ROB MULLINS BAND-RED SHOES 1982
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Full Rob Mullins Solo/Band
Discography available here (42 albums).
Band Project-1981-1982
RME Records
TRACK LIST
1. Laughing Man
2. Red Shoes
3. Morning Rain
4. Reunion
5. Suntan Lotion
6. Nukes Along the
Rockies
7. Chin Ups
8. Jesus, Mary, and
Irving
Rob Mullins-piano,
keyboards
Marty Ruddy, bass
Laura Newman-sax
John Merola-drums
Recorded at
American Recording Studios, Denver, CO 1981, released in 1982
on Flying Piano Records
Engineered by Dan Diamond and Steve Avedis
Produced by Rob Mullins
All songs composed by Rob Mullins except
Laughing Man (Mullins/Newman)
and Red Shoes (Mullins/Ruddy).
Copyright 1982-2023 Rob Mullins
Entertainment. Songs published through Rob Mullins Publishing
(BMI).
Description: High Energy Band CD
with great songs and sax playing. Title track one of the first
original hip hop instrumentals.
All Rights Reserved.
NOTES by Rob Mullins
I remember this particular version of my
band well.
Laura Newman was the sax player. She is
still around Denver doing stuff.
Marty Ruddy was the bass player. An amazing
talent with a very unique bass sound. Marty passed away in 1996.
John Merola was the drummer.
Songs:
1. Laughing Man
We were really a struggling band at the time
this project was recorded. I was living in Denver, and the work
there had dried up. We
were commuting to New Mexico (!) a couple of
times a month just to make ends meet. Many of the songs on this
CD had something to do with stuff that happened to us while we
were on the road down there. This song was about a guy who used
to come to our gigs and just sit there and laugh.
2. Red Shoes
Marty, our bass player, was the ultimate in
cool. His personal style was a trademark of my band. He was
always wearing some trippy kind of shoes to our gigs. When I
came up with the songs to this CD, he was wearing red shoes to
the rehearsal and I thought, hmmm...that would be a cool title
for the CD and the tune we were working on. We knew it would
look better having women's shoes on the cover.
3. Morning Rain
This was Marty's feature tune on the gig. He
was a pioneer in the use of harmonics and open string work. Jaco
was doing a lot of cool stuff on the bass that was new for that
time and Marty was copping all of it and adding his own thing to
it as well. This song really wails when Laura comes in in the
middle of the tune.
4. Reunion
This song was one I wrote about some cool
guys I knew back in Denver- Joe Anderies, Bob Newnam, and Jeff
Urhlaub. These guys were from Grand Junction, and we put a band
together with Dave Randon and took it to Grand Junction for some
gigs. This tune was about them.
5. Suntan Lotion
This tune, and Chin Ups from this same
project were about a wonderful girl I met in New Mexico while on
the road down there. Pity, I have forgotten her name by now.
6. Chin Ups-see above.
7. Nukes Along the Rockies
I always laugh when I hear this song and think about it. Colorado during those days was a big new age spawning ground, especially in Boulder where Marty lived. At the same time, the US Air Force has a huge base by Colorado Springs called Norad which is one of the major targets on any other superpowers' list as one of the first places to take out should there be a WW III. The melody line reflects the interesting ideas I had picked up while studying with George Russell in New York.
8. Jesus, Mary, and Irving
This was a good closer, and reminds me of
that song that they play at the end of Saturday Night Live.
Laura's high notes at the end were spectacular for the time on
alto. Now, I listen to Greg Vail play them on the tenor when we
do this tune, and also Jimmy Roberts when he's in the group.
THOUGHTS
It just dawned on me this year that this
album is 40 years old. What I am most proud of on this
album is that the music still sounds very good after this length
of time which is always the test of any project. The title track
was one of the first original Hip Hop grooves...created around
the time a lot of the current hip hop artists were being born.
Go figure. I still play these tunes at my gigs, and people still
go crazy over them. Its one of my favorite albums I've done and
really has the 80's FUSION Vibe going on.
NOTE: Every LP or CD you may purchase is either used, illegal,
or both. No legal copies have been made of this music in those
formats for more than 20 years.
So if you choose to get them, I make zero. Please support me by
streaming this project and at least I'll get a few pennies down
the road.
Site contents copyright
1996-2023
rob mullins publishing
(bmi)
all rights reserved.