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Near the end of my trip Alessandro spoke of an instrumental track he'd been working on called 'The Venetian Book Of The Dead' and I instantly felt a lightbulb flash above our heads - a true 'Hey, that's the album title, that's it!' moment.

After I'd returned to England overdubs and remixing continued until August when I attended the mastering session at Jon Astley's Close To The Edge studio in Twickenham, the former home of Pete Townshend, in one of the rooms where Townshend pieced together Tommy, Lifehouse and Quadrophenia, the very room where Thunderclap Newman recorded 'Something In The Air'.. perfect for a couple of music nuts like Monti and Hewick.

As to be expected Alessandro put the same TLC into the packaging of the album as he did into the music and then we didn't want to be lost in the Christmas rush and the end of decade naval contemplating, which is why it's taken until January 2010 to have a finished copy of VBOTD in our hands.

It's playing now as I type and I'm not picking fault with each syllable and breath in my vocals, I'm just hearing a great album born out of technology, social media but most of all brotherhood with a dear, dear friend with a compassionate heart, a profound vision and a magical mandolin..

And track-by-track we have: