Rupert Hine -

Rupert Hine (1947–2020) was an English musician, songwriter, and producer who first recorded with David MacIver during the mid-sixties. They cut a 1965 Decca single as Rupert & David and released the 1971 album Pick Up a Bone, produced by Roger Glover on Purple Records.

Hine recorded his 1973 solo album, Unfinished Picture, with backing by future Penguin Cafe arranger Simon Jeffes. He then assembled the jazz-funk combo Quantum Jump, which released the 1976–77 albums Quantum Jump and Barracuda and had a sleeper hit with “The Lone Ranger.”

As a producer, Hine earned credits on late-seventies albums by John G. Perry, Kevin Ayers, Dave Greenslade, Cafe Jacques, and Anthony Phillips.

Hine resumed his solo career with the 1981–83 A&M albums Immunity, Waving Not Drowning, and The Wildest Wish to Fly. He produced albums by Saga and principal client The Fixx, who exposed his sonic techniques to a wider audience.

In 1984, Hine produced albums by Chris De Burgh (Man On the Line), Howard Jones (Human’s Lib), and Tina Turner (Private Dancer), which made him a top-industry soundman. Amid further projects, he cut three albums with the hi-tech studio combo Thinkman.

Early Life

Rupert Neville Hine was born on September 21, 1947, in Wimbledon, London, to Joan (née Harris, a Red Cross nurse and aspiring ballet dancer) and Maurice Hine (a timber merchant and former jazz drummer). Joan encouraged her son to be an architect but young Rupert’s interests lied in cartography (map creation).

At fourteen, Hine played harp in a band at St John’s Catholic Primary School in Horsham. He later attended King’s College in Wimbledon.

Rupert & David

In the mid-sixties, Hine teamed with acoustic guitarist David MacIver-Robinson. As Rupert & David, they played the folk circuit and interacted with Paul Simon during the American’s 1965 London residency (between the first and second Simon & Garfunkel albums).

Rupert & David signed with Decca for the December 1965 single “The Sound of Silence,” a cover of the 1964 Simon & Garfunkel album track (covered just as the remixed original spread on US radio). The b-side, “Reflections of Your Love,” is a Hine–Robinson original. Decca soundman Dick Rowe (Billy Fury, The Bachelors, Them) produced the single, which arranger Mike Leander (Marianne Faithfull) orchestrated with contributions by session bassist Herbie Flowers and a pre-Yardbirds Jimmy Page.

Hine and MacIver continued their writing partnership through a five-year period of odd jobs. In the late sixties, they befriended members of Episode 6, a pop-psych band with singer Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover. In mid-1969, Gillan and Glover replaced Rod Evans and Nic Simper in Deep Purple. After the new Purple lineup released two studio albums, they established their own label through EMI. Glover, in his inaugural role as producer, secured a deal for Hine and MacIver.

Pick Up a Bone

Rupert Hine and David MacIver released Pick Up a Bone in the autumn of 1971 on Purple Records. Hine composed the 49-minute set, which features lyrics by MacIver on ten songs. Rupert co-wrote the title track with classical arranger Simon Jeffes, who supplements the duo with assorted guitar (acoustic, electric, slide) and plays saxophone on “Boo Boo’s Faux Pas.”

Pick Up a Bone features fourteen session players with core backing by Pentangle drummer Terry Cox (Elton John, Lesley Duncan, Tudor Lodge, Bread Love & Dreams), Quatermass organist Peter Robinson (Chris Farlowe, Labi Siffre, Shawn Phillips, Zakarrias), and jazz bassist Pete Morgan (Roy Budd, Vigrass & Osborne).

Select tracks feature orchestration by Robinson (“Ass All,” “Medicine Munday”), Cat Stevens arranger Del Newman (“Landscape”), and Elton string director Paul Buckmaster (“Me You Mine,” “Scarecrow,” “Kerosene,” “More Than One”).

Pick Up a Bone splits its tone between ornate melancholia and theatrical absurdism, alternating quietly orchestrated laments with brash character pieces and warped narrative miniatures. “Boo Boo’s Faux Pas” begins as a soft vocal sketch but slowly accumulates parts—clarinet, cello, brushed percussion, tambourine—until it loops into a breezy yet eerie hypnotic pattern, punctuated by Rupert Hine’s mock-scatted phrases and feline phrasing. “More Than One, Less Than Five” sustains a wistful, slow pace under delicately phrased lyrics and light acoustic accompaniment.

