Making a CD Part II: An Analogy: 3 blind men walking in the dark with the lights out. So you think you know what you’re doing? The answer to that depends on how much you want to be liked. For most of us mortals, 19 years can signify a quarter of an average person’s life span. In 1980, I entered a period in my life where music was for the most part shuffled back into my subconscious. Sure I played my guitars at home and at family gatherings but instead of it being the main driving force in my life, I tended to look on it as something I used to do…now I’m into other things. It was the only way I could deal with the loss of such an important part of my psyche. So what happened 19 years later in 1999? After all those years in a self-imposed exile was I really contemplating a full return to music? At least I can say it wasn’t in my revised life plan at the start of the 80’s decade. There were two factors that came into play as an impetus to move back into music. The first was the impact of seeing Jimmy Hiscott again. He represented my youth, the helicon days of music, cheap wine, and being a minor celebrity on the Northside. The Rockin’ Saints opened a whole new life for me and every day I looked at my wife and kids I knew that things could have turned out a lot differently. The second factor had more to do with being honest with myself. This was a gift wrapped opportunity to play with great musicians at a top level again. Even in middle age the spirit was alive and well and yearning to get out. So it was on to the job of making a CD; todays technological answer to making a LP record. The recording sessions at Lakewind Studios in Point Aconi, Cape Breton in the late summer of 1999, were a new experience for a few of the earlier members of the Rockin’ Saints’ alumni. The studio co-owned by Fred Lavery and songwriter, Gordie Sampson is a state of the art recording facility. It was interesting the first time I drove out to Lakewind to find that the studio was in Fred Lavery’s parent’s back yard where in 1973 we put together Ramblin Band. Looking at the old house and the rolling hills in the back yard brought back a lot of fun memories. The working title for the 12 song set was to be Rockin’ Saints: Old and New. I had no input into the CD’s title or the song selection. The first 5 days were spent laying down the music tracks and scratch lead vocals. The music for the foundation tracks was the standard combo sound of Drums, Bass, Guitar, and Keyboards. I played very little part in that process since Burkley Lamey played bass on all tracks except “Ruby” which was Donnie Dolomont’s great work. Since there was not a lot of time due to the recording budget, we added bits and pieces that either worked or they didn’t. Either way those pieces stayed. The first number on the disc was a remake of a Leiber and Stoller song originally released in 1956 by my favorite vocal group The Drifters. Dion had a hit with the song in the mid 60’s. Jimmy hit on to Ronnie Hawkins’ version from 1959 and insisted on that intro. Personally, I never liked the first 4 bars with that guitar figure that never repeats in the song. If you listen to the original Drifters’ version you will see where I picked up the vocal harmony line (Ruby Ruby Ruby Baby) that does repeat throughout the song. The disc version had a great George MacDonald honky tonk piano break and Ward’s harp bit gave the song a nice R&B feel. Jimmy’s vocal was spot on and actually made the song a standout on an overall inconsistent collection. The next song “We Got Love” was written by Paul Dunn. Paul and Tony Quinn were Saints in the early 70’s for a bit. This song was a great song but the wrong song for the Saints. It had a gospel feel and the Rockin’ Saints were as far as you could get from being a gospel group. That said, there were two nice pieces in the arrangement. The first was James and George MacDonald’s two bars of guitar and horn (Brass) intro. That short piece had so much power and if the arrangement could have had a lot more work, leaning it more towards an R&B flavor the song would have been more successful. The other standout part was James MacDonald’s guitar break. James is by far one of the best guitar players I have ever played with. His breaks are perfect and they always fit the occasion. The song following “We Got Love” was a cover of the great 1970 hit by the Ides Of March called “Vehicle”. This song could have been a standout but was marred by the tempo which was too fast. It should have had a slower R&B feel that would have fit Paul Dunn’s excellent keyboard work and James’ wicked guitar break. How James got all those notes in is still one of the great mysteries of recorded music. Jimmy’s vocal was rushed because of the timing problem and suffered from a lack of smoothness in his usual excellent delivery. The next song was written for the most part by Duncan Wells, a Sydney based songwriter. “High School Reunion” was definitely the most studio developed song on the disc. But many of the bits added still didn’t take away the fact that the melody of the verse was wrong, to my ears anyway. The bridge and chorus were out of sync with the verse structure. We added a modulated piece in (F) from the song’s key in (D) to give it a different feel but that just added to the confused state of the arrangement. The ending I borrowed from something I heard by April Wine in the 70’s. It was one of those songs that got lost in the mix; it started out with the best of intentions but overall it wasn’t the best of songs in the first place. The song that followed, “Day After Day”, definitely had a special place on this disc since it was part of the great Saints’ history. The song was written by Johnson Road native Frank Morrison Jr. of Frank’s Snack Bar fame. He visited us at the Odd Fellows Hall in Sydney Mines one Saturday in the summer, 1965, and played a song he had just written out on a piece of paper towel. The name of the song, “Day After Day”. The structure of this tune is known as a circular melody where the verse, bridge, and chorus repeat verbatim during the songs arrangement. The beautiful violin break was written by George MacDonald and played by his brother, Danny. This was definitely a successful song with a 60’s sound. The next song was a rehash of the Wilson Pickett classic from the 60’s, “Midnight Hour”. There were no surprises here with basically the same arrangement as the record with the exception of an Eddie Parris invented piece on the end( Midnight Midnight Midnight Tonite) that added something different so it didn’t plod along from start to finish. Again James’ guitar licks were nice added touches. This song worked although a bit familiar for this disc set. “ The Kings Of Rock and Roll” was written by Lakewind owner, Fred Lavery. Although the name implied something else, the song was actually written in the contemporary heavy rock style of Nickleback or other recent moderately heavy rock groups. The start with the crowd noise in the same key as the song was a nice effect. But the finished product was tedious with its repetition and just missed the mark as a tribute to a band that had its heyday over 35 years prior. Also the mixing down of the complex vocal harmony in the bridges in the finished product was a bit disappointing considering we worked on that for 3 days to get it perfected. The next cut, “It’s Now Or Never”, was an adaptation of the Italian standard titled, “O Solo Mio” with English lyrics supplied by Wally Gold and Aaron Schroeder. We fashioned this cover from the Elvis version and Jimmy’s vocal that spanned 2 octaves was excellent. There were also some nice harmony parts and the arrangement with the violin parts made this song the most successful cut on the disc. *** Go to Utube if you have not heard the Saints’ rendition. (Plug in Rockin Saints). The next selection was the great Doc Pomus’ Drifters’ hit, “Save the Last Dance for Me”. This arrangement played in the Cuban Clave rhythm style was a ready made song for Jimmy’s unique vocal delivery and featured some nice harmony parts. James played acoustic guitar in his usual excellent execution and George’s instrumental break was great but could have been better mixed to allow the listener to enjoy the rich sounds we heard in the studio. This was a successful cut but not quite as good as the Presley cover. The next song “Filthy Rich” was a Burkley Lamey song. Burkley and brother, Randy were Saints in the latter part of the 60’s. The song he brought for the sessions was more of a kitchen jam song and more suited to the Rise and Follies series of shows that Burkley was once musical director in the 80’s. This song choice was probably done out of respect for Burkley but it was really the least connected song in the 12. The next tune was a remake of Van Morrison’s classic, “Brown Eyed Girl”. The music track was marred by a strange horn intro that played the notes that the guitar does in the original. The vocals were adequate but the song lost that R&B feel we had when we performed it in the 60’s with Roy. The song suffered from very little production time and it showed. The last cut “Kansas City” was a Leiber and Stoller gem that was a huge hit for R&B singer, Wilbert Harrison in 1959. This was the closest of all the cuts to the Saints’ sound in the 60’s. It had the raw vocals that make that genre so special. The music track is a standout, with great harp work from Ward and James testifies with a blistering guitar break that brings the vocal back with a syncopated build. This was a great cut and will stand the test of time as an example of what the Rockin’ Saints could do on stage any given night in the 1960’s. If I look back at this experience, the recording of the Rockin’ Saints’ first studio work then I have to say that it was a success on an emotional level. The problems with the finished product had nothing to do with the talent involved in creating the music. Lakewind Studios is a fine state of the art establishment and Fred Lavery is a very capable musician and producer. The problem with this CD lies in the sterile sound that permeates throughout. The Saints’ sound was always thick but smooth: a juxtaposition of two conflicting elements. The vocals especially Jimmy’s always demanded you listen to them; they were that compelling. It’s hard for someone who was a kid back then to understand the building blocks of a sound like that. If I had to describe it, I would be hard pressed to explain it. So if you can’t put your finger on the answer to that question then you have to put it down to something cosmic and special that only happens with those particular people. And how does one capture that on tape? Next: we put the tires back on the old Econoline van and set out the Rockin’ Saints” shingle. We were open for business. A moment of weakness that lasted 12 years.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 05:03:23 +0000
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