RAMSinLA
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LEGEND Your Song of the Day
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RAMSinLA
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CodeMonkey
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My baby daughter graduated high school tonight. My wife observed that the parents of our kid's friends that we used to do cub scouts and etc together and that we saw tonight are looking old. I told her that it was funny because I look exactly the same....right?
View: http://youtu.be/58o607qyuS4
View: http://youtu.be/58o607qyuS4
RAMSinLA
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Athos
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hahahahah. Fuck you.
As I will be seeing "this girl" for the first time in a week....
And....
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http://www.classicrockrevisited.com/show_interview.php?id=1117
John Lodge – A Long Time Ago, and a Long Time From Now!
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By Jeb Wright
John Lodge is an artist. His medium is music. He has penned some of the best songs ever recorded by the Moody Blues and every few decades he has found time to release a solo album!
His latest effort, Ten Thousand Light Years Ago, sees the musician writing music and lyrics that truly make one think. The album has nostalgic moments and moments where deep philosophical thought is needed to grasp the meaning of the lyrics. Yep, it’s pretty much John Lodge, isn’t it? This guy is cunning, witty, deep and intelligent… and all of it comes across in the interview below.
Read on as we discuss several of the songs on the new album, as well as some of the classic songs he wrote for The Moody Blues. We also discuss Beethoven’s birthday, a possible new Moody album and if a John Lodge solo band will ever tour.
Jeb: Before we discuss your solo album and The Moody Blues, I want to ask you about an urban legend I have heard about you. I heard you were kicked out of your music class for not knowing something about Beethoven when you were a teenager. Is that true?
John: Yes, it is true. I went to my school in Birmingham and there was a music class which I was in. There was an exam and I didn’t really put enough effort into the exam, so it was my fault, really. For me, it didn’t really feel important where someone was born, but to my music teacher it was like the most important thing in his life.
I was thirteen years of age and I was just interested in rock and roll. I actually said to my teacher, “If you can play ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On’ by Jerry Lee Lewis, and show me how it’s done, if you will do that for me, then I will find out where Beethoven was born.” The last thing he said to me was, “Lodge, you’re dismissed.” I got moved into woodworking and I can tell you that you wouldn’t want to buy anything that I made. If you had a table from me, then you’d have a plank with no legs.
I brought my guitar with me every day to school. I couldn’t believe it. I think I was the only one who was playing every day. I am not saying my attitude was the right one, but I really was wanting to learn about rock and roll. I was trying to discover rock and roll on my own, because there was no one in Birmingham who could teach you at all, and there were no music teachers to show you how rock and roll was played.
I was frustrated, and I was trying to learn by myself, by listening to records and watching artists on the television. When the camera sort of panned by them I would try to pick out whatever chords I could see. It made me work even harder to figure out how it all works.
Jeb: Did you ever find out where Beethoven was born?
John: [Laughter] Oh dear…
Jeb: That is a good segue to the title of your upcoming solo album, Ten Thousand Light Years Ago.
John: It is really. Ten Thousand Light Years Ago is who I am today, and that story is what brought me to where I am. Even the first line in one of the songs from the new album, “Those Days in Birmingham,” is “We packed our bags and went off to Eddy’s Café.” Eddy’s Café was a café not far from my school where I used to go for lunch. It was out of bounds from school, because you weren’t allowed to go into the real world. You were to stay on the school premises and eat lunch at school.
I used to go to this café because they had a Rock-Ola Jukebox; no one today even knows what that is. You used to put the coin in the slot and you could listen to the latest 45s by people like Gene Vincent, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry. I used to do that every lunch time. That is where I become fascinated by the driving force of rock and roll through that little 12-inch speaker in a Rock-Ola jukebox.
Jeb: As I was discovering music, a friend of mine gave me a home recorded cassette tape. On the front was written ‘Grateful Dead’ and on the other side the paper had come off the cassette, so I was not sure what it was, but I just assumed it must be the Grateful Dead, even though it didn’t sound like the other side. I later found out it was “Nights in White Satin” by your band. For a few months, I thought that was a Grateful Dead song!
John: That is brilliant! My absolute all-time favorite was Buddy Holly. He was my absolute mentor. I tried to learn every song he’d ever written. I would sit in my room, on my own at ten o’clock in the night, trying to strum all of the chords. My mom and dad were saying, “Could you be quiet?”
Someone once gave me a Greatest Hits CD by The Moody Blues and they said I was really going to love this CD. I played the CD and it was Buddy Holly and the Crickets. Somehow, they had put the wrong album, and the wrong artwork on the thing. Can you believe that? It was amazing. The connectivity there between me and Buddy Holly, on a Moody Blues CD, was just amazing to me.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzhFKYZh7aA&list=RDFzhFKYZh7aA#t=1
Jeb: I want to know how come it took so long for you to release a second solo album. It has been almost forty years!
John: I didn’t realize it had taken that long.
Jeb: You’ve been busy.
John: We have been very busy! I made the other album in the mid-‘70s. Then we went back into the studio, straightaway after that, and recorded Octave. Then we went back in the studio and recorded Long Distance Voyager. We’ve been recording non-stop with the Moody Blues. I’m John Lodge of the Moody Blues and that’s who I am, really. That was my priority, and provided I could keep writing, then my music could keep coming out with the Moody Blues, and I was really, really happy with that.
Over the last decade, we really haven’t been in the studio. I was starting to become frustrated, because I wanted to get into the studio and record an album, as we used to do in the early days, and I couldn’t find a way to do that until two years ago when I had the ‘eureka’ moment. I thought, “I know how to do this,” so I set about putting the album together, writing it and getting the people together I wanted to play on it.
Jeb: Both John Lodge and Justin Heyward have newer solo albums. Is there hope for Moody fans that you may do a Moody’s album?
John: I don’t know. It is finding a way to do it. I hate sitting around doing nothing. So often, you’re in the studio, and nothing is happening for days on end, and, to me, it is incredibly boring. When I go into the studio I want to go in and do it. I need everyone else to do it my way, but it just doesn’t work that way.
Some people like to go into the studio and spend days and days just messing about. I find that, creatively, things just fall away when you do that. We did Days of Future Past in a week and In Search of the Lost Chord wasn’t much longer than that. We probably got four weeks for that one. I think the last Moody Blues album was about six months in the studio and it took eighteen months to make. It was really hard work. I don’t even know why it took so long, but I know I never want to do that again. I want to be with people who want to create and perform. I want them to create the moment they feel they can contribute exactly to that song.
Jeb: Is that how you created this album?
John: I went totally back to that mindset. I put together the nucleus of the band. Alan Hewitt, the keyboard player, I knew many years before he played with the Moody Blues. He and I get along really well, both as musicians and friends. I wanted him to be an integral part of it. Gordon Marshall is the drummer. He and I have been working together for twenty years, so I knew how he played. I knew if I pushed him harder I could get him to play other bits that I wanted him to do, which was a slightly different way than he plays in the Moody Blues.
I knew if I pushed him that I could get really great drums from him, and I did. The other link was Chris Spedding, the guitarist. I rang Chris up and I said, “Chris, I’d like you to play guitar on this song.” I sent him the song “Ten Thousand Light Years Ago” and he said, “I’d love to do it. I’m really tied up at the moment, as I’m on the road with Roxy Music.” I said, “Listen, if you’d love to do it then would you love to do the whole album?” He said, “I would love to do that.” I said, “I want us to do this in our own time when we feel creative.”
The reason I could do this is that everyone has their own studio. We all have our own studios, so I knew I could work it that way and then everyone could be creative when they didn’t have any other pressures. They would just be creative on the particular song when they have only that song to focus on.
Jeb: A lot of people may ask you why this didn’t become a Moody Blues album. If they ask that, then they have not listened to this ensemble of tunes. There are many styles here, and this is a true solo effort. This is not a Moody Blues album.
John: I had written “Ten Thousand Light Years Ago” and I knew the album was going to be called that. All my pieces of paper—I keep a folder with all of my notes, as I am doing all of this... The front page says, “Ten Thousand Light Years Ago.” I knew it was going to be the name of the album and I knew it was going to be the last song on the album.
I wondered how I could start the album. The thought came to me that I am a bass player, so that is how I should start the album. Every day, when we do concerts, we have a sound check and I wear inner-ear monitors. To get the sound right, I play the same three notes on the bass, so I can get my sound exactly as I want it to be. I realized that the notes I was playing were like an Em7 and it went from the bottom E string to the top G string in an octave. I thought, “This is how I will start the album.” As soon as I got that going, I put a 12-string guitar down with it and I came up with the lyric “In My Mind.” It was that simple.
Jeb: At the risk of sounding wrong… ”In My Mind” is such a strong song that one gets blown away. It is very rock and very powerful.
John: Over the years, I’ve experimented with this type of thing. We’ve never explored it enough in the Moody Blues. I think we did it slightly on a song of mine called “Stepping in a Slide Zone.” The intro to that is starting to feel and go the way of “In My Mind.” I think if we had developed it more it would have gone into that direction. Justin and I wrote a song called “Breaking Point” that has a similar type of feel. It has that spaciousness over a huge mountain of music, and that is what I was aiming for. “In Your Mind” is all of that stuff that is in your mind and it makes you paint huge horizons in your mind when you listen to it.
Jeb: This is not a concept album, but you do have some songs with similar themes like “Ten Thousand Light Years Ago” and “Birmingham.” It seems you are looking back.
John: What I tried to do on the album is not to be retrospective. There is a fine line between retrospective and where we are today. The whole point of the album, for me, was this thing that has been going through my head for a long time now. The future is always in reach, but the past is gone forever. You can never explore the past. It can be yesterday, but you can’t get there, so it may as well be ten thousand light years ago, but it is what has brought you to where you are today.
I was trying to say this is who I am, and this is where I am today. Everything else that has gone before is, not reminiscing, but it is what has made me who I am. The only real analogy is if you look at the night sky and we can see the closest planets that we know are floating around, but if you look at everything else you realize that whatever else is up there happened such a long time ago. The light has only just arrived here. We don’t even know if it is actually still there. It may have all gone. Who knows? It is the same as the past, it’s all gone, yet it has an importance.
Jeb: I like to say the future begins with the next moment.
John: Absolutely. I was trying to explain something like that to someone. We use a three letter word in English that means absolutely nothing, and that word is ‘now.’ There is no such time as now, because as soon as you’ve said it, then it is the past.
Jeb: With so much history in the Moody Blues, is it a challenge for you to always be reaching to the future? A lot of artists who have had the success you have had tend to rest on their laurels. How do you avoid that?
John: By not looking backwards. To be honest, I look out the front window of my car. Seriously, that is how I do my life. I am as positive as I can be. We all have parts that sort of shudder us, but I try and keep looking positive all the while. Like the song “Simply Magic” on the album. I wanted to write a song that had two real meanings. We read a lot of books and we see so many movies where things are going great and then the wheels fall off and it gets really negative. I wanted to write a song where things are going great and they get even better. That is who I am.
I wrote that song for my Grandson, John Henry. I say, “… just when I thought nothing could get any better than this, you came along.” The ‘you’ can be anything, but I wanted to put it in the term of my grandchild.
Jeb: The irony of that message is that you have a couple of guys from your past playing on that song.
John: I do. When I wrote the song I suddenly realized there was a beautiful flute part that could be on the song. I thought, “Ray could do that.” I rang Ray up and I said, “I’ve written a new song and I would love you to play flute on it.” Ray is not far from me and we’ve been friends since I was 14 or 15 and we worked together in the Moody Blues for all of that time. I went around to his house and I played him the song. He played his C flute and his bass flute on the track. While we were recording it, he said, “Have you asked Mike to play on this?’” I got in touch with Mike and asked if he would play on this song for me and he said he would. For me, it is all part of ten thousand light years ago, as they were all part of me. Having them on this album just brought it right up to date.
Jeb: I really enjoy the song “Get Me Outta Here.”
John: I came up with that title from those times when you walk into a room, or you think this doesn’t feel good at all. You really want to get out, but you don’t know how to do it. The longer you stay there the more you start to feel uneasy. It becomes a real negative and you’ve got to find your way out of that situation. That is what that song is about.
Jeb: How would you describe your physical training, not only your bass / guitar playing, but also your vocals…? You are in really great shape. ..
John: I just love what I do. Practice… I practice everything. I practice my guitar playing and I do my vocal exercises. We got really lucky, in a way, from the fact that I do enjoy performing live. We do a lot of concerts, so I keep in shape that way. I keep in shape vocally that way as well. Who knows? You can only hope that if you look after yourself then things will work out. If you look out for yourself then you’ve got a better chance that things will work out for you.
You’ve got to decide what you want to be in this business. If you want to be a musician, and that is what you’ve wanted to be all of your life, then that is what you have to aim for, not all of the trappings of being a musician. All of the trappings that go with it… I’ve been very fortunate to stay away from all of the trappings that go with it. When I get on stage, or when I go into the studio, I want to be the best that I can. I want to be at the peak of my performance and I am going to do everything in my power to do that, as that is where my enjoyment comes from.
Jeb: Creativity is very special to you.
John: I think it is very special. Music is a vibration and it keeps everyone’s life going. I don’t think there is enough music in the world right now, from my point of view. I don’t think there are enough radio stations playing music. I think we need more music because everything in the media is so negative. We need some music to brighten our lives and to spread harmony.
Jeb: Here is a tough one: You say you look forward and you reach to the future, yet every night you’re playing songs that are thirty and forty or more years old!
John: I know! There is a finite thing and there is a reason we do that. Everything we play, we’ve written. Every part that I play on a song I’ve written and no one else has done it before me. No one has done the parts that Ray plays on flute, or Michael on Mellotron, or Justin on guitar. No one has played those parts before; they are ours. You want to play them again, as the best you can, in the way they should be performed. You don’t copy anybody.
