Greg Lake, from the beginning

(April 17, 1997)

Thirty-two songs speak volumes for the works of Greg Lake.

Each track on the new two-CD "From the Beginning: The Greg Lake Retrospective" (Rhino) evokes memories of a time and place for the progressive rock legend.

The collection is culled from Lake's early years with King Crimson, his long, fruitful association with Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer and his own solo efforts.

Lake is in a reflective mood while drinking a cup of coffee at his home outside Rochester, N.Y. He starts, of course, from the beginning:

In the court of the Crimson King: Led by Robert Fripp, the British quintet King Crimson helped usher in the art-rock movement of the late '60s and early '70s with a bold, eerie mixture of Mellotron-heavy sounds and psychedelic lyrics. Lake, the group's lead singer and bassist, said it all began so innocently.

"It started in London, in the basement of a cafe where the band first rehearsed," he said. "I remember that we were one of the first groups to use the Mellotron (a keyboard that reproduces orchestral sounds). The Moody Blues heard about this, because they also used the Mellotron.

"They came down to this rehearsal and were absolutely shocked by King Crimson, because I think they were expecting this sweet music of the Mellotron, instead they got '21st Century Schizoid Man.' "

With little, if any, promotion for its debut album, "In the Court of the Crimson King," and its haunting title cut, the group's popularity spread quickly by word of mouth. Their first gig was at the London Speakeasy Club on April 9, 1969; by July that year, they were playing to 65,000 at the Rolling Stones' free Hyde Park concert.

"One week, we'd be playing to an audience of 150 people and the next week it would be a thousand, then next week 2,000," Lake said. "It was almost like a virus, spreading. You could almost physically watch it happen. ... The whole experience was so new to us. It's the way it should be: You come up with something original and different and it starts to snowball.

"It grew organically. There's something tremendously gratifying about that."

A picture speaks a thousand words: There's a story behind the disturbing image on the front cover of King Crimson's debut album. Lake called the screaming face, designed by 21-year-old Barry Godber, "impactive and horrifying."

"Barry listened to the music; he went away and the next day he came back with the album cover and he just left it on the floor," Lake said. "The following day, Barry went out and dropped dead of a heart attack on the street. When you see this cover, it's like a primal scream. It's like Barry's last scream."

Friends to the end: Lake recently attended the 30-year reunion of original King Crimson members in London. "What was lovely is that none of us have ever fallen out," he said. "There was never a cross word. There's always phone calls going around, 'How are doing?' 'You all right?' It not only brought us great music, it brought us an enduring friendship."

ELP forever: Lake first met Emerson when King Crimson and Emerson's power trio The Nice shared a bill with the Chambers Brothers at the Fillmore West in San Francisco in 1969. Sensing that their groups were about to disband, they later formed their own. They then added Palmer, who had worked with the Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Because they all came from different bands, they were immediately tagged a "supergroup," a word Lake called "horrible."

"Added to the kind of European classical influences the band had," he said, "it gave journalists a field day. 'They're pretentious, they're this, they're that.' I think the band suffered a lot of stuff that it didn't deserve.

"We really tried to make the best music and were certainly not interested in being pretentious. It was hurtful at times. It's the funniest thing, though, watching when fans love you and the music critics hate you. You wonder what the point of the music press is.

"It became like a war. It was like there was an organized campaign to bring the band down and, luckily enough, the fans didn't buy into that."

Lucky man: The trio's first hit remains a staple of classic rock radio today. Lake said the song was an accident, written when he was 12 and discarded until many years later when ELP needed one more cut to fill out their self-titled Cotillion debut album.

"We were at the end of the recording sessions and the budget," he said with a laugh, "and we were one track short. Everybody looks around the studio and says, 'Anybody got any ideas?' There was silence. I said, 'Look, I have this sort of folk song,' and I get these vacant stares from Emerson and Palmer.

"The way we first put it down, Carl played drums and I played the acoustic guitar. It sounded awful. Then I put bass on it, and it sounded a little bit better, then some vocal harmonies. In the end, Keith succumbed to doing it. He just got delivery of this Moog synthesizer. He was going to put a solo at the end of the piece and was basically rehearsing the key range, where you play the low note and swoop on up to the high note.

"It just so happens, I recorded the rehearsal. I looked at the engineer and said, 'Is it just me or did that sound good?' I told Keith to come in and listen. Of course, none of us thought the song had any potential for anything other than it was filler for the album. It was such a happy surprise."

An ambitious undertaking: On May 31, 1977, ELP embarked on what was then the most expensive rock tour ever, promoting the "Works, Volume 1" album. On paper, it was a disaster; Lake said he has no regrets.

"We had 11 tractor-trailers on the road, 140 people, a 70-piece orchestra and six people mixing the sound alone," he said. "At that time, the rock 'n' roll business was not as professional as it is today and despite the fact that we had all that stuff relatively under control, I seem to remember the expenses at that time were about $300,000 a week. There were so many unforeseen things and expenses.

"I realized that people actually preferred to seeing the band as a three-piece. It wasn't exactly what people wanted from ELP, so we shut it down. We had to shut it down. All the orchestra was young people, talented players who did it with a passion and played their hearts out. When the tour finished, there were people crying. It was a very sad situation."

The end: In a way, the ill-fated "Works" tour was an omen. The group's next albums, "Works, Volume 2," and "Love Beach," even though they maintained the band's streak of nine straight gold albums, spelled the beginning of the end. They broke up in December 1979. They have resurfaced several times, last charting with "Black Moon" in 1992.

Emerson and Palmer are more than his best friends, Lake said, it's like having two more brothers. "They would essentially die for you," he said.

It's not completely over. Unhappy with their last studio album, ELP plans to record a conceptual album by the end of the year. "One never knows how long a piece of string really is," Lake said. "I would like the band to finish off with a really great record."

BWF (before we forget): Check out Greg Lake on the Web @ www.dynrec.com/lake. ... King Biscuit Records recently released a special, limited edition "enhanced version" of Lake's "In Concert on the King Biscuit Flower Hour." The disc, autographed by Lake, features his entire Nov. 5, 1981, solo performance at Hammersmith Odeon in London, plus two bonus tracks, including a live bootleg recording of "C'est La Vie." The CD is available through the Web site or by calling the Greg Lake Merchandise Center at (800) 820-4068. It sells for $29.95 and is not available in stores.

Kenny Lattimore speaks from 'The Soul of Man'

(Nov. 8, 1998)

Kenny Lattimore is not only a silky smooth-voiced sex symbol for women, he's a godsend for men.

On his second Columbia album, "From the Soul of Man" (released Oct. 13), the Washington, D.C., native tries to break down the communication barriers between the sexes. His romantic words and lustrous delivery can do more for couples than anything Dr. Ruth can muster.

"For the most part, I wanted this album to be about men approaching relationships intelligently," Lattimore said recently, "and I wanted it to be a project that lifted the lid off what we can call secrets that we've kept, things that we should say but don't always say because being men we have different stereotypes, different kinds of pressures about what is strength, what is macho, but at the same time I think you have to be a person of strength to be able to talk about your faults, areas that could be better in your personality, in your communication or whatever. That helps to enhance your relationships in the future."

On several tracks, notably the first single, "Days Like This," Lattimore delves into everything men have always wanted to know and say about relationships but were afraid to ask.

"When I was writing the record and thought about who would be involved, to assist me in writing, I had conversations with men," he said. "The songs are like Kenny's experiences, Kenny's observations and Kenny's conversations with other men, so that way it wouldn't be just about the soul of a man, Kenny, but it would be broader and touch on experiences that I haven't had personally but that I relate to and understand.

"Like 'If I Lose My Woman,' that was a conversation I had with Daryl Simmons; when he mentioned it, I had to think about it in order to help the song, but he was writing from his experience. On 'Days Like This,' that came out of a conversation with a few fellows who are in relationships. One guy was like, 'You know, sometimes I wake up in the morning, I look at my girl and I hate her nose.' He would pick her apart; it was like he was almost looking for a way out, and that's not what he wanted, but he was just confused. He said, 'I know I love this woman.' Generally, this happens when guys have been players, playboys all their lives and then they come to a point where it's close to being a commitment and it's just an unusual and vulnerable space for them."

On "Tomorrow," Lattimore draws from his own experience.

"In my industry, you're dealing with being constantly on the road and you're trying to bring something to the table in terms of relationships," he said. "Sometimes there's pressure for guys where they're caught up in providing for their loved ones and we forget about the other elements of the relationship, the real quality times spent with women."

The album's centerpiece is a penetrating cover version of Donny Hathaway's "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know."

"Since the album was titled 'From the Soul of Man,' " Lattimore said, "I thought it was perfect for what I wanted to say and tell it with a heartfelt passion.

"We did most of the album in Philly. I guess we were basically reaching back for that old-school era, especially when I was doing the Hathaway tune, making sure that we captured that whole '70s soul passion and distribute that kind of passion throughout the songs."

Lattimore, in fact, has made quite a career out of doing just that. His self-titled debut album was a gold-seller in 1996 and spent more than a year on Billboard's R&B chart, and his first hit, the Grammy-nominated "For You," became a staple at weddings.

"I've had more men than women approach me and say 'Thank you for saying these words,' " Lattimore said, "because the songs became a vehicle for them to express their feelings to their women, especially 'For You.' I had a lot of men come up to me and say, 'This is exactly what I wanted to say.' I'm hoping the same thing will happen with 'From the Soul of Man.' So far so good.

"I try to be sensitive about my male fans and not act like it's about the ladies, because it never is. You try to balance things out so that everybody can relate to it and it'll be real, not just one-sided. It's not a marketing thing, like 'I just want all the women to love me. I want the panties thrown to me onstage.' It's so much deeper than that. I really am a promoter of relationships, and the way I can do that is to speak to men and women."

Not unlike Luther Vandross, one of his greatest influences.

"He's basically who I've patterned my career after, although I don't really sound anything like him," Lattimore said, "but in terms of how he approached his career and singing the ballads, delivering them live and creating a moment for couples and creating a fantasy for singles. And he's been in the industry for like 20 years; that's what I want, a career."

Lattimore's career had an inauspicious start in the mid-1980s when he fronted the vocal group Maniquin. They snared a deal with Epic Records in 1987, but they split up a year after their 1989 debut LP failed miserably.

"In doing that album, it was a great experience," Lattimore said, "and I was able to work with Ronnie and Charlie Wilson from The Gap Band and Charlie Singleton from Cameo. However, with it not being commercially successful, I lost everything I had. I did as many gigs as I could to survive, and eventually I had to move back home with my father. Having that experience, though, helped me to put things in perspective for this album. For me, it's really about the music and me being able to live out my dream. Singing for a living is totally a dream come true."

Even though he's well on his way - "From the Soul of Man" debuted this week at No. 71 on Billboard's pop chart - he's still counting his blessings. "I have a lot of people come up to me and say, 'You're nice, you're down to earth,' " he said. "I guess people expect artists to be on a star trip, but my past experiences have totally left me with my feet firmly planted."

BWF (before we forget): Groove on Kenny Lattimore on the Web @ www.kennylattimore.com.

The mutual admiration club of Jim Lauderdale and Buddy Miller

(Sept. 7, 1995)

Jim Lauderdale can't say enough good things about Buddy Miller, and vice versa.

It seems like only yesterday - actually it was 1980 - when two struggling singer-songwriters first met at a country music club in New York City. Today, both remain uncompromising and fiercely independent but also commercially accessible with their own albums - Lauderdale's second Atlantic LP, "Every Second Counts," was released Sept. 5, and Miller's HighTone debut, "Your Love and Other Lies," was issued earlier this summer.

"I used to go see Buddy play at a club called City Limits," Lauderdale said recently. "I was kind of struggling and Buddy was kind enough every time I'd come to hear him. He'd always say, 'You want to come up and sing a couple?' To me, that meant a lot."

Miller said he felt an immediate kinship with Lauderdale.

"He had deep roots in bluegrass and the blues, and both still come across in his singing and writing," he said.

While Miller carved his own niche on the club circuit in San Francisco, Austin, Los Angeles and eventually Nashville, Lauderdale finally came into his own with his Rodney Crowell-produced debut album "Planet of Love" (on Reprise) in 1991. By then, he was establishing himself as a go-to songwriter for other artists. George Strait and Mary Chapin Carpenter, among others, have recorded his songs.

Through it all, Lauderdale never forgot Miller's friendship. They maintained a writing partnership and Miller has contributed vocals and guitar work on Lauderdale's albums.

"Playing guitar with Jim over the last seven years has been a real treat," Miller said. "He allows a considerable amount of creative freedom but at the same time knowing very specifically what he wants to communicate to an audience.

"He is the nicest guy to work and travel with and has been a real creative inspiration and has helped me with my own music."

No one is more proud of Miller's accomplishments than Lauderdale. Miller's long-overdue debut album is as unpretentious and genuine as you will find in the blossoming Americana genre. Recorded mostly in his Nashville living room, Miller's "Your Love and Other Lies" features such guests as Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, Dan Penn, Miller's wife Julie, and of course, Lauderdale.

"They broke the mold with him," Lauderdale said of Miller. "First off, more importantly as a human being, he's so generous, sweet and kind, gracious and everything. And then as a musician, he's a monster as a singer.

"I'm so proud of him right now because people don't realize what a great singer he is. When he's touring with me, they hear a lot of great harmony singing from him, but he's also a great guitar player."

Lauderdale's "Every Second Counts" could well be the one that takes him from just being a critics' choice to well-deserved mainstream success. A recent stint opening for Hootie & The Blowfish sure didn't hurt matters.

"That was great," Lauderdale said. "I really enjoyed that. I got to use a whole band. Donald (Lindley) played with me on drums. I got a couple of guys from Radney Foster's band. It was great to play in a packed room, packed to the walls. Their crowd was really receptive to me.

"Hootie, those guys actually love country. Darius (Rucker) was telling me that one of his favorite artists was Nanci Griffith, which I thought was real interesting."

Miller looks back on his 15-year alliance with Lauderdale with nothing but fond memories.

"He's always thinking about songs and always has a little cassette recorder with him, singing stuff into it all times of day or night," he said. "He works real hard on his music, but he's not as concerned about making 'hits' as he is with just making great music ... which is real refreshing in this business."

All the hard work has been worth it, Lauderdale said.

"Who knows what will happen with this record," he said. "This is a building process, then along the way you discover what's really important anyway.

"It's not how many records you sell, it's 'Are you happy with it and what did you learn from it?'

"I'm very happy and I've learned quite a deal."

Caroline Lavelle has the 'Spirit'

(March 14, 1996)

On a recent promotion tour in New York City, British singer-cellist Caroline Lavelle was taken aback by U.S. reaction to her ambient-pop album "Spirit" (Discovery/N-Gram).

"I think Americans are a lot more outspoken than English people," Lavelle said, "and it's lovely. I think I could come and live here. Everyone is enthusiastic, and it's gone over really well."

Produced by William Orbit, "Spirit" would fit well in a pop collection alongside Enya, Annie Lennox and Jane Siberry. Tracks like the atmospheric "Turning Ground" and a bold remake of Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You" are thoughtful and infectious and fortunately not blanketed in overly textured, intrusive techno-wizardry.

Enya is the comparison Lavelle hears the most, but she tries not to let it bother her.

"I can't see it at all, myself," she said. "It's funny, the other day I did an interview and somebody said, 'Before I heard it, people told me it was a bit Celtic and a bit Enya, but that's not the impression I get.' I was elated."

Lavelle made her mark playing cello for such artists as Peter Gabriel, the Cranberries, Siouxsie & the Banshees and the Waterboys. Prior to that, she had taken vocal lessons from George Michael's teacher, but she put that to the side in pursuit of orchestral success.

"At first, my voice was very pure and it sounded almost like a boy," Lavelle said. "I just used a technique I learned and I would practice every day with my own songs, in my kind of singing, then my voice stayed how I like it, which is slightly hairy."

Now she has turned into more of a singer than a cello player.

"What happened with this album," Lavelle said, "I met up with William down at Peter Gabriel's Real World studios and he had heard a thing I had done, almost by mistake, with Massive Attack and he absolutely loved it and he asked if I wanted to do an album. He pursued the idea and I'm very glad he did."

Julian Lennon beams over 'Photograph Smile'

(March 7, 1999)

Most artists would be sweating profusely, pulling their hair out and helping therapists pay their children's way through college if they went eight years between albums.

Not Julian Lennon. He says it was the best thing he ever did.

"For one thing, a lot of people don't realize what went on with my career, especially after the first album ('Valotte' in 1984)," Lennon said recently. "It was totally manipulated by the record company (Atlantic) and management; there were moments of me that I felt was good, but for the whole part, it was definitely a situation where - the second album ('The Secret Value of Daydreaming'), in particular - I felt my demise and I 100 percent blame the record company for that.

"I was just coming off my first world tour and was told to get straight back into the studio and write a hit album. I said, 'You've got to be kidding. No. 1, I'd like a little time to breathe, and No. 2, let me get back into writing the way I've always done, which is naturally.' I've never done it with a time clock before. That's not the way it works with me. So, being contractually obligated, I had to fulfill.

"The second album, to me, is such an important album; it needed to be if not as good as the first then much better. To be put in that position, with no control, and to come out with what felt like a bunch of bad demos to me, for me after all that it was like playing catch-up. I was trying to regain what I had with the first album, and unfortunately, it was under time clocks and a lot of pressure and experimenting publicly rather than doing it naturally at home and then decide which songs are best."

By his fourth album, "Help Yourself" in 1991, Lennon had enough.

"After 10 years of doing the same thing on the music-industry treadmill," he said, "I just said, 'I'm not happy anymore, this is not the way I thought it was going to be and I think it should've and could've turned out a lot differently.' I said, 'That's it. I'm out.'

"It literally took me about five years, if not more, to be released from the contract that I was tied to. In that time, I wasn't sure what I was going to do, and I certainly decided that if I was going to do this again, then I'd want control. I didn't start writing again till a few years ago, and I was just doing it for the sake of writing and to challenge myself, to prove my own self-worth. One thing led to another, before I knew it, I had enough material for two or three albums."

An old friend, producer Bob Rose (Roy Orbison, Edie Brickell, Gene Loves Jezebel), further eased Lennon back from his self-imposed exile. He convinced Lennon to take his intensely personal songs of life, love and trust into the studio. There would be no timetables, no pressure, no high expectations, no demands, no compromising musically.

Several months later, Lennon finished the best album of his career, "Photograph Smile," a shining throwback to rich Beatles-era melodies and reflective lyrics. He started his own label, Music From Another Room, and released the album to rave reviews last year in his native England; he then concentrated on the Far East and Australia, and finally it was issued Feb. 23 in North America via Fuel 2000/Universal. Radio is buzzing for the first single, "Day After Day," its accompanying video already receiving airplay on VH1.

"Photograph Smile" is "my baby," Lennon said, and he couldn't be happier with the critical and public praise.

"Doing this myself, this was the only I could see us going here," he said. "Since I would be making all the decisions, at least when I wake up in the morning and look myself in the mirror and because I believe in the project, I'm not going to stab myself in the back. At least this way I would be doing things truthfully and honestly and if people picked up on that vibe and saw that's where I'm coming from, that this is the real Jules, then anything after releasing the album was a bonus."

Lennon readily acknowledges drawing from his late father John's solo and Beatles work for inspiration. Tracks like "I Don't Wanna Know" and "How Many Times" wax poetically atop an arrangement of wafting retro-pop melodies.

"The kind of songs I write are very close to home, they're very honest and truthful and raw and emotional," Lennon said. "They go into great detail about relationships and provoke people into thinking about their own lives, and in order to do that, in the studio you have to let the songs speak to you about their production. More often than not, it was very much keeping it natural as possible, using the natural ambiance of the rooms, using different miking techniques which people like Phil Spector had discovered years ago, that depending on where you put a microphone, in front of or behind or around, under and above, can make a difference.

"Rather than using all the digital stuff that had been so common in the '80s, it was nice to get back to the basics of what it was all about, which is the songs and the music itself and not about the fancy production and keeping up with today's trends. The songs that have survived over the years, it's been about the songs. So, I thought, I didn't want to screw around with this. For this album, I needed to have that consistency, that thread of a natural experience. That, without a doubt, hearkens back to the days when that's all they had, microphones and lots of room."

One of the album's highlights, "Crucified," even mines the Indian-influenced music of Led Zeppelin.

"Zep has always been one of my favorite bands," Lennon said. "They may quite possibly be the most underrated band, unfortunately. My god, between Page and Plant, they did some phenomenal work. To have an opportunity to delve into slightly different areas but using full orchestration rather than keyboards was great for me."

Lennon has high hopes for the album and a major U.S. tour beginning in April through August.

