RAH Band -

RAH Band was an English space-funk studio project led by producer, composer, and arranger Richard A. Hewson. In 1977, RAH reached the UK Top 10 with “The Crunch,” included on their 1978 Ebony release The Crunch & Beyond and followed with the Eighties hits “Clouds Across the Moon,” “Falcon,” and “Messages from the Stars.”

Background

RAH Band formed in 1977 when arranger-composer Richard Anthony Hewson adopted his initials as the name of a studio project for his own recordings.

Hewson was born Richard Anthony Hewson on Nov. 17, 1943, in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, England. He entered the Merchant Navy, where he taught himself jazz guitar. Hewson later studied classical composition, piano, and trumpet on scholarship at Guildhall School of Music under Edmund Rubbra.

Hewson played jazz guitar in a trio with Peter Asher. Rehearsals at the Asher family home brought Hewson into contact with Paul McCartney. Asher subsequently recommended Hewson when McCartney sought an orchestral arranger for the 1968 Mary Hopkin track “Those Were the Days.”

The assignment established Hewson as a professional arranger. He scored material at Trident Studios for the Apple debut by James Taylor. He also worked with Phil Spector on three tracks from the Beatles swan song Let It Be, including “The Long and Winding Road” and “I Me Mine.” Hewson arranged strings for 1973–75 albums by Al Stewart (Past, Present & Future) and Supertramp (Crime of the Century, Crisis? What Crisis?).

Richard Hewson Orchestra

Hewson first developed his own recordings in 1974 with a Philips four-track recorder. At home, he assembled an instrumental from guitar, bass, Hohner electric piano, and effects pedals. He took the tape to R.G. Jones Studio in Wimbledon, where additional musicians recorded rhythm and brass tracks. Hewson titled the instrumental “The Crunch,” but the recording attracted no label interest and remained unreleased.

Meanwhile, Hewson worked with producer Chas Peate on Sky High, the 1975 Splash Records release by Jigsaw. Peate served as executive producer on the 1976 Splash release Love Is, credited to the Richard Hewson Orchestra and released in the US on Private Stock. The album contains eleven jazz-funk and MOR Hewson originals, both instrumental and vocable, including “Love Bite,” “Spanky,” “Love In the Dark,” and “Solar Wind.”

In early 1977, an unnamed EMI employee encountered “The Crunch” and encouraged renewed interest in the three-year-old track. Good Earth ultimately issued “The Crunch (Part 1)” through RCA on Feb. 4, 1977 (b/w “The Crunch (Part 2)”) under the newly adopted RAH Band name. The single entered the UK chart in July and reached No. 6 in August.

In October, Ebony issued “Jiggery Pokery” as the second RAH Band single (b/w “Porridge”). Hewson used income from “The Crunch” to buy an ITAM eight-track recorder and mixer, then combined home recording with additional sessions at R.G. Jones Studio for The Crunch & Beyond.

Discography: