and for the lyrics to be more worldly. For the album title, Partridge wanting something that was reminiscent of his hometown Swindon, which was well-known for its railway repair workshop, the Swindon Works. Working titles included Coalface, Head of Steam, Shaking Skin House, Bastard Son of Hard Blue Rayhead, The Known World, Bull with the Golden Guts, Mindless Sax and Violins, and Under the Rusting North Star. The Big Express was chosen for its double meaning, referring to express trains and artistic expression. Partridge envisioned the record as "industrial pop. We come from a railway town, and I was like, 'Well, let's wallow in that; in the imagery and the sounds. Let's make an album that's riveted together and a bit rusty around the edges and is sort of like broken Victorian massive machinery.'" He said that the record "might be a concept album by stealth" since most, if not all of the songs he and Moulding wrote were autobiographical to some extent. Two were of a political bent ("This World Over" and "Reign of Blows"). The majority of Partridge's songs were composed on an open E-tuned guitar with a broken E string. The Big Express was recorded on a budget of £75,000 or £90,000 (equivalent to £ or £ in ) and on 24-track tape. Sessions began in March 1984. As was the case for Mummer, the Glitter Band's Pete Phipps was hired as a session drummer for the band, and the group continued making more use of exotic instrumentation, such as the Mellotron they had purchased for that album. Other keyboard instruments included a Prophet-5, a Yamaha CP-80, and a Roland JX-3P owned by guitarist Dave Gregory. Some of The Big Express was recorded using a Linn LM-1 Drum Computer and extensive time was spent on its programming. Moulding played a Wal bass that was one of the first guitars built with an active circuit, a component which boosts treble at the cost of bass, which was popular among 1980s musicians. He used the bass on about four tracks and said that it provided a "middley, borpy sound I was after." Tears for Fears, who were recording Songs from the Big Chair (1985) at a nearby studio in the area, loaned the group an E-mu Emulator. Session musician Stuart Gordon was brought in as violinist. Some overdubs were recorded at Odyssey Studios in London. Mixing was completed in