"I think it's going to do well, I truly do," he said, "because I do believe in the album a great deal. Without being modest, I think it's some really good work, if not great at times, and I think it offers a lot in regards to what else is out there. There's still a niche for what I do, the music I write.

"One of the ideas I had was not to come into America with blazing guns; I didn't want it to be splashy and maybe have a hit and then fuck off right out of there. That's why it was important for me to establish myself in other territories first. I've been fortunate enough to have the best reviews of my career and thank god it happened with this album, because it's now like sticking my finger up at Atlantic and everybody else."

THE FIRST RECORD I EVER BOUGHT: "The first I remember saving my pocket money for and buying was 'Black Betty' (by Ram Jam). I heard that when I was a kid and thought, 'Man, that's so cool.' It was a big hit in England; everybody had the bloody single. It was rude not to."

THE FIRST CONCERT I EVER WENT TO: "I believe it was Rush, and they were playing about 30 minutes away. It was the night before I was supposed to take my O-level exams. I climbed out my bedroom window and snuck out to the show and was right up front yelling, 'Rush! Rush!' The next day, I couldn't remember anything about what I was supposed to study for."

BWF (before we forget): Smile along with Julian Lennon on the Web @ www.julianlennon.com and www.msopr.com. ... The Julian Lennon album discography - "Valotte" (Atlantic, 1984); "The Secret Value of Daydreaming" (1986); "Mr. Jordan" (1989); "Help Yourself" (1991); "Photograph Smile" (Fuel 2000/Universal, 1999).

Letters To Cleo dispatches another winner

(July 13, 1995)

Letters To Cleo lead singer Kay Hanley is easily amused. The Boston-based alternative pop band is in Raleigh, N.C., and the venue - hallelujah! - has four pool tables.

"I am one happy camper," Hanley said recently, muzzling the phone briefly to shout to guitarist Michael Eisenstein: "Hey, let's play some pool after the sound check!"

This camaraderie may not seem like much, but it is a big step for Letters To Cleo. At one point, long before becoming the new darlings of the modern-rock world with the hit "Here & Now" and its CherryDisc/Giant debut album "Aurora Gory Alice," the quintet was "this close" to packing it in.

"I had already started a new band and we had circled a date in the datebook for our last show as Letters To Cleo," said Hanley, who falls short of naming the culprit for the group's discontent during the recording of "Aurora Gory Alice."

All she will say is when bassist Scott Riebling replaced the "negative member," the difference was like night and day.

"When Scott joined, it was a cause for celebration," Hanley said. "We finally felt like a band. Before that, there had been so many forces working against us. We weren't getting along. Then with this tiny little change, our whole attitude changed."

From there, everything fell into place. After "Aurora Gory Alice" was issued on local indie CherryDisc in late 1993, Giant Records caught wind of it, signed the band to a deal and agreed to rerelease it. Before they knew it, Letters To Cleo had a chart hit with "Here & Now" (which also figured prominently in the TV soundtrack for "Melrose Place") and the accompanying video was an MTV Buzz Bin clip.

"It was all shocking, absolutely shocking," Hanley said of the reaction. "Before all this, we were in the studio making a new record, putting down the basics in L.A., when I heard 'Here & Now' on KROQ. Then the next thing we know, we're on MTV.

"Then we went back on tour, going out to make a last-ditch attempt to get our name out there. But instead of playing for three people in a smoke-filled club, it was 500 in a jam-packed place. It was completely crazy but not at all unpleasant." Not ones to rest on their laurels, Letters To Cleo mails out its follow-up album, "Wholesale Meats & Fish," on Aug. 1. From the opening track, "Demon Rock," to the wispy closer "I Could Sleep (The Wuss Song)," the new LP finds the group in a more upbeat light.

And as for that album title ...

"The reason we picked it was because it's very open to interpretation," Hanley said. "It can mean anything. But actually the title came from a sign we saw on the Bronx Causeway in New York. It was a hot summer day and we were punch drunk from being on the road, with a hole in the floor board on the van. We were breathing exhaust fumes the whole way, and then we saw 'Wholesale Meats & Fish' in big, bold letters on the side of a building. I'll never forget the image."

BWF (before we forget): The band's third album, "Go!," was released in October 1998. ... Open Letters to Cleo on the Web @ www.letterstocleo.com.