When you go to a concert and listen to an artist, or a band, would you be happy to listen to the entire forty minutes of their latest album, or would you rather hear the ten ‘hit songs’ of theirs? Which do you really want to hear? We decided many years ago that the best thing to do is to try and take the audience on a nice journey, so that at the end of the evening, they would really love to come back and hear and see you again.
Jeb: Jumping back to Ten Thousand Light Years Ago, will you be able to play it live?
John: I will try to find a place for it. Obviously, it is going to depend on what we do with the Moody Blues. I am a great believer in letting things happen in their own natural way, like a river running… it’s going to run its own natural course. I think that is the same with this album. I will see what happens. If it becomes really natural for me to go on the road and perform these songs, because people want me to, then I will find time to do it.
Jeb: You have a very good attitude! I want to ask you about some of your classic songs. My favorite Moody song is “Ride My See-saw.” What do you remember about creating that song?
John: I discussed the song with our producer, Tony Clark. We were trying to find a way to get the rhythm really right, as it has a driving rhythm. The song was about leaving school and going out into the world and finding out it wasn’t what you thought it was and it isn’t what you were taught in school. It is actually much bigger than that. “Ride My See-saw” was about riding my life and seeing where we go with this thing. I am still doing that now.
The other thing that was interesting for me was that I wrote that song on bass. For that time, there are some really nice chord changes, the minors and the majors. I wanted the middle to be only harmonies and it was. We had these soaring three and four parts going around.
Jeb: I really love “Isn’t Life Strange.”
John: That song wrote itself, strangely enough. I was with my wife, and a couple of friends, and I have a baby grand piano in my drawing room in my house in England. We were having dinner and I could hear this tune in my head and I excused myself. I went over to the piano and, basically, I wrote the whole song, then and there. It only had one lyric at that time, “Isn’t life strange.” I wrote the music right then and there. I remember going to bed and wondering, “I wonder if I have written that song, or if it was something else? In the morning I am going to go downstairs and play it and see if it stands up.” It did. That next day I sat down and wrote all of the lyrics.
The other thing, which is really interesting about that, and shows how things have changed, is that we did all of our vocals on that song on a Friday night, out of necessity, as we were leaving for a tour of America. We landed in New York and we took the tapes to London Records on a Saturday in New York and it was released as a single the following Friday. That was a different time then. It is unheard of today. It moved fast and it was so unbelievable.
Jeb: Did you have any idea that “Isn’t Life Strange” would connect with so many people?
John: You don’t really. When you write a song your emotions are sort of standing there naked, really. If you’re truthful to yourself, and I think we found this in the Moodies, if you’re truthful then you do connect with people, because people do have the same, or similar, experiences. They connect with it as long as you’re truthful.
Jeb: You wrote “I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band).” The driving rhythm is just so addictive…
John: Yeah, that rhythm came from the bass player! You know you’ve got a good song when you can take an acoustic guitar, or sit at a piano, and play it with no one else, and it sounds good. If, however, you can take a song and only play it on a bass, and it still works, then you’ve really got something. I actually have done that many times at different events and played just the bass and sang on top of the bass and it is very interesting.
Jeb: Justin and you co-wrote “Gemini Dream” and that is a very emotional song.
John: We had stopped touring with the Moody Blues in 1974, I think it was. In 1980, we had an album called Long Distance Voyager and we were going to go on the road after it was done. We had not recorded the album yet, but we knew we were going into the studio to record it soon.
I came up with this idea that we needed a song that said we were are back on the road. The original song was called “Touring in the USA.” That was the original demo when we were putting it together. As we were writing it together, we suddenly realized what we were actually talking about, and that is when you’re a musician, you’re either on the road, as a Moody Blue, or you’re at home, as anyone else. It was just trying to combine the two things together that are the same person living two different lives.
Jeb: Let us end with Ten Thousand Light Years before we close. I love this artwork. Album art is becoming a lost art. I love the artwork, and I even love the colors you chose.
John: The album art I really like. I worked with Phil Sepp, who put it all together. I don’t know who all the graphic people are who work with him, but he was the coordinator for me. We discussed it for ages. I wanted something to portray the album, as if it was something from the past, or something from the future, but it was here now. We came up with this idea of something which was in a desert situation with hills where you don’t know if it is on earth, or on another planet. We discussed it from there and there are a lot of little intricate things. When you get the vinyl album you can see the details, as it is bigger and there is a big poster that comes in the sleeve. Hopefully we can keep the listener looking at the sleeve interpreting all of little things going on.
Jeb: It took me back to the old days. There is not enough commitment anymore to the entire package.
John: I wanted the whole album to be a piece of communication, really, from the audio side and the visual. I would like people to listen to the album, and to look at the sleeve, and to talk about it. When people start doing that, they start going off in other directions for themselves. If I can be the catalyst to make them go on and talk about other things, then I will be really pleased. I think that’s what the Moody Blues did. They became the catalyst for people to think about other things.
Jeb: I can take that album cover and segue into a song that you and Justin wrote for the TV show, Doctor Who.
John: We did! How do you know that?
Jeb: I am a Doctor Who nut.
John: Oh, I remember that completely. They were taking Doctor Who off the air and the fans wanted to bring it back. We did the song “Doctor in Distress.” I’ve got an original copy. I have a big 12-inch single of it. I think everyone in England… the show was so English and so Science Fiction, we were all Doctor Who fans. We grew up with Doctor Who. That show was an amazing idea where he flitted through different time warps and everything else. When they were taking the show off we were like, “We have to get it back!”
Jeb: Last one: You had a song called “Street Café.” How did you get Kenny Jones in the video?
John: Kenny is a really good friend. I’m actually a Godfather to one of his children. We have been friends a really long time. When I went to record that song I said, “Come and play drums on this.” He played the drums and I said, “I have to make this video, so you are going to be in the video, too.” We had a great time making that video.
http://johnlodge.com/
http://www.moodybluestoday.com/
John Lodge – A Long Time Ago, and a Long Time From Now!
By Jeb Wright
John Lodge is an artist. His medium is music. He has penned some of the best songs ever recorded by the Moody Blues and every few decades he has found time to release a solo album!
His latest effort, Ten Thousand Light Years Ago, sees the musician writing music and lyrics that truly make one think. The album has nostalgic moments and moments where deep philosophical thought is needed to grasp the meaning of the lyrics. Yep, it’s pretty much John Lodge, isn’t it? This guy is cunning, witty, deep and intelligent… and all of it comes across in the interview below.
Read on as we discuss several of the songs on the new album, as well as some of the classic songs he wrote for The Moody Blues. We also discuss Beethoven’s birthday, a possible new Moody album and if a John Lodge solo band will ever tour.
Jeb: Before we discuss your solo album and The Moody Blues, I want to ask you about an urban legend I have heard about you. I heard you were kicked out of your music class for not knowing something about Beethoven when you were a teenager. Is that true?
John: Yes, it is true. I went to my school in Birmingham and there was a music class which I was in. There was an exam and I didn’t really put enough effort into the exam, so it was my fault, really. For me, it didn’t really feel important where someone was born, but to my music teacher it was like the most important thing in his life.
I was thirteen years of age and I was just interested in rock and roll. I actually said to my teacher, “If you can play ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On’ by Jerry Lee Lewis, and show me how it’s done, if you will do that for me, then I will find out where Beethoven was born.” The last thing he said to me was, “Lodge, you’re dismissed.” I got moved into woodworking and I can tell you that you wouldn’t want to buy anything that I made. If you had a table from me, then you’d have a plank with no legs.
I brought my guitar with me every day to school. I couldn’t believe it. I think I was the only one who was playing every day. I am not saying my attitude was the right one, but I really was wanting to learn about rock and roll. I was trying to discover rock and roll on my own, because there was no one in Birmingham who could teach you at all, and there were no music teachers to show you how rock and roll was played.
I was frustrated, and I was trying to learn by myself, by listening to records and watching artists on the television. When the camera sort of panned by them I would try to pick out whatever chords I could see. It made me work even harder to figure out how it all works.
Jeb: Did you ever find out where Beethoven was born?
John: [Laughter] Oh dear…
Jeb: That is a good segue to the title of your upcoming solo album, Ten Thousand Light Years Ago.
John: It is really. Ten Thousand Light Years Ago is who I am today, and that story is what brought me to where I am. Even the first line in one of the songs from the new album, “Those Days in Birmingham,” is “We packed our bags and went off to Eddy’s Café.” Eddy’s Café was a café not far from my school where I used to go for lunch. It was out of bounds from school, because you weren’t allowed to go into the real world. You were to stay on the school premises and eat lunch at school.
I used to go to this café because they had a Rock-Ola Jukebox; no one today even knows what that is. You used to put the coin in the slot and you could listen to the latest 45s by people like Gene Vincent, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry. I used to do that every lunch time. That is where I become fascinated by the driving force of rock and roll through that little 12-inch speaker in a Rock-Ola jukebox.
Jeb: As I was discovering music, a friend of mine gave me a home recorded cassette tape. On the front was written ‘Grateful Dead’ and on the other side the paper had come off the cassette, so I was not sure what it was, but I just assumed it must be the Grateful Dead, even though it didn’t sound like the other side. I later found out it was “Nights in White Satin” by your band. For a few months, I thought that was a Grateful Dead song!
John: That is brilliant! My absolute all-time favorite was Buddy Holly. He was my absolute mentor. I tried to learn every song he’d ever written. I would sit in my room, on my own at ten o’clock in the night, trying to strum all of the chords. My mom and dad were saying, “Could you be quiet?”
Someone once gave me a Greatest Hits CD by The Moody Blues and they said I was really going to love this CD. I played the CD and it was Buddy Holly and the Crickets. Somehow, they had put the wrong album, and the wrong artwork on the thing. Can you believe that? It was amazing. The connectivity there between me and Buddy Holly, on a Moody Blues CD, was just amazing to me.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzhFKYZh7aA&list=RDFzhFKYZh7aA#t=1
Jeb: I want to know how come it took so long for you to release a second solo album. It has been almost forty years!
John: I didn’t realize it had taken that long.
Jeb: You’ve been busy.
John: We have been very busy! I made the other album in the mid-‘70s. Then we went back into the studio, straightaway after that, and recorded Octave. Then we went back in the studio and recorded Long Distance Voyager. We’ve been recording non-stop with the Moody Blues. I’m John Lodge of the Moody Blues and that’s who I am, really. That was my priority, and provided I could keep writing, then my music could keep coming out with the Moody Blues, and I was really, really happy with that.
Over the last decade, we really haven’t been in the studio. I was starting to become frustrated, because I wanted to get into the studio and record an album, as we used to do in the early days, and I couldn’t find a way to do that until two years ago when I had the ‘eureka’ moment. I thought, “I know how to do this,” so I set about putting the album together, writing it and getting the people together I wanted to play on it.
Jeb: Both John Lodge and Justin Heyward have newer solo albums. Is there hope for Moody fans that you may do a Moody’s album?
John: I don’t know. It is finding a way to do it. I hate sitting around doing nothing. So often, you’re in the studio, and nothing is happening for days on end, and, to me, it is incredibly boring. When I go into the studio I want to go in and do it. I need everyone else to do it my way, but it just doesn’t work that way.
Some people like to go into the studio and spend days and days just messing about. I find that, creatively, things just fall away when you do that. We did Days of Future Past in a week and In Search of the Lost Chord wasn’t much longer than that. We probably got four weeks for that one. I think the last Moody Blues album was about six months in the studio and it took eighteen months to make. It was really hard work. I don’t even know why it took so long, but I know I never want to do that again. I want to be with people who want to create and perform. I want them to create the moment they feel they can contribute exactly to that song.
Jeb: Is that how you created this album?
John: I went totally back to that mindset. I put together the nucleus of the band. Alan Hewitt, the keyboard player, I knew many years before he played with the Moody Blues. He and I get along really well, both as musicians and friends. I wanted him to be an integral part of it. Gordon Marshall is the drummer. He and I have been working together for twenty years, so I knew how he played. I knew if I pushed him harder I could get him to play other bits that I wanted him to do, which was a slightly different way than he plays in the Moody Blues.
I knew if I pushed him that I could get really great drums from him, and I did. The other link was Chris Spedding, the guitarist. I rang Chris up and I said, “Chris, I’d like you to play guitar on this song.” I sent him the song “Ten Thousand Light Years Ago” and he said, “I’d love to do it. I’m really tied up at the moment, as I’m on the road with Roxy Music.” I said, “Listen, if you’d love to do it then would you love to do the whole album?” He said, “I would love to do that.” I said, “I want us to do this in our own time when we feel creative.”
The reason I could do this is that everyone has their own studio. We all have our own studios, so I knew I could work it that way and then everyone could be creative when they didn’t have any other pressures. They would just be creative on the particular song when they have only that song to focus on.
Jeb: A lot of people may ask you why this didn’t become a Moody Blues album. If they ask that, then they have not listened to this ensemble of tunes. There are many styles here, and this is a true solo effort. This is not a Moody Blues album.
John: I had written “Ten Thousand Light Years Ago” and I knew the album was going to be called that. All my pieces of paper—I keep a folder with all of my notes, as I am doing all of this... The front page says, “Ten Thousand Light Years Ago.” I knew it was going to be the name of the album and I knew it was going to be the last song on the album.
I wondered how I could start the album. The thought came to me that I am a bass player, so that is how I should start the album. Every day, when we do concerts, we have a sound check and I wear inner-ear monitors. To get the sound right, I play the same three notes on the bass, so I can get my sound exactly as I want it to be. I realized that the notes I was playing were like an Em7 and it went from the bottom E string to the top G string in an octave. I thought, “This is how I will start the album.” As soon as I got that going, I put a 12-string guitar down with it and I came up with the lyric “In My Mind.” It was that simple.
Jeb: At the risk of sounding wrong… ”In My Mind” is such a strong song that one gets blown away. It is very rock and very powerful.
John: Over the years, I’ve experimented with this type of thing. We’ve never explored it enough in the Moody Blues. I think we did it slightly on a song of mine called “Stepping in a Slide Zone.” The intro to that is starting to feel and go the way of “In My Mind.” I think if we had developed it more it would have gone into that direction. Justin and I wrote a song called “Breaking Point” that has a similar type of feel. It has that spaciousness over a huge mountain of music, and that is what I was aiming for. “In Your Mind” is all of that stuff that is in your mind and it makes you paint huge horizons in your mind when you listen to it.
Jeb: This is not a concept album, but you do have some songs with similar themes like “Ten Thousand Light Years Ago” and “Birmingham.” It seems you are looking back.
John: What I tried to do on the album is not to be retrospective. There is a fine line between retrospective and where we are today. The whole point of the album, for me, was this thing that has been going through my head for a long time now. The future is always in reach, but the past is gone forever. You can never explore the past. It can be yesterday, but you can’t get there, so it may as well be ten thousand light years ago, but it is what has brought you to where you are today.
I was trying to say this is who I am, and this is where I am today. Everything else that has gone before is, not reminiscing, but it is what has made me who I am. The only real analogy is if you look at the night sky and we can see the closest planets that we know are floating around, but if you look at everything else you realize that whatever else is up there happened such a long time ago. The light has only just arrived here. We don’t even know if it is actually still there. It may have all gone. Who knows? It is the same as the past, it’s all gone, yet it has an importance.
Jeb: I like to say the future begins with the next moment.
John: Absolutely. I was trying to explain something like that to someone. We use a three letter word in English that means absolutely nothing, and that word is ‘now.’ There is no such time as now, because as soon as you’ve said it, then it is the past.
Jeb: With so much history in the Moody Blues, is it a challenge for you to always be reaching to the future? A lot of artists who have had the success you have had tend to rest on their laurels. How do you avoid that?
John: By not looking backwards. To be honest, I look out the front window of my car. Seriously, that is how I do my life. I am as positive as I can be. We all have parts that sort of shudder us, but I try and keep looking positive all the while. Like the song “Simply Magic” on the album. I wanted to write a song that had two real meanings. We read a lot of books and we see so many movies where things are going great and then the wheels fall off and it gets really negative. I wanted to write a song where things are going great and they get even better. That is who I am.
I wrote that song for my Grandson, John Henry. I say, “… just when I thought nothing could get any better than this, you came along.” The ‘you’ can be anything, but I wanted to put it in the term of my grandchild.
Jeb: The irony of that message is that you have a couple of guys from your past playing on that song.
John: I do. When I wrote the song I suddenly realized there was a beautiful flute part that could be on the song. I thought, “Ray could do that.” I rang Ray up and I said, “I’ve written a new song and I would love you to play flute on it.” Ray is not far from me and we’ve been friends since I was 14 or 15 and we worked together in the Moody Blues for all of that time. I went around to his house and I played him the song. He played his C flute and his bass flute on the track. While we were recording it, he said, “Have you asked Mike to play on this?’” I got in touch with Mike and asked if he would play on this song for me and he said he would. For me, it is all part of ten thousand light years ago, as they were all part of me. Having them on this album just brought it right up to date.
Jeb: I really enjoy the song “Get Me Outta Here.”
John: I came up with that title from those times when you walk into a room, or you think this doesn’t feel good at all. You really want to get out, but you don’t know how to do it. The longer you stay there the more you start to feel uneasy. It becomes a real negative and you’ve got to find your way out of that situation. That is what that song is about.
Jeb: How would you describe your physical training, not only your bass / guitar playing, but also your vocals…? You are in really great shape. ..
John: I just love what I do. Practice… I practice everything. I practice my guitar playing and I do my vocal exercises. We got really lucky, in a way, from the fact that I do enjoy performing live. We do a lot of concerts, so I keep in shape that way. I keep in shape vocally that way as well. Who knows? You can only hope that if you look after yourself then things will work out. If you look out for yourself then you’ve got a better chance that things will work out for you.
You’ve got to decide what you want to be in this business. If you want to be a musician, and that is what you’ve wanted to be all of your life, then that is what you have to aim for, not all of the trappings of being a musician. All of the trappings that go with it… I’ve been very fortunate to stay away from all of the trappings that go with it. When I get on stage, or when I go into the studio, I want to be the best that I can. I want to be at the peak of my performance and I am going to do everything in my power to do that, as that is where my enjoyment comes from.
Jeb: Creativity is very special to you.
John: I think it is very special. Music is a vibration and it keeps everyone’s life going. I don’t think there is enough music in the world right now, from my point of view. I don’t think there are enough radio stations playing music. I think we need more music because everything in the media is so negative. We need some music to brighten our lives and to spread harmony.
Jeb: Here is a tough one: You say you look forward and you reach to the future, yet every night you’re playing songs that are thirty and forty or more years old!
John: I know! There is a finite thing and there is a reason we do that. Everything we play, we’ve written. Every part that I play on a song I’ve written and no one else has done it before me. No one has done the parts that Ray plays on flute, or Michael on Mellotron, or Justin on guitar. No one has played those parts before; they are ours. You want to play them again, as the best you can, in the way they should be performed. You don’t copy anybody.
When you go to a concert and listen to an artist, or a band, would you be happy to listen to the entire forty minutes of their latest album, or would you rather hear the ten ‘hit songs’ of theirs? Which do you really want to hear? We decided many years ago that the best thing to do is to try and take the audience on a nice journey, so that at the end of the evening, they would really love to come back and hear and see you again.
Jeb: Jumping back to Ten Thousand Light Years Ago, will you be able to play it live?
John: I will try to find a place for it. Obviously, it is going to depend on what we do with the Moody Blues. I am a great believer in letting things happen in their own natural way, like a river running… it’s going to run its own natural course. I think that is the same with this album. I will see what happens. If it becomes really natural for me to go on the road and perform these songs, because people want me to, then I will find time to do it.
Jeb: You have a very good attitude! I want to ask you about some of your classic songs. My favorite Moody song is “Ride My See-saw.” What do you remember about creating that song?
John: I discussed the song with our producer, Tony Clark. We were trying to find a way to get the rhythm really right, as it has a driving rhythm. The song was about leaving school and going out into the world and finding out it wasn’t what you thought it was and it isn’t what you were taught in school. It is actually much bigger than that. “Ride My See-saw” was about riding my life and seeing where we go with this thing. I am still doing that now.
The other thing that was interesting for me was that I wrote that song on bass. For that time, there are some really nice chord changes, the minors and the majors. I wanted the middle to be only harmonies and it was. We had these soaring three and four parts going around.
Jeb: I really love “Isn’t Life Strange.”
John: That song wrote itself, strangely enough. I was with my wife, and a couple of friends, and I have a baby grand piano in my drawing room in my house in England. We were having dinner and I could hear this tune in my head and I excused myself. I went over to the piano and, basically, I wrote the whole song, then and there. It only had one lyric at that time, “Isn’t life strange.” I wrote the music right then and there. I remember going to bed and wondering, “I wonder if I have written that song, or if it was something else? In the morning I am going to go downstairs and play it and see if it stands up.” It did. That next day I sat down and wrote all of the lyrics.
The other thing, which is really interesting about that, and shows how things have changed, is that we did all of our vocals on that song on a Friday night, out of necessity, as we were leaving for a tour of America. We landed in New York and we took the tapes to London Records on a Saturday in New York and it was released as a single the following Friday. That was a different time then. It is unheard of today. It moved fast and it was so unbelievable.
Jeb: Did you have any idea that “Isn’t Life Strange” would connect with so many people?
John: You don’t really. When you write a song your emotions are sort of standing there naked, really. If you’re truthful to yourself, and I think we found this in the Moodies, if you’re truthful then you do connect with people, because people do have the same, or similar, experiences. They connect with it as long as you’re truthful.
Jeb: You wrote “I'm Just a Singer (In a Rock and Roll Band).” The driving rhythm is just so addictive…
John: Yeah, that rhythm came from the bass player! You know you’ve got a good song when you can take an acoustic guitar, or sit at a piano, and play it with no one else, and it sounds good. If, however, you can take a song and only play it on a bass, and it still works, then you’ve really got something. I actually have done that many times at different events and played just the bass and sang on top of the bass and it is very interesting.
Jeb: Justin and you co-wrote “Gemini Dream” and that is a very emotional song.
John: We had stopped touring with the Moody Blues in 1974, I think it was. In 1980, we had an album called Long Distance Voyager and we were going to go on the road after it was done. We had not recorded the album yet, but we knew we were going into the studio to record it soon.
I came up with this idea that we needed a song that said we were are back on the road. The original song was called “Touring in the USA.” That was the original demo when we were putting it together. As we were writing it together, we suddenly realized what we were actually talking about, and that is when you’re a musician, you’re either on the road, as a Moody Blue, or you’re at home, as anyone else. It was just trying to combine the two things together that are the same person living two different lives.
Jeb: Let us end with Ten Thousand Light Years before we close. I love this artwork. Album art is becoming a lost art. I love the artwork, and I even love the colors you chose.
John: The album art I really like. I worked with Phil Sepp, who put it all together. I don’t know who all the graphic people are who work with him, but he was the coordinator for me. We discussed it for ages. I wanted something to portray the album, as if it was something from the past, or something from the future, but it was here now. We came up with this idea of something which was in a desert situation with hills where you don’t know if it is on earth, or on another planet. We discussed it from there and there are a lot of little intricate things. When you get the vinyl album you can see the details, as it is bigger and there is a big poster that comes in the sleeve. Hopefully we can keep the listener looking at the sleeve interpreting all of little things going on.
Jeb: It took me back to the old days. There is not enough commitment anymore to the entire package.
John: I wanted the whole album to be a piece of communication, really, from the audio side and the visual. I would like people to listen to the album, and to look at the sleeve, and to talk about it. When people start doing that, they start going off in other directions for themselves. If I can be the catalyst to make them go on and talk about other things, then I will be really pleased. I think that’s what the Moody Blues did. They became the catalyst for people to think about other things.
Jeb: I can take that album cover and segue into a song that you and Justin wrote for the TV show, Doctor Who.
John: We did! How do you know that?
Jeb: I am a Doctor Who nut.
John: Oh, I remember that completely. They were taking Doctor Who off the air and the fans wanted to bring it back. We did the song “Doctor in Distress.” I’ve got an original copy. I have a big 12-inch single of it. I think everyone in England… the show was so English and so Science Fiction, we were all Doctor Who fans. We grew up with Doctor Who. That show was an amazing idea where he flitted through different time warps and everything else. When they were taking the show off we were like, “We have to get it back!”
Jeb: Last one: You had a song called “Street Café.” How did you get Kenny Jones in the video?
John: Kenny is a really good friend. I’m actually a Godfather to one of his children. We have been friends a really long time. When I went to record that song I said, “Come and play drums on this.” He played the drums and I said, “I have to make this video, so you are going to be in the video, too.” We had a great time making that video.
http://johnlodge.com/
http://www.moodybluestoday.com/
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Okay---one song--three different versions:
First up---the original classic:
Love the song.
But I just discovered this live version and believe me--you haven't heard the song until you've heard it live. And keep in mind--the BAND put this up on THEIR channel!
Just bring the ear bleach. I'm not sure I've ever heard a worse version. I can't sing and I honestly believe I could have done better. So bad it's good:
Finally--a version I think I like--or maybe I just REALLY like the redhead:
First up---the original classic:
Love the song.
But I just discovered this live version and believe me--you haven't heard the song until you've heard it live. And keep in mind--the BAND put this up on THEIR channel!
Just bring the ear bleach. I'm not sure I've ever heard a worse version. I can't sing and I honestly believe I could have done better. So bad it's good:
Finally--a version I think I like--or maybe I just REALLY like the redhead:
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I just heard this one on the Radio, Hadn't heard it in a long time. Peter Framton, I believe it's from his "Framton comes alive" album. it's called,( I believe) " Do you feel like I do!?" ( Long Version)This could be the theme song for ROD!! especially when he sings " Do you see things the way I do" Wish I had it to post!!!!
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View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0wZBi9glRQ
http://www.classicrockmusicwriter.com/2014/09/al-kooper-interview-super-session.html
By Ray Shasho
-Interviewed July 2nd 2014
Singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist AL KOOPERcontinues to relish an incredible life of music. Although these days it’s mostly through his weekly online column for The Morton Report entitled ‘New Music for Old People’
Kooper reveals…
“This column is like the title says - its intention is to fill the gap for those of us who were satiated musically in the '60s and then searched desperately as we aged for music we could relate to and get the same buzz from nowadays. iTunes was the answer for me in 2003 and I have been following the new releases every Tuesday ever since I realized there was an endless stream of music I could enjoy there. The reason I am writing this column is to make sure others don't miss this. These are not top ten items; but they SHOULD be!”
Kooper is also excited about the re-release of the classic ‘Super Session’ album featuring Al Kooper-Mike Bloomfield-Stephen Stills.The album is re-mastered with the latest (Hybrid Multichannel SACD) technology. The package includes new liner notes written by Al Kooper that tells the story of the Super Session album and the new 5.1 Multichannel mix. The 5.1 mix by Al Kooper with mastering by Bob Ludwig was never released and yet it has acquired some fame from industry insiders familiar with the Multichannel mix with comments like "excellent" and "it deserves to be heard."The new mastering of the Stereo tracks for new SACD Stereo and CD Stereo audio are by mastering engineer Steve Hoffman. -The official release of ‘Super Session’on amazon.com is -September 9th.
AL KOOPER:had a life changing undertaking technologically and musically after receiving a Webcor reel to reel tape recorder as a Bat Mitzvah gift in 1957.Born in Brooklyn and growing up in Queens, New York … Kooper began his incredible music career as a fourteen year old guitarist with The Royal Teens (“Short Shorts”#3 U.S. Hit in 1958).
In 1960, Kooper joined the songwriting team of Bob Brass and Irwin Levine and wrote “This Diamond Ring” (#1 U.S. Hit in 1965) for Gary Lewis & the Playboys. At 21, Kooper moved to Greenwich Village and began a momentous relationship with Bob Dylan. He performed and recorded with Dylan including adding his classic Hammond organ riffs on “Like a Rolling Stone”(#2 U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Hit in 1965). During those recording sessions, Kooper met Michael Bloomfield.
In 1967, Al Kooper joined The Blues Project as their keyboardist. He left the band before the group was to appear at the infamous Monterey Pop Festival, and instead, along with bandmate Steve Katz, formed the jazz/rock/psychedelic/ R&B/ group …Blood, Sweat & Tears.
Kooper left Blood, Sweat & Tears after their critically-acclaimed debut release … ‘Child Is Father to the Man’(1968). The album spawned the classic rock mainstays … “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know” (Penned by Kooper) and “I Can’t Quit Her” (Written by Kooper/Levine).
Al Kooper recorded a jazz inspired jam entitled ‘Super Session’ in 1968 with Michael Bloomfield and Stephen Stills. The album spawned an incredible cover of Donovan’s “Season of the Witch”and my favorite track “His Holy Modal Majesty” (Written by Kooper and Bloomfield). The album peaked at #12 on the Billboard 200 and was certified gold.
It was Al Kooper who called Judy Collins in the middle of the night and put Joni Mitchell on the phone to sing “Both Sides Now” which eventually became a huge hit for Collins in 1968.
Throughout the years …Kooper became a mainstay in the recording studio performing with The Rolling Stones, The Who, B.B. King, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, Alice Cooper, Peter, Paul & Mary, Joe Cocker, Tom Petty, and Roger McGuinn to name just a few.
Kooper discovered Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1972 after watching several of their appearances at a frequented club in Atlanta. Al moved to Atlanta and signed the band to his new record label ‘Sounds of the South.’ (He would eventually sell the label to MCA Records). Al Kooper produced and performed on Lynyrd Skynyrd’s first (3) albums… (‘Pronounced ‘Lĕh-‘nérd ‘Skin-‘nérd, Second Helping, and Nuthin’Fancy). Also on the singles “Sweet Home Alabama,” “Free Bird,”and “Saturday Night Special.”
Al Kooper produced The Tubes, David Essex, Nils Lofgren, Rick Nelson, Ray Charles, The Staple Singers, Bob Dylan, and Lynyrd Skynyrd … to name just a few. He also played and arranged three tracks on
George Harrison’s ‘Somewhere in England’album and performed with the remaining Beatles … George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr, on Harrison’s Hit single “All Those Years Ago” (U.S. #2 Billboard Hot 100 Hit in 1981). Kooper has also written and composed on countless albums and scores for television and motion pictures.
And let’s not forget an incredible SOLO CAREER … I Stand Alone (1969), You Never Know Who Your Friends Are (1969), Easy Does It (1970), New York City (You’re A Women)(1971), Possible Projection of the Future/ Childhood’s End(1972), Naked Songs (1973), Act Like Nothing’s Wrong (1977), Championship Wrestling (1982), Rekooperation (1994), Soul of a Man(Live album 1995), Black Coffee(2005), and White Chocolate (2008).
Al Kooper published his well- received memoir entitled … Backstage Passes and Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock ‘N’ Roll Survivor. The first edition was released in 1977 with subsequent editions released in 1998 and 2008. (The 2008 edition being the best of the three).
I had the rare opportunity of chatting with Al Kooper about the remastered classic ‘Super Session’ album on 5.1 Multichannel mix … Al’s column ‘New Music for Old People’ … The Music industry today … Discovering Lynyrd Skynyrd … My infamous ‘Field of Dreams’ question… And much-much more!
Here’s my interview with founding member of The Blues Project, Blood Sweat & Tears, Collaborator with artists such as Bob Dylan, Michael Bloomfield, Stephen Stills, The Rolling Stones, George Harrison, and many-many other legendary artists! Co-writer of the hit single… “This Diamond Ring,” Producer for numerous bands including Lynyrd Skynyrd & The Tubes … Singer/Songwriter/Producer/Multi-instrumentalist/Columnist/Author/ …AL KOOPER. ...(WHEW!)
Ray Shasho: Al, thank you so much for being on the call today.
Al Kooper:“You weren’t just talking with David Clayton-Thomas were you?”
Ray Shasho:(Laughing) No, haven’t gotten around to chatting with David yet. I did chat with Judy Collins recently and she told me it was you that introduced her to Joni Mitchell.
Al Kooper: “Yes. I was actually living in her apartment for awhile.”
Ray Shasho: Judy had great things to say about you.
Al Kooper:“Well, that’s why we pay her. (All laughing)”
Ray Shasho: Let’s chat about the re-release of the classic ‘Super Session’ album. The package includes new liner notes written by you that tells the story of the Super Session album and a new 5.1 Multichannel mix.
Al Kooper: “There was a time when Sony the label that owns it had a whole SACD, 5.1 department and they called and asked me if I’d be interested in doing some 5.1 remixes of stuff that I have worked on. So I said sure, they wanted me to do ‘Super Session’ and ‘Child is Father to the Man.’ I didn’t produce ‘Child is Father to the Man’ and so I called the producer and asked him if he was interested … and he said you should do it. So I said are you sure, because you’re the first choice in my book? He said no, I’m not interested and you are. So I did the first one in a week and the second a week after. I’ve only done those two and haven’t done anything else in 5.1.”
Ray Shasho: What will be the main difference in sound using 5.1?
Al Kooper: “You’ve got a great more space to deal with, it’s more of like a totally three dimensional space, so that helps tremendously and gives you more room to spread the instruments out … and vocals etc. I thought it was great that we could do that because when someone found the sweet spot where you need to sit, they could hear everything clearly, which is much tougher to do in a stereo situation.”
Ray Shasho: I thought the sound quality for the original ‘Super Session’ recording was incomparable for 1968.
Al Kooper: “Well it’s an eight-track tape, which means we only had eight tracks to put stuff on, so it’s really a credit to the engineer that it sounds the way it sounds, even more of a credit because we were just making everything up as we were playing it. We weren’t playing some preconceived tune, it was a jam session. With a preconceived tune you can say …well, at this point this is going to happen, and you say watch out for this and like that. But everyone was flying by the seat of their pants, so for him to do such a great job is very rare in a situation like that.”
Ray Shasho: I chatted with Billy Cobham who told me that the ‘Spectrum’ album was also a fly by the seat of your pants jam session. I think many of those jam sessions were much better recordings than the over produced ones.
Al Kooper: “We were sort of modeling that album after jazz recordings … but we weren’t playing jazz though.”
Ray Shasho: The ‘Super Session’ album includes so many great jams …“His Holy Modal Majesty” and an incredible version of Donovan’s “Season of the Witch” have always been my favorite tracks. I consider that album as one of those timeless and inspiring recordings … much of the same way I feel about the second John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers release.
Al Kooper: “You mean the one with Clapton on it …or as we call it the Beano album.”
Ray Shasho: I covered John Mayall’s 80th Birthday show here in Sarasota and he looked and sounded fantastic, he was even setting up his own equipment.
Al Kooper: “Well that’s because he can’t afford a roadie” (All Laughing) I played with him about six or seven years ago… I opened for him and hadn’t seen him for a long time …it was very nice.”
Ray Shasho:Were there any thoughts of you, Michael Bloomfield, and Stephen Stills continuing as sort of a supergroup while touring as a band together?
Al Kooper:“We did do that and played a handful of gigs and two of them are albums. One is called ‘The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper’ and the other one is called ‘The Lost Concert Tapes’ because they were lost for about four years.”
Ray Shasho: So how were they lost?
Al Kooper:“Sony Records. When they found them, they called me; I came in and made an album out of multi-track tapes. So there are actually three situations where Bloomfield and I made albums together that were pretty much jam session albums.”
Ray Shasho:How about some of the other players on the album ... like bassist Harvey Brooks (Electric Flag), did you continue to play with those guys?
Al Kooper:“Harvey and I grew up together and played quite a bit prior to that … way back to when we were little kids. I was born in Brooklyn and actually grew up in Queens.”
Ray Shasho: Al, we’re definitely looking forward to the re-release of the classic ‘Super Session’ album (Hybrid Multichannel SACD) which will be available on amazon.com - September 9th. Al, what else do you have going on these days?
Al Kooper: “I have a weekly column that I write called ‘New Music for Old People’… and that’s what it is. Its music that just came out that would appeal to someone in my age range. So it’s new releases by anybody, but has to pass my test. If I like it then it goes in the column. I started doing this when iTunes first came out and I discovered all these amazing bands that nobody ever heard of, but they were great, I mean it was music that I really liked as anything else I’ve heard in my life.
It all started towards the end of 2003 when iTunes started. I found a place where they had all the new releases every week which was exactly what I was looking to find. So I went through everything every week and I’d find bands that killed me and it was just great. I started buying them and setting up playlists and it changed my life. It took the place of radio. Radio is over. I haven’t listened to mainstream radio in maybe thirty years.
Satellite radio is different because they’re trying to do what I’m trying to do. It’s easier for me to get an audience online. I’m a critic, but a critic by omission as well. I never write anything bad about anybody. Not only do I write about it but it’s streamed as well, you can also hear it, which is a nice touch. I think you’ll get a kick out of the column. I’m in my third year now, so I guess I’m getting good at it now.”
Ray Shasho: You also have a memoir out entitled ‘Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock ‘N’ Roll Survivor.’
Al Kooper:“I talk about what happened to me because it was such a bizarre story, and that’s why I wrote it. I had the most bizarre life. There are three editions of it out there and the latest edition is the best one. Backbeat Books is the publisher.”
Ray Shasho:You were also an A&R man for Columbia Records… a job I’ve always wanted to do. Is the A&R position important today as it was back in the 60s or 70’s?
Al Kooper: “The record companies are nothing what it used to be … especially the majors. I don’t feel like I belong there anymore. I don’t understand what those people are doing up there. Consequently, I think it’s just really tough for new bands as a result. But somehow all this great music is reaching me. The column that came out on Friday is called ‘What the Folk Is All This?’ And it’s about bizarre folk music.
So it has some old stuff in it that was strange for the time it came out and then stuff from today that is also strange for the time it came out. There is also an artist that killed me, just knocked me out and nothing happened to it. I thought this guy was like the equivalent of Neil Young. And it just came and went, I couldn’t believe it.”
Ray Shasho: I chatted with Arthur Brown recently, a true rock pioneer, he was so grateful that I thought of him for an interview for my column.
Al Kooper: “Oh I love Arthur Brown. We played on the bill several times together. I thought he was unbelievable. I was also a little bit influenced by his organ player Vincent Crane and he was fabulous.”
Ray Shasho: My fondest memory of Lynyrd Skynrd was in 1975 …I was actually working at the Capital Centre arena in Maryland and watched the band rehearse their new song “Saturday Night Special” with maybe three other guys looking on. I hung out with Skynyrd a bit and then watched the concert later that evening.
How did you first discover Lynyrd Skynyrd?
Al Kooper:“I heard them in a bar. It was in Atlanta and I was there producing a record, I used to work from about midnight to 8pm every day and then me and this band I was producing would go out to this bar and get crazy. In those days, this was 1972, when you played a club you played for six nights. It wasn’t like one-nighters. So we had sat through one band already, and now a new week had started and a new band came in. The first band was okay, they weren’t great or anything, just background noise. So we went in and I saw the marquee and said…What is this … Ly-Nard Sky- Nard …what is this? (All laughing) They were a four-piece when I saw them … not counting the singer. Their songs and arrangements were incredible and I just thought they were amazing, and I got to hear them every night.
I had favorites already and by the end of their engagement I offered to sign them. They became the reason why I started my record label (‘Sounds of the South’). I had found another band as well and thought… why am I giving this away, I should just start my own label, and then I moved to Atlanta. As a matter of fact I didn’t even go home from Atlanta. I had my roadies pack up my apartment and I never went home. (Then eventually sold the label to MCA Records)”
“I just love music … that’s what it’s all about.”
Ray Shasho: Al, here’s a question that I ask everyone that I interview …
Al Kooper: “About eight inches! (All laughing)”
Ray Shasho:No, that’s not it … If you had a ‘Field of Dreams’ wish like the movie, to play, sing or collaborate with anyone from the past or present, who would that be?
Al Kooper: “Well my favorite band of all-time was ‘FREE.’ I would have loved to play with that band. And my favorite track is “The Stealer.”
Ray Shasho: Al, thank you for being on the call today but more importantly for all the incredible music you’ve given us and continue to bring. Keep in touch!
Al Kooper:“I will, thank you Ray!”
Pre-order now … ‘Super Session’ (Hybrid Multichannel SACD) –Al Kooper-Mike Bloomfield-Stephen Stills - Official release date September 9th on amazon.com. The package includes new liner notes written by Al Kooper that tells the story of the Super Session album and the new 5.1 Multichannel mix. The 5.1 mix by Al Kooper with mastering by Bob Ludwig was never released and yet it has acquired some fame from industry insiders familiar with the Multichannel mix with comments like "excellent" and "it deserves to be heard."The new mastering of the Stereo tracks for new SACD Stereo and CD Stereo audio are by mastering engineer Steve Hoffman.
Also purchase … ‘From His Head to His Heart to His Hands’(3 CD/ 1 DVD) by Michael Bloomfield (2014) - Box set An Audio-Visual Scrapbook (2014); a Columbia Legacy career retrospective, produced by Al Kooper. Previously unissued live performances and a DVD that includes the documentary film Sweet Blues: A Film about Mike Bloomfield, the film premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival in October, 2013. –Available now on amazon.com
PurchaseAl Kooper’s incredible memoir entitled … ‘Backstage Passes & Backstabbing Bastards: Memoirs of a Rock ‘N’ Roll Survivoron amazon.com.
Read Al Kooper’s excellent column ‘New Music for Old People’ on The Morton Report … Read Al’s column [HERE]
Al Kooper official website
Very special thanks to the great Billy James of Glass Onyon PR
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The Immaculate Exception
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