Well, dear readers, I don’t do all that much in recording studios anymore. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, I don’t do all that much in recording studios anymore. As some of you know, I practically lived in the studio for eight straight years doing one album after another – I basically had no other life but that. But since starting Kritzerland, we’ve really only done a couple of studio albums and they were smaller than the ones we used to do. So, it was a particular pleasure to show up at Avatar Studios to record a big vocal album. From the minute I walked into the booth I was back in the saddle again. We had a fairly large band of twenty, which, with our second pass of strings, reeds, and brass, really became thirty-five. And then we recorded eleven songs and it was like Christmas in August. We have the usual chestnuts (roasting on an open fire) and some songs that will most likely be new to a lot of people. We weren’t in their large studio, but the slightly smaller one, so the floor layout was pretty jammed but still we had the bass and harp in a closed-off booth, and the percussion and drums in another closed-off booth. The brass and reeds were all in the main room. We had great players, really the cream of the crop. Lanny’s charts sounded great, as always. A handful of the songs the East Coast Singer is doing are from my Christmas albums on Varese, so those charts, with one exception, are the same. The East Coast Singer did guide vocals on everything. And I must say, the song I wrote for her made the musicians laugh, so that was fun.
We got off to a VERY slow start thanks to some board problems and some headphone problems, so we didn’t get anything in the can for almost an hour. Once we did, then things kind of got back to normal although I kept having to gently nudge everything along because we really couldn’t afford to get too far behind – the musicians were contracted for three three-hour sessions and there was no way we could go over that. We eventually got all caught up and by the time we did the three strings-only songs we were in good enough shape for Lanny to do a lot of note fixing on one chart. Dear reader ChasSmith came by and stayed most of the afternoon and I hope he had a good time. There were a few other visitors, including a collaborator and friend of Isaac Hayes, so I kept saying, “Can you dig it?” to her. My friend Holly showed up at five to act as helper – it’s always nice to have someone in the booth who is helpful. So, it was ten to eight, but it’s going to be a very nice album, I think. I really liked the studio and our engineer was terrific. I kept everything light and fun and I think everyone had a really good time.
After we wrapped, Holly and I went to Angus McIndoe and met Alet (with whom Holly had worked) and Andy Taylor to celebrate their anniversary. As you might imagine, dinner was really fun – lots of great stories, lots of laughs, and lots of great food. I had the Cajun Seafood Pot Pie, which is small but great. I had their teeny-tiny side of very light mac and cheese (couldn’t have been more than two ounces) and I had a grilled artichoke. Since I hadn’t really eaten anything before, I splurged and had their toffee bread pudding – again, not a huge thing and everyone else had a bite of it. Alet’s coming back to LA for eight weeks to do a show, so I’ll get to see her a few times, so that will be fun.
Then I came back to the hotel and then it was time to write these here notes. I had many e-mails today, and I guess I can reveal to you dear readers that for only the second time in Kritzerland history we’re going to do a second edition of a CD title – and, as you might surmise, it’s Follies. The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive and Mr. Sondheim wanted it to be available for a while longer, so we just decided to do it. The packaging and content will be identical, but the tray card will state “Second Edition of 1000 copies”. We’ll probably announce it on Thursday midnight.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I must get as much beauty sleep as I can.
Today, I shall be up early and then back to the studio by ten. Today’s six songs are mostly rhythm section and some solo instruments, so that all should go much more quickly. Hopefully we’ll wrap that up by two or three, and then we have a bunch of overdubs to do – piano, tap dancing, and some back-up vocals – that will all probably take until eight again. I’m sure we’ll all go out to eat after. Then I’ll come back to the hotel, print out my boarding pass, and pack.
Tomorrow, I shall leave the hotel around eleven and then I shall be on my way back to LA. So, please send your strongest most excellent vibes and xylophones for a safe, secure, and on time flight and for the weather to remain sunny and nice until Thursday.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do our second session, sup, print a boarding pass, pack, sleep, and then fly home. Today’s topic of discussion: Yesterday we heard wonderful stories about wonderful trips – today, what is the best hotel you ever stayed in? Where was it, why was it so great, and what was the room like, the service, and the food? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, after which I shall be back in the saddle again.