“Scarecrow” stretches its sorrow across long chord cycles, gradually layering strings and voices into a drawn-out, aching finale. In contrast, “Kerosene” jolts with abrupt shifts, built on sharp-edged rhythm accents and distorted vocals that bend and contort into surreal recitations. The title track marches with drunken sway and sardonic vocals, its structure guided by repeated brass stabs and syncopated interjections. Elsewhere, “Landscape” and “Me You Mine” unfold with subdued pacing and polyphonic ornamentation, revealing a more pastoral and chamber-like elegance. Across the album, Hine and lyricist David MacIver tilt traditional song forms into playful or unsettling extremes, often balancing emotional weight with formal disorientation.

A1. “Landscape” (5:11)
A2. “Ass All” (3:37)
A3. “Me You Mine” (5:21)
A4. “Scarecrow” (3:27)
A5. “Kerosene” (7:29)

B1. “Running Away” (4:53)
B2. “Medicine Munday” (3:18)
B3. “More Than One, Less Than Five” (4:12)
B4. “Boo Boo’s Faux Pas” (6:26)
B5. “Medley” (5:16)
— a. “Pick Up a Bone”
— b. “Instant Muse”

Roger Glover produced Pick Up a Bone between the 1971–72 Deep Purple albums Fireball and Machine Head. Glover produced subsequent albums by Elf, Nazareth, and Rory Gallagher. The engineer, John Porter, also worked on 1970–71 albums by East of Eden, Hunter Muskett, Procol Harum, Trapeze, Walrus, Strawbs, and Caravan.

Pick Up a Bone was the third Purple Records album release after titles by DP organist Jon Lord (Gemini Suite) and Curtiss Maldoon. In France, Purple lifted “Me You Mine” (b/w “Ass All”) as a single with an illustrated picture sleeve that credits the duo as Mac Iver Hine.

Unfinished Picture

Rupert Hine released his debut solo album, Unfinished Picture, in 1973 on Purple. It features seven songs with lyrics by David MacIver, who doesn’t perform on the album. Hine also co-composed two numbers (“Orange Song,” “Concord”) with Simon Jeffes, who supplements Rupert on guitar and shares four-string duties with recent Gringo bassist (and future Hine bandmate) John G. Perry, who recently joined Caravan in time for their 1973 fifth album For Girls Who Grow Plump In the Night.

Unfinished Picture features pianist Steve Nye and four percussionists, including journeyman drummer Mick Waller (Trinity, Jeff Beck Group, Rod Stewart), King Crimson co-founder Michael Giles (McDonald & Giles), and eventual Elton sideman Ray Cooper, who also played on 1972–73 album by David Essex, Harry Nilsson, Joan Armatrading, Lynsey De Paul, Rick Wakeman, Scott Walker, and the Hine-produced Food of Love by Hawaiian singer Yvonne Elliman.

Unfinished Picture trades the loose charm of Pick Up a Bone for more calculated contrasts—between liturgical grandeur, sardonic absurdity, and tightly structured chamber-pop. “Orange Song” opens with urgent strumming, sharp brass interjections, and waltzing string accents that rise and collapse under Hine’s dry vocal delivery, at once playful and unhinged. “Anvils in Five” unfolds inside a church acoustic with processional organ swells, punctuated by orchestral jabs and declaimed lines that edge toward operatic parody before dissipating into a suspended close.

“Where in My Life” strips the palette to voice and ARP 2600, cycling soft arpeggios through a quiet, unresolved monologue. “Concord(e) Pastich(e)” pivots from tentative piano into a sustained guitar etude by Simon Jeffes, layered against ambient interruptions and sudden structural dropouts. “Move Along” uses steady two-beat strumming with blues-inflected turns, while “Doubtfully Grey” leans on circular phrasing and modal shifts that reflect a chanson-like solemnity. Hine threads these disparate scenes together with deliberate pacing and calculated restraint, often letting space, texture, or irony undercut the sentiment.

A1. “Orange Song” (3:59)
A2. “Doubtfully Grey” (3:51)
A3. “Don’t Be Alarmed” (4:48)
A4. “Where in My Life” (2:17)
A5. “Anvils in Five” (5:45)

B1. “Friends and Lovers” (3:18)
B2. “Move Along” (4:51)
B3. “Concord(e) Pastich(e)” (5:55)
B4. “On the Waterline” (6:23)

Hine self-produced Unfinished Picture in sequence with Food of Love and the 1973 Dawn release Growing, the second album by Jonesy. Nye served as Rupert’s engineer and teamed with Jeffes in the Penguin Cafe Orchestra.

Music passages from Unfinished Picture appear in Wheels, a short film by experimental filmmaker Anthony Stern, an early Pink Floyd documentarian who co-developed the non-linear visuals with Syd Barrett.

Immunity

Rupert Hine released his second solo album, Immunity, on February 27, 1981, on A&M.

