Expat Classic Rock band The Exiles have joined forces with French label Bad Reputation Records for the release of their album, Turning Time, out now. The album’s first single, “Rainmaker” featuring Greg D’Angelo on drums, is also out now.
Formed by English guitarist Sean Manning, whose credits include stints with Hurricane and Quiet Riot offshoot, Little Women, and fellow Brit Paul Rafferty, the original vocalist for Bonham, The Exiles were mainstays on the Southern California music scene in the early 1990s, writing and recording a great deal of material and performing at venues such as the Troubadour, Whisky a Go Go, FM Station, and Club Lingerie.
The duo quickly formed a strong writing partnership and recruited Hollywood-based English bassist, Paul Andrew Stanley. After briefly working with former White Lion/Cities drummer, Greg D’Angelo, the line-up was completed with the addition of Terry Mascall, a young drummer from Cambridge.
Manning says:
The Exiles were quintessentially an English band, four English blokes living in Hollywood playing classic rock…. just as Nirvana and grunge hit the scene! Paul and I were writing constantly over the course of the year, often up at Franklin Canyon reservoir, which resulted in all these tunes on the ‘Turning Time’ album. It’s a pretty broad pallete from traditional rock to some soul and blues numbers. Heavy electric to acoustic and mandolin with orchestration. I was and still am a huge admirer of Jimmy Page’s use of light and shade in the Zeppelin compositions. That sort of approach was really inspirational to us.
First released in a limited capacity in 1996 as Sean Manning & Paul Rafferty – The Exiles, the new album Turning Time constitutes an extensive re-working of the original 10 songs and adds five previously unheard bonus tracks unearthed by Manning during the process of transferring old reels to digital.
Working at Empire Sound studios in Dallas TX over the course of several months, Manning added guitars and backing vocals to most of the tracks and brought in veteran keyboardist, Jeff Jacobs, whose credits include Foreigner and Billy Joel, to add Hammond B3 organ, piano, as well as strings. Manning Produced the project and re-mixed the album, assisted by Empire Sound operator, Alex Gerst.
Manning concludes:
I am extremely pleased with how everything turned out. When we recorded these songs originally, they were just quality demos, but we really didn’t get the chance to fully flesh things out the way we would have under different circumstances. I am grateful ‘Turning Time’ has afforded me the opportunity to return to the studio one more time and create a whole new album in the process.
‘Turning Time’ track list:
01. Turning Time
02. Rainmaker
03. Soul Woman
04. Tearing Up A Storm
05. Ain’t No Fool
06. Travelling Blues
07. Friend
08. Feminine Side
09. Richmond Castle Walk
10. Woman Let It Shine
11. Mission Bell
12. Soul Has No Home
13. I’m The One
14. High Old Times
15. Carry You Home
