What my mind did not retain: this was a full-blown production, with sessions spread out over a three-day period, vocal overdubs a few days after that! And so today, I give you Life Out Of Balance: The Complete Kenny Dugan Sessions!
Kenny Dugan was the guy who did sound for us at our first show in Southampton. He did a great job and really dug the band. Right then and there, he offered to record us in his mobile truck (for a fee), and so on June 25th - twenty-five years ago today - he parked his vehicle in the Rocky Point studio driveway, and we began making tracks. Lots and lots of them!
Day two: We ditch the live vocals idea and start recording instrumentally, with voices to be put on at a later date. It's particularly interesting to hear Frank take-to-take, trying out different solo ideas, on both "Return Britain" and "We Both Wobble". The first "Return Britain" is particularly great! It's amazing we didn't use that one as the take! Man, I could listen to "Return Britain"s all day!
As the session goes on, Kenny tried different reverbs and echos. We must have gone into his truck for a listen and told him to lose the effects, because for Take 11 we get an emphatic slate from Ken: "No echo!". (Ken spent the entirety of these sessions in his truck with his assistant).
Day three: Tape one is listed as "level checks", and tape two includes what became the "Return Britain" master take. But maybe the dates on these tapes might be a little off! It's hard to tell! When the clock strikes midnight...is it today, or is it tomorrow? Sometimes a tape is labeled one date, but Kenny's slates might be a day later, or before. It's a little fuzzy.
Anyways, tape one begins with us doing King Curtis' "Soul Serenade" and a funky jam to warm up on. Aside from "Wobble" and "Return Britain", I was surprised to hear us do a few takes of "Is It Safe", no memory of this, and surprised we didn't put some vocals on one of these takes!
We ran into the same exact problem with "I Know Your Name" that we had during the 1988 demo (posted yesterday).....the stops throughout the song made it hard to overdub a lead vocal, and so - just as we did in '88 - the song was abandoned! I never did get to appear on a proper recording of that old LOOB warhorse!
After what sounds like a grueling couple of days, doing "We Both Wobble" ad infinitum, we took a break, and reconvened (sans Kenny) on July 1st and overdubbed vocals (dry, no effects) on to "Britain", "Wobble" and "I Know Your Name". (for the original finished mix of "Return Britain" click here.....and for recent mixes of all 3 songs we did with vocals, click here....) Only "Return Britain" came out satisfactory, and I remember feeling a bit down about it. We had spent all that time and money...and only came out with one song to show for it all.
But as you can hear - Kenny got a great mix on us, no question about it. These tracks sound great, warm and full. And we definitely had the players to make a great track! But unfortunately, we never again attempted a recording with this seminal lineup of the band. Unbelievable.
Kenny Dugan sessions, Rocky Point Studio, 6/25-27/90
6/25/90
Licking Stick jam
We Both Wobble
We Both Wobble
I've Got An Onion
6/26/90
Return Britain
Return Britain
We Both Wobble
We Both Wobble
We Both Wobble
We Both Wobble
We Both Wobble
We Both Wobble
Beating A Dead Horse /
6/27/90
Soul Serenade
Jam
Return Britain
Is It Safe?
Is It Safe?
We Both Wobble
We Both Wobble
I Know Your Name
I Know Your Name
I Know Your Name
Return Britain
We Both Wobble
We Both Wobble
We Both Wobble
Is It Safe?
Is It Safe?
Hubert Poole - guitar, vocal
Frank Russell - guitar, vocal
Ted Schreiber - bass, vocal
Michael Goodman - drums, vocal
Recorded by Kenny Dugan using a Tascam Porta-two cassette 4-track
download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/i3pzztr0ms5iatb/1990-06+Kenny+Dugan+rough+tracks.zip
or if you prefer Dropbox, this link expire in a week's time:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ochn1cehzmt1nbs/1990-06%20Kenny%20Dugan%20rough%20tracks.zip?dl=0
