More

Track nine is a track that listeners of the Moy Moments
Podcast will be very familiar with. It's the slicky new
Version of the song "More" from the 2002 album Home Time
And the theme for Moy Moments. When you were creating this
Track, did you ever dream it would be a podcast theme?

Well, I mean, I dreamt, obviously, but to see it become a reality
Really is an ambition achieved, Steve, I have to say. It's a
Saucy little makeover. What was the thinking about this one?

"More" was an interesting one because it's one of the few
Songs where at the very beginning of this process when we

Had our list of songs, we spent a day in the rehearsal studio
With Steve Corley, who's a piano player who's worked with
Alison a lot, who's brilliant and a gifted player. And he's also
You know, he's able to change key at the drop of a hat. So
You could say, "Try it a semitone down. Try it a tone down."
Oh, you can just sing a line and he'll know straight off what key
You're singing in, you know. He's just, yeah, brilliant. So rather
Than me sitting with the sequence and going, "Everybody, hang on
A minute, I've just got a pitch of this," he could just be like
"Oh, you mean like this, in this key?" So we would work out the

Perfect key to do every song in. And the thing with this one was

It was the only song where we pushed the key up rather than down

For me, it was a really significant album in its aesthetic and in its

There's an honesty within the approach, albeit that it has a
Particular kind of Bristol styling. But I had no problems with the
Sound of "More." In fact, I like it very much. My issue with "More"

Is that it's so low, it's so down there that in terms of taking that
To the stage, it's very easy to get, "Because I'm really down here

And I can do that. But the trouble is, is I just then spread up in
The room and no one's going to pick up on it." Do you know what I
Mean? It's like I sing in whale noise. And so I knew that the key

Had to come up, but it wasn't one of those songs that you could just
You know, take that particular arrangement of those sounds and just

Honk it up. That's not what it was about. And also, it's not what
Siân and I are doing together. Like I say, it's as important for me
That Siân sees himself in the recordings as much as myself. And it
Was important for me to have additions from Home Time because, again
It was a significant album. It's an album I love, and it's one that
Really sees a change of fortunes for me in lots of ways. A lot of
People who had not been open to me found it easier to listen to me
Because it was the right connections for them, which goes back to
What I was saying. They have to have the right people saying it's all

Right, all that bollocks. But it was the right connections for them
And it had a sexiness, a kind of a filmic oomph to it that a lot of
My previous stuff didn't have. But it did need to be addressed again

For live, which is why it had to have a completely

Fresh overview. But again, I wanted to reference that
Album because it is a key that I'm hoping, another
Room that I'm hoping will open the door. Back to Siân

Well, I just, I wanted to have sort of some fun with this one and put
I'm wary of saying like putting it, making it a bit sexier. No, it
Is. But I sort of, that's sort of what I wanted. I wanted the sound

I wanted the sounds to be quite rude. Like my favorite thing on the
Original is when the strings come in in the middle. The strings
Completely sell that song for me. Yeah, that's the middle eight on
That is just great. But that was also one of the kind of ones that
There were some areas that I was really not going to let go of

Wasn't it, on that one? Yeah. There were certain kind of events in
The sense of my kind of vocal arrangements that I had in that where

The same with "Can't Say It," that served a very specific purpose
For me that had a meaning and they had been presented in such a way
To convey that. And so I was very dogged about those not changing
Their kind of position within the balance of the track. Yeah, it was
Like that section took a while for us to nail down the best way of
Doing it because you had very strong ideas about exactly how that
Should work and we had to go back and forth a bit to get it to work
But in the end, it works brilliantly. Yeah, it does. And I think one

Of my favorite moments on the whole record is it's another one of
The songs where Richard Oakes plays guitar. And when he comes in for
The first time in verse two, I just love that moment so much because

I love my synth line under the vocal in verse two. And I love what
The vocal is doing. And I love the "Baaa" that's going all the way
Through. And then Richard's slightly sleazy sounding guitar comes in
And the whole thing, it's just really, really fun. You know, I just
I don't think I was having fun putting it together because I was
Probably still in that state of sustained panic. But I look at it
Now and I think, "Oh, that feels like quite fun and a little bit

Sexy. It's got a bit of a strut about it." And the whole thing locks
Together in a very satisfying way. There's just, you know, again

It's a nice reaction against the original. It's different. Yeah, it

Is. It is different, like I say, because the original is there. You
Know, so for people who feel sort of like very protective about that
It's like, "Well, don't be. You've got it." But, um, it's sort of
Tougher and tauter. Yeah. And like I say, for me, more suited to the
Live work because, you know, that's the other, the trouble with a lot
Of my catalogue is it can go from this very strident or very

Celebratory to the dark, dark, saucy or dark, desperate moments
And then we have the problem of how to fit all of those different

Colours and shapes in without lifting the set and dropping it down
You know, it's about keeping people's attention and keeping their
Energy within that. And you want the key change to be smooth
Not like a crunch. Exactly. And it can be. And it's nobody else's
Fault other than my schismatic career. But that's something that
Really needed to be addressed for live work. Or else, you know
You're constantly having to make calls. Like, there's already

Enough sad, slow songs that I would love to do. But you can't make
An audience deal with lots of that unless you're doing a specific
Set, which, you know, is still my ambition. Still, you know, it's
Still something I'd still love to do is a much more thoughtful set
But when you're doing 40 year overview, that's not the time. No