Dave Stewart Releases 'The Way It Was Back Then' Built Back to Front

Dave Stewart will release The Way It Was Back Then on Sept. 18, a 10-track album he says he did not realise he was making at first.

Stewart told Billboard he built the record "back to front" at his island studio on Harbour Islands in the Bahamas. The process grew out of last year's Dave Does Dylan solo acoustic covers set. That project left him recording alone with a guitar and following whatever came out.

The method was spare. He cut spontaneous, one-take vocals with acoustic guitar, working stream-of-consciousness without written lyrics. Stewart described it as "very homemade" and the exact opposite of the conventional studio method where the singer sings on top of a finished track.

The band came later. Stewart and engineer Jesse Samler overdubbed instruments around those first vocal and guitar takes. That is why a song that started as a rough room recording could end up with full arrangement.

"Your Wishes," the second track on the album, is one example. It now carries lush orchestrations built over the original take. Another album song, Make Me Happy or Sad, was previewed by Stewart on social media ahead of release.

Two songs trace back to family and home. Stewart said "Cry If You Want" was inspired by severe health issues affecting one of his daughters. "The House Where I Was Born" came from a stay in the house across the street from his childhood home, plus visits to his old school and neighbourhood.

The release plan breaks with the usual rollout. The Way It Was Back Then will arrive as a limited, physical-only CD release, according to Yahoo. It will not be put on digital platforms, according to Rock Cellar Magazine. That means there is no stream to click through on release week. Listeners will need to find the disc.

Stewart also plans to take the album to Sunderland, England, his hometown, for concerts playing the record in full. He spoke about the project to Billboard via Zoom from the London offices of Rare, an artists' rights company he co-founded.

What makes this stand out is the order of work. The voice leads, the instruments follow, and the writing happens in the take itself rather than on the page first.