I'll always love Hall & Oates' 1978 release "Along The Red Ledge" even though it has its flaws, one of which is a lack of detailed information about the musicians on the record.
The credits read Robert Fripp, Rick Nielsen, Todd Rundgren, Dick Wagner, Les Thompson, Steve Lukather and George Harrison. But it does not mention who plays what and where.
I guess it isn't all that difficult. "Don't Blame It On Love" is full of Frippertronics and the brilliant harmonica solo in "August Day" is just too good to be Daryl Hall, so it must be Les Thompson.
Can we assume the slide guitar on "The Last Time" is George Harrrison? And how the hell did George Harrison end up on a Hall & Oates record?
Fripp produced Daryl Hall. Rundgren produced Hall & Oates. Dick Wagner and Steve Lukather play wth everybody. But George Harrison? And Rick Nielsen? Where is the Cheap Trick connection? On a recent Live From Daryl's House with Cheap Trick, Daryl only mentions being old friends with the band. I guess anything is possible, but I'd still like to know what track Rick Nielsen is playing on. And what about Rundgren? I don't hear his voice or guitar.
If anyone out there has specifics, please share. I finally thought about asking after 43 years.
12 comments:
John looks unchanged;Daryl looks twelve years old! :-)
Great questions, I've wondered too. What a terrific record - pre-big-fame.
Growing up the the Philadelphia area in the 70s, you can bet i heard a ton of H&O, but i was a huge Cheap Trick fan whilst in high school in '78, so that was all it took for me to buy it, but yeah, i don't remember any specific 'Rick Nielsen' guitar sounds on the album....
Sorry, absolutely no idea, mate. Now you've mentioned Hall & Oates here's an admittedly tenuous and completely irrelevant tale: at the end of a coastal footpath I'd hiked along two weeks ago was a waste bin for refuse and dogs' poop bags. On the roof of the bin were two cassette tapes (remember them?) and as the rain I'd enjoyed all walk had finally passed, I stopped to investigate. Both cassettes were drenched by the rain; the ink had run on the handwritten inlay of one so it was illegible, while the other was the retail version of Hall & Oates's (wait for it) H2O. Can you see how that may have tickled me - H2O/soaked in rainwater? I know, must increase my medication. Cheers anyway!
Cheap Trick backed Lennon on Double Fantasy. Rick Neilson was a session player in the late 60s and early 70s as well.
Good connection, ANON. But the H&O record predates the Lennon. And as much as I love Rick Nielsen, I can't think of too many (none, actually) records I own with Rick as a session player. It is a weird and unexpected group of players in one place and still very annoying that there are no specifics.
Just on a demo version of "I'm Losing You" Jack Douglas wanted them to back him for the whole session.
You got me wondering about that too, Sal. I was browsing around the web and found an old chat forum (stevehoffman.tv) that had a thread about this album. One poster mentioned that Rick played on Alley Katz. Not verified and the poster did not offer up any proof, but I thought to share.
The post is worth it just for this line: "I finally thought about asking after 43 years."
Rick Nielsen's Wikipedia page claims he played on "Alley Katz" but its source is an All Music bio and that actually just names the Hall & Oates album Along The Red Ledge and not the song. It also says: "Nielsen also found time to lend his guitar talents to albums by others, including Gene Simmons' 1978 solo album, Alice Cooper's From the Inside, Hall & Oates' Along the Red Ledge, Screaming Lord Sutch's Alive & Well." So not a huge list of possibilities for studio work. They were too busy touring.
Per a Chris Hunter cover story in Uncut in December 2005 about the recording of my favorite John Lennon album Double Fantasy (just edging Plastic Ono Band w nothing else nearly as good), it does say both Nielsen and Bun E. Carlos played on the sessions briefly, specifically on John's "I'm Losing You" and Ono's "I'm Moving On." Not sure they should be called demos. John and Yoko recorded demos, then they brought in producer Jack Douglas and he per John's instructions brought in session musicians including those two. However, their contributions were shelved once recording continued with others and Lennon and Ono proved happier with later stabs at the songs.
Definitely Fripp on "Don't Blame It On Love" - he might even be doing all or part of the solo, although some parts sound like Lukather to me.
I think Nielsen could be doing rhythm guitar and/or background vocals on the same song. It's got his tight power-chord thing going throughout, and the accent vocals at the very end sound a lot like Nielsen, IMO.
That David Foster production, though: Ugh. Not so bad on "Don't Blame It On Love" but the other two tracks are just lousy with it.
I’m watching Cheap Trick on Live at Daryl’s House. Early on, Rick says that he played on Alley Katz, which matches the wiki page Michael Glitz noted.
- Paul in DK
Well I've watched that LFDH/CT show twice and missed that bit of info both times.
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