07 October 2020 - 0 Comments

The family of New Zealand Music icon Ian Morris announce the posthumous release of a and b the c of d, a solo record completed before his death a decade ago. The album will be released digitally and on limited edition LP on 30 October.

Best known as a founding member of Th’ Dudes and as his solo alter ego Tex Pistol, Morris was also an award-winning and in-demand producer and engineer. He won Engineer of the Year in 1978 for Hello Sailor’s debut album at the New Zealand Music Awards. The very next year Th’ Dudes won best single for Be Mine Tonight and best group. In the following decades he continued to write and record his own music and that of others, finally making a and b the c of d - his first solo record under his own name.

Kim Willoughby describes the album - named after a family code for ‘above and beyond the call of duty’ - as a collection of songs Ian wrote, produced, collated and left for us fully formed.

“The album was written over many years. It was compiled, polished, and finished at his home studio in our backyard in Napier, Hawke's Bay, in what Ian called 'The Shedio',” Willoughby adds.

“I think the album is a perfect reflection of Ian's outstanding musical ability,” his brother Rikki Morris says. “The writing, the playing, the production, are all first class. It is the album, I think, Ian always wanted to make.”

“Emotional, classic, rock n roll baby,” says daughter Maude Morris. “It's a bloody good album that Ian worked hard on and I think it deserves to see the light of day and a perfect way to celebrate him on the 10th anniversary of his passing.”

“That, along with Th' Dudes being inducted into the Hall Of Fame and them doing another tour, just feels like the right time to celebrate his life with more music that can be shared,” says daughter Julia Morris.

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