The album marked Hine’s return to solo work after a four-year break and emphasizes a precise, textural approach to studio construction. He blends poetic, psychologically fraught lyrics by Jeannette Obstoj with unsettling digital atmospheres and vocal phrasing that conveys tension and irony. Immunity stands apart from Hine’s earlier solo efforts by replacing organic arrangements with synthesizer-driven designs and sharply contoured transitions.

Hine performs the bulk of the instrumentation, combining keyboard textures with layered processing and tightly arranged vocals. Guitarist Phil Palmer (ex-Bliss Band) appears on multiple tracks, applying terse, rhythmic accents. Drummer Trevor Morais contributes to three songs while Phil Collins adds percussion to “Immunity” and “Another Stranger.” Marianne Faithfull appears briefly on “Misplaced Love,” and Geoffrey Richardson adds viola to “Make a Wish.” Ollie W. Tayler plays clarinet and recorder on “Psycho Surrender.”

All nine tracks were composed by Rupert Hine with lyricist Jeannette Obstoj. Faithfull’s appearance on “Misplaced Love” marks her first collaboration with Hine. No cover material appears on the album.

The slow-building opener “I Hang On to My Vertigo” evolves from fragmented whispers into a clipped pulse under a rigid synth pattern. “Samsara” unfurls a circling motif over a restrained, gliding backdrop. “I Think a Man Will Hang Soon” layers choked vocal phrasing over a hard-edged sequence with sparse rhythmic punctuation. “Make a Wish” progresses from quiet tremolo guitar and voice into a swirling, unstable outro of fluttering textures and asymmetrical phrasing. “Immunity” contrasts a jagged electronic rhythm with stark lyrics and sharp instrumental dropouts.

A1. “I Hang On to My Vertigo” (4:01)
A2. “Misplaced Love” (3:39)
A3. “Samsara” (4:23)
A4. “Surface Tension” (3:36)
A5. “I Think a Man Will Hang Soon” (3:53)
B1. “Immunity” (3:58)
B2. “Another Stranger” (3:24)
B3. “Psycho Surrender” (4:07)
B4. “Make a Wish” (4:17)

Sessions occurred in late 1980 at Farmyard Studios in Little Chalfont with Rupert Hine producing and Stephen W. Tayler engineering.

Immunity features cover art by Michael Ross, whose design overlays abstract medical imagery with cyan-tinted overlays and stark typographic contrasts.

A&M issued “Misplaced Love” (b/w “Psycho Surrender”) as the lead single. A follow-up paired “Surface Tension” with the non-album B-side “House Arrest.” Neither single charted.

The 2001 CD reissue on Voiceprint added two bonus tracks: the B-side “Scratching at Success” and the instrumental “Introduction to the Menace,” used by Hine as pre-show walk-on music. The reissue also restored original mixes of “I Think a Man Will Hang Soon” and “Make a Wish,” which the label had altered for the 1981 release.

Waving Not Drowning

Rupert Hine released his third solo album, Waving Not Drowning, in 1982 on A&M.

The album follows Immunity with a more pianistic and structured approach, shifting from fragmentary synthscapes to linear vocal constructions with clearer harmonic direction. Hine refines his lyrical and sonic framing, balancing digital textures and percussive accents with a steadier compositional hand. The album’s tone is more outwardly reflective and narrative-driven, pairing sharp detail with broader thematic resonance.

Hine handles vocals, keyboards, and electronic processing. Phil Palmer contributes guitar throughout, joined by Geoffrey Richardson on select tracks with additional guitar and viola. Trevor Morais drums across the album. Phil Collins plays marimba and timbales on “Innocents in Paradise.” The closer, “One Man’s Poison,” features “finale drums” by Saga‘s Steve Negus. Ollie W. Tayler contributes woodwinds (saxophone, clarinet, recorder) and Chris Thompson appears on guest vocals.

Hine composed all music, with lyrics by Jeannette Obstoj. Two tracks—“The Sniper” and “House Arrest”—carry dedications to Liam Byrne and Donald Woods, respectively. The song titles and lyrics draw heavily on archetype, metaphor, and observational narratives.

“Eleven Faces” opens with rigidly sequenced phrases and looped vocal inflections, gradually expanding into a syncopated structure under clipped harmonies. “The Set Up” takes an ominous turn with dark, eerie synth waves and simmering, staccato undercurrents. “Dark Windows” builds tension through staggered harmonic swells and shifting rhythmic overlays. “The Sniper” contrasts stark, descending piano with brittle interjections and a linear vocal rise. “Innocents in Paradise” darts between jagged, marimba-laden verses and a striking Fixx-like chorus. “One Man’s Poison” anchors the closing side with a slow, weighted sequence that folds in spiraling effects and insistent rhythm figures.

