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by Bob Stanley

The record he is proudest of is R&J Stone's We Do It, a Top 5 hit in 1975

Easing into the new year, I thought I'd give Brian a break and this week caught up with Phil 'The Collector' Swern. Phil hasn't only produced radio programmes like Sounds Of The Sixties and Pick Of The Pops, he also produced a bunch of hit records back in the early seventies.

"While I was a promotion man at A&M in 1969 they had a record out by producer Phil Spector. They'd signed him up to produce a few things and it cost them a fortune. He produced an album by a group called Checkmates Ltd and there was a track on it called Black Pearl, which they put out as a single - it got lots of play on the radio but it wasn't a hit, the reason being - I thought - that it was too slow and you couldn't dance to it. It was such a wonderful song. Reggae was becoming the thing at that time, and I thought a reggae version of Black Pearl would really go down well."

Phil made contact with Johnny Arthey, the producer who had done the string arrangement for Bob & Marcia's hit Young Gifted And Black. "He found a singer, Horace Faith, we went to a little studio in Chalk Farm with some Jamaican musicians, and Black Pearl went Top 20."

Suddenly the Wembley-born Phil was a reggae producer, coming up with singles for the legendary Trojan label. Inspiration came from the oddest places. "I was at home one day and this Esso ad came on television using Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. We had a session booked two days later - there were four minutes left at the end, and in one take we recorded a reggae-ish version of Smoke Gets In Your Eyes." As the ad had been for Esso Blue paraffin, the record was released under the name Blue Haze. It became a massive hit in Europe in 1972, and even made the American Top 30.

Among the regular session musicians Phil worked with were guitarist Big Jim Sullivan, who played on 54 number ones, from Petula Clark's Sailor in 1961 to Pilot's January in 1975, and bassist Les Hurdle who played on the Mohawks' Champ, one of the most sampled records in history. "Johnny Arthey always booked the best session musicians" says Phil.

The record he is proudest of is R&J Stone's We Do It, a Top 5 hit in 1975. "It was written by Russell Stone, a session singer we worked with. He was married to Joanne, the cousin of Madeleine Bell. It just came together in the studio in such a great way, a magical session. I really walked out of the studio and thought 'that's a hit'."

"The biggest thrill for me was the first time a record of mine went into the charts. I remember I was walking around Egton House where Radio 1 used to be, it was a Tuesday morning which is when the charts were announced. Tim Blackmore was there, who was producing the Tony Blackburn breakfast show then. Tim pointed to the chart, and there was my record, Black Pearl. It was about number 37. I just collapsed. I went into the gents' bathroom and cried."

Has Phil ever played it on Pick Of The Pops? "Several times. It's allowed! I have a note from Sir."