Dette coveret er ikke spesielt stygt, bare latterlig. Her om dagen fikk jeg endelig sett Kenny Loggins-DVDen jeg kjøpte for noen måneder siden (du finner den på Amazon), og go’gutten fra Santa Barbara skuffer ikke på hjemmebane. En drøy time i hippie-himmelen på den amerikanske vestkysten med et særdeles kompetent band (George Hawkins Jr. er en undervurdert bassist) og låter stort sett hentet fra «Keep The Fire».
Plata i seg selv er virkelig fin, kanskje Loggins’ beste fra 70-tallet. Det desiderte høydepunktet er Michael McDonald-samarbeidet «This Is It», udødeliggjort i den geniale serien Yacht Rock. Mer jovial, positiv og forandre-verden-naiv vestkyst finnes ikke.
Hvis jeg skulle ha gleden av å møte Kenny en gang, må jeg huske på å spørre han hvor han ville med Jesus-møter-Yoda-imaget på coveret.
Mmm, fin skive det der!
Ikke sant? Bestilte flere Loggins-gullkorn i går kveld…
hei Lars-Erik! Dumpet innom siden din gjennom et søk på Donald Fagen, og leste så denne artikkelen om Loggins. Bra blogg du har, spesielt hva musikk angår:-) Regner med du også har live-DVD’en «Outside from the Redwoods» fra 1993. Sykt bra band og eksepsjonelt bra lyd i magiske omgivelser ute i California-skogen. Ellers ser jeg du merker deg George Hawkins Jr på bass. Han er det flere som verdsetter høyt. Dette er hentet fra http://www.billchamplin.net, regner med du kjenner til Bill ettersom du er en westcoast-freak;-)
February 6, 2007
Guys, there’s been talk of a new solo album and I’ve kept a pretty low profile about it ’cause sometimes these things fall through. So far this hasn’t, and probably won’t. Anyway, it’s being co-produced by me and Mark Eddinger, a friend from New Hampshire who’s played on a lot of sessions and with a lot of bands over the years. He has a great set of ears, which helps when I’m in the phones; it’s nice to trust the guy in the booth. It’s being released by a new company, Dreamakers. They also own the studio in New Jersey that we cut basics at, The Barber Shop. The owner of the whole mess is this really cool guy named Scott Barber, who also is a singer/songwriter. One of the things that attracted me to this company is that everybody plays and understands what music is supposed to be, rather than what it seems to have become. That doesn’t mean that they wanna’ go back in time; it means that they want it to be good for music’s sake.
I’ve been dreaming about doing this album for a long time, a dream that is shared by my friends–Bruce Gaitsch, Billy Ward and George Hawkins Jr. We’ve wanted to do a quartet record since the time when we used to jam regularly at a club in LA called The Mint. We originally thought of this as the «Swampy» or «Bluesy» record, but after sending my rough demos to Mark Eddinger and Dennis Damico, the «song guy» at Dreamakers, we decided to cut what we considered the best songs and make ’em just feel soulful. When I say «song guy» it’s becase I hesitate to say A & R man, so «song guy» will do, since A & R are the 2 most dangerous letters in music. Dennis is a great guy who also has ears, and plays great guitar too! See??!!
We also decided to try cutting the old-fashioned way, which is:
1. Write good songs.
2. This is important–rehearse those songs, which we did for 4 days here in Nashville.
3. Get a good studio–done!
4. This is REALLY important–get a great engineer and book him. We got Jason Corsaro who has awesome signal on this record. This guy is special.
5. Know the stuff, cut the stuff, and HAVE FUN!!!!! This is the most important thing of all.
6. Make a good enough record so that if one person hears it he/she tells 10 people, they tell 10 people and they tell 10 people.
On the record we also have a few unexpected surprise guests and re-makes of some stuff you’ve heard. Will’s on a few things and Tamara has sung a little, too. There’ll be other guests also. The basic band is Bruce Gaitsch–guitars, Billy Ward–drums and percussion, George Hawkins Jr.bass guitar and vocals, Will Champlin–piano and vocals, Mark Eddinger–keys, and Me on guitars, piano, and hammond organ.
It’ll be a while before we’ve finished the vocals, overdubs and mix time, so it’s too early for even a guess about release date. When it comes out I hope you’re gonna’ get it and tell 10 friends, etc. Right now I’m trying to come up with a title that isn’t dirty, but that always happens eventually after you grow up. My question is this–will I ever grow up? I hope not. Anyway, if nothing else, this has been a great experience doing an album
without the political BS that I’ve seen so much of in all the dates that I’ve done over the years. Maybe leaving Hollywood AND Nashville for tracks was a good idea. A great producer, Michael Stewart, once told me, «Bill, the first thing that should hit tape is who you are and how you feel. Time, intonation, enunciation, etc., should be a given, and takes second place after the vibe.»
This record is feeling right. Thanks for your attention and your patience. – Bill C.
Hei Rune! Velkommen som kommentator, og gratulerer med en kommentar som er lenger enn mitt lengste blogginnlegg så langt!
Artig å se at noen utenfor min umiddelbare bekjentskapskrets leser denne bloggen. Takk for tipset om Loggins-DVD, skal sjekke den ut.
Nå gleder jeg meg til den nye Champlin-skiva!
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Fin plate og ikke minst tittellåt, men det mange ikke vet er at Vox Humana fra 1985 er det flotteste han har gjort! Pur pop med hele spekteret av 80-tallsfinesser!