales!

Dee and Sir George, with my help, did the pre-production in Studio 5, our Fairlight and MIDI room on Oxford Street. It was an amazing experience to be in the same room with George for extended periods of time. He became accustomed to playing the parts he had in his head, and then seeing the notes appear on the screen! It was fun for him too! For us it was like dying and going to musical heaven!

By the time we were finished, I arranged for Sir George to have a Macintosh, Performer and a MIDI keyboard, at home. Later, Giles came in for some preliminary lessons with the equipment, which I assume started his now famous career!

For me, John Idris Beynon Jones, the experience of working with George and Dee on the most Welsh of projects possible in the universe, was a beautiful moment in my life. My father had been in the blitz in London, as had Dylan Thomas, and he had come from the Welsh Valleys that produced the characters that Thomas evokes in his Welshest of Welsh works!

A couple of notes:

Thomas was not a drunk, and he did not die of alcohol poisoning. He died of swelling of the brain caused by pneumonia.

At the opening of the new AIR Studios in 1992, the George Martin version of the play was performed for television, but never shown.

One of my favorite lines was also one of my favorite King Crimson albums; Starless and Bible Black.

Bob Dylan named himself after Dylan Thomas.

I wrote a song for the project, but George was in love with Andy Leek!

Here is the BBC program’s South Bank show, about the making of George Martin’s Under Milk Wood (crap sound!).
Near the beginning of the show, the cast arrive at 214 Oxford Street and meet in the Caf for a cuppa! There are also some cool shots of Studio 1 at AIR Studios:

and the 1954 Richard Burton opening version: