And then there was Joe Cocker. One of the truly great highlights of my early years. As many know, even by then (1978) Joe's career'd had many ups and downs. Electra had signed him for a single album (Luxury You Can Afford), and the tracks had been recorded in New Orleans with legendary Producer Allen Toussaint.
Great musicians, great songs, great tracks...but NO vocals. Joe HATED
singing in the studio. I think he just felt too self-conscious (I'm not
really sure). When he came in, I was familiar with him, although not a huge fan (yet). His Manager- who was always with him and oversaw every detail- was Michael Lang, one of the Producers of the Woodstock
festival (yes, THE Woodstock). Nice guy, too... soft spoken, really smart. I remember after a day or two of them being around, I looked at Michael and said, "man you look FAMILIAR". He smirked and just said quietly, "Woodstock". And I thought for a moment, and then exclaimed, "you're the guy on the motorcycle!". He just winked. That was a fun moment I'll never forget.
Wow, working with the guy who put on Woodstock. That was cool. I was 13 when it happened, and at that time my life was about Boy Scouts. As a matter of fact, the summer Woodstock happened I was at the Boy Scout National Jamboree at Farragut State Park in Idaho. Same summer we landed on the moon. But, when the Woodstock album came out, it was 1971, and I'd started down the glorious path of hippie consciousness (mushrooms and weed). Listening to that album was one of the major epiphanies of my adolescent life. I was SO THERE with it all. And, living in the San Francisco Bay Area as I did at the time, the air was infused with hippiedom. It was a compelling time, to say the least.
Cut to 1979; Joe Cocker is in the studio (with me engineering), tasked with finally laying down his vocal tracks for an album that was in fact very important to his career (Luxury You Can Afford). It was comeback time. We worked night after night after night. Sometimes recording vocals, other times various overdubs to enhance or replace certain parts. I recall Rick Danko (The Band) coming by one night to replace a bass part. I think we may have done some back-up vocals too, with Clydie King (historic back-up singer). After about a month, everything was done (or had gone as far as it was going to go), and Michael packed everyone up to return to New Orleans for the final mix. As they were leaving, Michael asked me, "how would you like to come on the road with us and mix the house (what the audience hears)?". I was like, "uh-yeah!" (as in, "what an excellent adventure!"). And so, I was thus off on my first real rock n roll TOUR.