A1. “Eleven Faces” (4:10)
A2. “The Curious Kind” (3:44)
A3. “The Set Up” (3:44)
A4. “Dark Windows” (3:45)
A5. “The Sniper” (4:06)

B1. “Innocents in Paradise” (4:38)
B2. “House Arrest” (3:41)
B3. “The Outsider” (4:21)
B4. “One Man’s Poison” (4:30)
CD bonus:
B5. “Kwok’s Quease” (2:03) — originally the B-side of “The Set Up,” this track uses satirical phrasing to comment on MSG and dietary cultural anxieties

Sessions occurred in 1982 at Farmyard Studios in Little Chalfont, Bucks, with Rupert Hine producing and Stephen W. Tayler engineering and co-producing.

Waving Not Drowning features cover art with stark, typographic minimalism; the title references Stevie Smith’s poem Not Waving but Drowning, which underpins the album’s emotional framing.

A&M issued “The Set Up” (b/w “Kwok’s Quease”) as the lead single. Other singles included “Eleven Faces” (b/w “Dark Windows”) and “The Curious Kind” (b/w “Scratching at Success”).

Voiceprint’s 2001 CD reissue appended the B-side “Kwok’s Quease,” completing the original Waving Not Drowning era material.

The Wildest Wish to Fly

Rupert Hine released his fourth solo album, The Wildest Wish to Fly, in 1983 on A&M and Island.

The album completes a conceptual arc begun with Immunity and continued on Waving Not Drowning, moving toward smoother, more linear compositions while retaining Hine’s cryptic lyrical voice and meticulous sound design. The arrangements emphasize clear melodic shapes and processed textures, presenting a more accessible surface while embedding sonic subtleties and lyrical tension. Themes of surveillance, displacement, and human distance recur across multiple songs.

Hine performs vocals and most instrumentation, with Phil Palmer and James West-Oram (The Fixx) contributing guitars. Michael Dawe plays drums on select tracks, with woodwinds and tape treatments by co-producer Stephen W. Tayler. Robert Palmer shares vocals on “Living in Sin,” marking the album’s lone duet.

All music was composed by Hine with lyrics by Jeannette Obstoj. The title suggests defiance through imagination and longing, while individual songs address modernity’s psychological and technological pressures. The material was later remixed and reshuffled across different regional editions.

“No Yellow Heart” opens with a steady motoric rhythm and rising vocal layers, building into a choral-style refrain framed by deep pulses and metallic textures. “The Saturation of the Video Rat” uses clipped, angular phrases and tape manipulations to suggest visual overload and attention fragmentation. “Firefly in the Night” moves through phases of tonal expansion and withdrawal, anchoring its shifts in narrow vocal phrasing. “The Most Dangerous of Men” escalates in overlapping motifs and processed harmony vocals that circle toward a multi-voiced breakdown. The title track unfolds in staged tiers, gradually expanding its harmonic range with long-tailed synth swells and scalar motion.

A1. “No Yellow Heart” (4:00)
A2. “Living in Sin” (4:30) — features guest vocals by Robert Palmer
A3. “The Saturation of the Video Rat” (4:30)
A4. “Firefly in the Night” (3:48)
A5. “A Golden Age” (4:43)

B1. “Picture-phone” (4:20)
B2. “Victim of Wanderlust” (4:12)
B3. “The Most Dangerous of Men” (5:10)
B4. “The Wildest Wish to Fly” (5:00)

CD bonus tracks:
10. “Blue Flame (Melt the Ice)” (4:40) — added to the 1984 US/Canada and 1985 UK editions in lieu of two original tracks
11. “No Yellow Heart” (Later Version) (4:02) — remixed version with altered drum track and re-recorded vocal phrasing

Sessions occurred in early 1983 at Farmyard Studios in Little Chalfont with Rupert Hine producing and Stephen W. Tayler engineering and co-producing.

The Wildest Wish to Fly features cover art designed to reflect themes of identity, surveillance, and mediated presence; original LP pressings feature photography overlaid with digitally rendered abstraction.

A&M issued multiple singles from the album: “Living in Sin” (b/w “An Eagle’s Teaching”), “Picture-phone” (b/w “The Most Dangerous of Men”), and “Victim of Wanderlust” (b/w “Dark Windows”).

Voiceprint’s 2001 CD reissue restored the original 1983 sequence and added the two bonus tracks “Blue Flame” and the later version of “No Yellow Heart.” Regional pressings (1984 US/Canada and 1985 UK) altered the tracklist with songs from Immunity, remixed elements, and alternate versions, making this the most variably released of Hine’s early solo albums.

Discography: