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All words and music by Chris Dumigan, unless otherwise stated
Recorded, produced & mastered by Chris Dumigan and Tony Ward
Photography: Brian Cooper

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It was Paul Simon that wrote on the back of his LP 'The Paul Simon Song Book': "I start with the knowledge that everything I wrote will turn and laugh at me. It is discomforting, almost painful to look back over something someone else created and realise that someone else was you." I remember being puzzled by these sleeve notes at the time, because everything I wrote I firmly believed and identified with, then.

The songs that make up 'Ghosts' were written as early as 1971 and as late as 1997 with the majority being written in the seventies. At the time they were my diaries, my confidants. Nearly all the people I ever fell in love with or hated the sight of are immortalised in these songs. But the fact remains that now, the feelings, the white heat with which I created these songs are gone, long gone. All the girls I fell in love with, all the reasons for which I wrote these emotional ditties (when the words were mine, of course) now mean nothing to me. Now I understand what Paul Simon was getting at! But what remain here are some of the best songs I ever wrote. I plan this collection to be the first of three, god willing. I wrote nearly two hundred songs in those years, including the show songs from Stag and Marilyn, which have a permanent and special place in my heart. The remaining 150 or so have been whittled down to about three dozen that I am still inordinately proud of. Here are the first twelve. I hope you enjoy them as much I do.

Chris Dumigan, 2009

Product Code: CDCD01

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It was on a rainy night of September 1971 at St. John's College in Manchester that I first met Chris Dumigan, guitar case in hand, looking every inch a bedraggled muso!

A shared interest in music and an ambition on my part to play lead guitar in a rock band despite having no actual musical ability (punk rock would not appear until much later!) cemented our friendship.

In the ensuing years I have seen a talent that continues to impress me both in its quality and range. As Musical Director of the Genesis Theatre Company during the seventies his writing and arranging with partner and wordsmith Chris Fogg led to a prominent local radio station referring to them as 'Manchester's answer to Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice'. Their work was featured at the prestigious Royal Exchange Theatre on more than one occasion.

As a respected classical guitarist Chris has transcribed the complete recorded works of Agustin Barrios in seven volumes. These transcriptions are rapidly establishing themselves as the definitive reference edition for some of the world's leading guitarists. He composes pieces for one, two, or three guitars and a composition entitled 'A Garland of Grainger' was premiered at the Brighton Festival in1997 and has just been published. A piece for guitar and flute has recently been completed and is due to be debuted this year. He is also on the review panel of 'Classical Guitar' magazine.

In singer/songwriter mode, Chris is a prolific writer with some 120 titles to his credit spanning the last 30 years. He is presently working on a showcase CD of his favourite compositions.

In the last three years, Chris has played as part of the guitar trio 'Acoustic Moods', arranging and performing songs by Genesis and creating 'suites for guitar' from well-known musicals.

As if all this were not enough, this CD highlights yet another facet of his musicianship - the ability to take a well known tune and arrange it in a way that sets it apart from other 'easy listening' guitar music. A classical guitarist bringing classy arrangements to classic tunes.

I hope you enjoy listening to Chris Dumigan as much as I have during our long association, and if anyone does need a lead guitarist in a rock band - speak to Chris - he can almost certainly do that as well!

Brian Cooper, 1998

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It was on a rainy night in January of 1998 at Davyhulme in Manchester that Chris asked me to write the sleeve notes to his first CD ‘Making Arrangements’.

If you are sitting comfortably in your armchair reading this, you clearly appreciate Chris’ musicianship and will undoubtedly already own that first CD (if not, shame on you - buy it NOW).

In those days, making a CD was an expensive business which could only be done professionally. Nowadays every Tony, Dan & Charlie can record an album with consenting musicians in the privacy of their own bedroom and run off a CD in a Limited Edition of 1 but, happily, the initial investment was fully recouped and demand was sufficient for this second CD ‘Son Of Making Arrangements’ to be produced.

In those first sleeve notes I endeavoured to convey the all round uber-talent and Meister Musician that is Chris Dumigan and, fourteen years later, that position remains unchanged. He continues to write for Classical Guitar and has had many many pieces published in the intervening years. He still reviews books, sheet music and CD’s for Classical Guitar Magazine and is almost certainly their most published reviewer in recent times.

His output with Acoustic Moods, the guitar trio of Chris (Lead), Tony Ward (Rhythm) and Dan Coghill (Bass) together with honorary fourth member Chas (Sound Engineer) has been prolific. From the early days as an instrumental Genesis cover band, the group has gone on to establish its own identity as purveyors of intricate self-penned classically themed musical pieces of the highest quality. If you are unfamiliar with their work, treat yourself by logging onto their website and listening to the various samples available.

Also in those original notes I referred to the many songs Chris has written over the years and that he was working on a ‘showcase’ CD of his favourite compositions. That CD, ‘Ghosts’, has now seen the light of day (available from all good Chris Dumigan Musical Services websites now) and contains a superb mix of original songs which cannot fail to impress. And, guess what? A follow-up CD is already in the pipeline.

And throughout all this, the arrangements kept coming. His repertoire has increased with every passing gig and here we have a ‘Further’ 18 instantly recognisable tunes arranged in Chris’ own inimitable style.

I’ll say once more – A classical guitarist bringing classy arrangements to classic tunes (mainly because it was a typo first time around).

Sit back, relax and enjoy.

Brian Cooper, 2012

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Now, before I even begin to mention the weather in July 2012 at the Trafford Centre in Manchester, if you haven’t read the sleeve notes to Chris’ first two CD’s (‘Making Arrangements’ & ‘Further Arrangements’) then most of the following is likely to be a complete mystery to you, including any references to the four members of the Acoustic Moods guitar trio.

So, if that’s the case, do this properly - put this booklet back in the CD case, order the above mentioned CD’s now (you really should have had them already you know) and read the notes in chronological order – there’s a good chap/girl.

Anyway, it was raining.

It was then that Chris asked me to write the notes for not one, but two follow up albums to the original ‘Arrangements’ CD which was produced in 1998. Such was the sheer volume of arrangements he now had in his catalogue that just one sequel was hopelessly inadequate.

So, here we have ‘Grandson of Making Arrangements’ (or ‘Alternative Arrangements’ as Chris prefers), the next 18 track instalment of sublime arrangements of popular tunes which is a ‘must have’ at any dinner party and will virtually guarantee success as an accompaniment to any attempted late night seduction.

And the even better news is that it will not be the last – I can modestly admit to a not insignificant role in the naming of these albums and when the series eventually runs its course I have suggested ‘Final Arrangements’ as the title. This so horrified Chris with its doom laden implications that I think he would rather go on producing them than even begin to contemplate a CD with that title. Clever, eh?

But, while you are waiting impatiently for further titles in the series, you could do much worse than check out the Acoustic Moods CD’s, principally ‘UnPlugged’ and ‘Suncatcher’ for a different aspect of Chris’ work - one that highlights his incredible talent as a composer (both individually and jointly) in his own right. A third CD, containing the latest group compositions, will be available in the (hopefully not-too-distant) future.

Finally there are ‘the songs’ for you to listen to. Contained on the album ‘Ghosts’ these are recent recordings of works from Chris’ early period as a singer/songwriter with all the benefits of modern production techniques. All the music on this album was written by Chris but lyrics have been written by himself, together with various other contributors, giving an eclectic feel to the finished product.

Enjoy it all – as I continue to do.

Until the next time it rains in Manchester then……………

Brian Cooper, 2012

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Well, here it is! 10 years and over 2 hours of original material after the band's debut concert, our first completely original album arrives, It contains the first of the 2 hours mentioned above, although not necessarily as they were when they were written. As many of you may know, our compositions do tend to evolve as they are performed more and more, so it comes as little surprise that, had we recorded these a few years ago when the most recent track on this album was completed (A Winter’s Tinkle), it would have been, on the whole, a fair bit easier to record!

We could talk about how, despite age, the freshness is still there, perhaps aided by the increasing note—count and the size of... but maybe it's a little unfair to talk about Chris in such a way!

Anyway, it's probably best not to ramble on too much here, so there’s just room left to wish you as much joy listening to this album as we did recording it.

Finally, there's a big “thank you” to say to Chris' son, Kyle, for his fantastic job on the artwork for this CD. We look forward to frustrating him further during production of our next album, to be released in 2006.

And, of course, thanks to you, the audience, for turning up at our concerts and for buying this CD.

Chris, Tony and Dan, 2005

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A message from the band...

Suncatcher is our second album and a real (10 year!) labour of love, not only a "New Beginning" it takes the band in a new direction. Our style changed as we moved into more intricate melodies. This is also where our "ace of bass players" Dan also developed as a writer and arranger; indeed he arranged the title track within a week from a group jam session! Dan’s enthusiasm must have been contagious not only to the band, but also our live sound engineer Chas who wrote 46 for his wife and asked the band to record it.

The studio technology available to us had finally caught up with our imagination. Everything was used to augment the sound, counter melodies, de-tuned guitars even a penny whistle! Tony has often said this is where he found his sound and style, namely a full rich combination of acoustic rhythm guitars.

Of course this wouldn't be an Acoustic ‘Moods album without Chris at the helm with his uncanny knack for writing a killer melody such as Slinky and Who Am I.

We feel this is our finest work to-date. Thank you for buying and we hope you get as much pleasure listening as we did creating this album.

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Every band needs to progress to produce interesting music and 1998 was a big move forward for Acoustic Moods. The introduction of new bass player Dan Coghill brought a new edge to the group. Unlike the last album which was a carbon copy of one concert, this album comprises of an entire year of concerts. It's 1998 and it's Live.

Anthony Ward, 1999

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Every band needs to progress to produce interesting music and 1998 was a big move forward for Acoustic Moods. The introduction of new bass player Dan Coghill brought a new edge to the group. Unlike the last album which was a carbon copy of one concert, this album comprises of an entire year of concerts. It's 1998 and it's Live.

Anthony Ward, 1999

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A message from the band...

This recording encapsulates a very special event for us. We have been playing our music quietly and unobtrusively for five years or so now, just for the love of it. Genesis music has always been a part of our very being, and the original reason for the band getting together was to try to bring something new to this wonderful music.

It was a great honour to be invited to play at the prestigious G2 Convention. Of course we had no idea how we would go down with an audience of staunch Genesis fans, they being used to hearing their sacred pieces recreated note for note; us playing radically different arrangements and interpretations. So, it was with great trepidation (not to say blind panic) that the opening notes to No Son Of Mine sounded from 24 shaky fingers. We should have known better, the audience reaction was fantastic.

After the first couple of tunes we relaxed and really began to enjoy the experience. We can honestly say that we have never felt better playing this music and feeling coming back from the auditorium was like a homecoming. By the end of the Trick Suite we were on cloud nine. It took us a week to come down from those clouds, and we will remember that reception for the rest of our lives. So to the people at G2 we met, played for, spoke to, shook hands with, signed autographs for and whose names we will probably never know, a huge thank you. You made G2 an unforgettable experience for us. For those of you who missed out, we hope this CD will enable you to experience a little part of the G2 magic.

This recording represents our entire G2 set, (Saturday 3 lst March 2001 at the Guildford Civic Hall). To enable the whole recording to fit onto one CD we have edited introductions and applause. The music, however, remains intact.

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The early part of the 2000's proved to be a busy period for Acoustic Moods. with performances at a variety of venues in th UK and the release at the band's first completely original studio album, coinciding with their 10th anniversary. This live album covers a period of time involving a great deal of new material, some heard here for the first time.

Dan Coghill, 2006