Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin

Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin News January 2026
I H e a r A N e w W o r l d

Happy New Year to one and all! Continuing the theme of our last newsletter, Dave has uploaded his narrated deconstruction of the classic '60s instrumental 'Telstar', including demonstrations of its vintage keyboard sounds and sci-fi sound effects. Dave recalls, "The record was a smash hit worldwide, reaching number one in the UK in early October 1962 and staying there for five weeks. For this wide-eyed, open-eared 11-year-old the sound of the single was mind-blowing. 'Telstar' seemed to be everywhere - wherever you went, you'd hear its triumphant theme blazing out of transistor radios and juke boxes, from the open windows of houses, shop doorways, in parks, cafés, football stadiums and pubs. Just a few notes of the tune are enough to put a smile on your face, and its fantastic sound design marks it out as one of the truly original records of the era."

Originally recorded in 2007, the deconstruction appeared in edited form in Victor Lewis Smith's 'Holloway Dreams: The Joe Meek Story' radio documentary and was later uploaded to SoundCloud. You can hear the full version here.

C h r i s t m a s Q u i z W i n n e r
Our 2025 Christmas quiz received an unprecedentedly huge response (some people are saying it was the biggest quiz response ever). Demonstrating our listeners' superior musical intelligence, everyone got the answers right, albeit with some Dan Quayle-style spelling deviations. The two questions were, 'Who was the writer/producer of the 1962 instrumental Telstar, and what was the name of the UK band that recorded it'?' The answers are of course Joe Meek and The Tornados. Having procured an exceptionally large hat into which we thrust literally thousands of entrants' names, the first to emerge was UK listener Jonathan Elgol, who wins two personalised signed CDs of his choice from our Stewart / Gaskin online store.

Congratulations to Jonathan, and thanks to everyone for their ongoing support and friendly messages. Here's a good one from Phil Smith of Milwaukee: "At my very first company Christmas party, I joined in a 'name that tune' competition and the very first song that was played was 'Telstar.' I had never heard of it and failed miserably. Fortunately, another party attendee (one of the warehouse workers) threw up on the boss at the party, so my failure was not what made that night memorable." Sounds like quite a party!

2 0 2 6 C o n c e r t s
We're currently planning concerts for late Summer 2026. For notification of the new date(s), please add your name to our Stewart-Gaskin Gig Register and we'll message you directly. Simply email us at [email protected] with the subject line 'Gig Register', tell us your name, country of residence (important) and how many tickets you're likely to need. You'll then be on our priority list for early bird concert alerts, preferred seating and other perks. Rest assured we won't share your contact details or overburden you with emails.

Our email newsletters (operated by our trustworthy colleagues Burning Shed) are the most reliable way of staying informed of our musical arisings, so please feel free to subscribe and share our newsletter subscription link with other music lovers! You're also welcome to join us on Facebook and Instagram.

Y o u T u b e V i d e o s

Star Clocks medley

Deep Underground

Grey Skies

SONG TALK - Ep1

New Jerusalem

I'm in a Different World

Busy Doing Nothing

Henry & James

Waiting in the Wings

The Cloths of Heaven

Golden Rain

Thank You Beatles!

See our official YouTube channel for more videos. Feel free to subscribe and add a comment!

S t a r C l o c k s
Some listener comments on our latest album. Thanks to the kind folks who sent them!

"Utterly, utterly beautiful. A great and sublime creation. There's so much depth to this album... both of you show development and even greater maturity since the last album. I love 'Everything Sings' in particular. It's anthemic. But all the tracks are faultless in both production and performance."

"Awesome, just awesome. Dave's lyrics and music are fantastic and so is Barbara's immaculate voice - still to my mind one of the best female voices of her generation... 'Everything Sings' is about as perfect as perfection can get. Amazing poetry, composition and performance."

"My copy of Star Clocks arrived today and I am very happy. It's beautiful and on repeat. The subtlety and poignancy of the music still grows and progresses."

"Thank you for your music!! It's golden, classic pop that keeps on giving. Barbara's singing is just lovely, it's sweet and true."

"Their mellow songs continue to be among the most gorgeous anywhere."

"The pure definition of intelligent pop music. I treasure every release!"

"STAR CLOCKS IS BEAUTIFUL."

"Totally in love with the wonderful new album. Brings me to tears."

"A great album by two artists still at the top of their game. Overall the whole album just sounds great!"

"I received yesterday your Star Clocks CD and I'm already at the third listen. What I can say? As always it's a GEM!!!"

"Barbara is sounding better than ever. Like good wine, your voice gets better with time. Thank you for your wonderful music!"

"I put on Star Clocks as soon as I received it and love the new songs & lyrics! VERY inspiring! Excellent mix & recording (as always)... love the great keyboard patches (and performances) and Barbara sounds better than ever! Gavin Harrison is fantastic (as always) and the guitar parts fit right in and are very complimentary as well. Congratulations on another musical success! 'The magic remains'."

"The house is shaking with the thunderous sounds of Star Clocks. How does Dave manage to create such sounds from just a handful of keyboards? Why is Barbara not lauded far and wide as one of the UK's great vocalists? A resounding musical success... again. Play on repeat."

"'Everything Sings' and 'Time's Arrow' feel like the emotional essence of Star Clocks. More sedate and introspective, they are suffused with a languid melancholy. Gaskin's gloriously multitracked voice articulates the wonder of being alive in the former and one's inevitable mortality in the latter. Incredibly poignant, Stewart's meticulous orchestration on these deeply affecting melodies is equal to his best work. Magical and moving, they are quietly devastating."
About Us
Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin began their respective careers in the 1970s UK bands Egg and Spirogyra, after which Dave played with Hatfield and the North, National Health & Bruford. In 1981 the two joined forces and enjoyed immediate success with 'It's My Party', a worldwide hit which reached no. 1 in the UK and Germany. Since then the Stewart-Gaskin partnership has evolved into one of the UK's most respected, innovative and intelligent Pop acts, characterised by Barbara's heavenly vocals and Dave's complex, musically adventurous arrangements. Now happily married, the duo have released seven albums to date and continue to create new music.

Dave & Barbara release their music on their own Broken Records label (distributed by Burning Shed) and perform live as a trio or quartet. Having enlisted guitarist Beren Matthews, the Stewart / Gaskin band performed successful Autumn 2018 headlining concerts in Tokyo and London, the latter also featuring master drummer Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree, King Crimson, The Pineapple Thief). Dave, Barbara and Beren returned to Tokyo in November 2019 and emerged from lockdown with a memorable 40-year anniversary concert at London's Kings Place on Saturday July 9th 2022. Having performed three further Tokyo concerts in April 2023, the trio made a triumphant return to Kings Place Hall One on August 5th 2023 and hope to complete their trilogy of Kings Place concerts in summer 2026.

Our CDs, signed vinyl singles and Dave's Inside The Music ebooks are available from our Stewart / Gaskin online store, operated by our longstanding colleagues Burning Shed. All sales revenue goes directly to the musicians with no record company involvement.

Links

Online Store CD Releases Live Concerts
Discography Vinyl Archive Broken Records history
Barbara Gaskin bio Dave Stewart bio eBooks FAQ & links

Recordings

Star Clocks Green and Blue Hour Moon EP
The TLG Collection Spin The Big Idea
As Far As Dreams Can Go Broken Records - The Singles
Signed 7" Vinyl Singles

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All text, images and audio files on this website copyright of Broken Records, UK.
Live photos of Stewart / Gaskin band, Tokyo 2009-2023 copyright Harumi Maezawa.
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