Soulscape by Rob Mullins

Grammy Nominated Rob Mullins "Soulscape album

Soulscape-1985 Release
Rob Mullins

Features the hit songs "Making Love" and "Samba."
Now Streaming on Apple Music Amazon and SPOTIFY

Product Details

Streaming Digital Format (2005)

Original Vinyl Release Date: 1985

Catalog Number RMC-1005-LP

Personnel

Rob Mullins - Piano, Keyboards, Drums, Programming, Composer
Marty Ruddy, bass
Recorded 1984 at Daystar Studios, Denver CO
Producer: Rob Mullins
Engineer: Rob Mullins & Kirk Hutchinson
Mixed by Kevin Clock at Colorado Sound, Westminster, CO
Art Direction by Stacey Robertson
All songs are original compositions by Rob Mullins (BMI) (c) 1985-2023

01    Schroeder Meets Basie
02    Bay Wolf Blues
03    Soulscape
04    Celebrate the City
05    Making Love
06    Tobi's Theme
07    Samba
08    Julianne

This album ended up being my ticket to getting back to California where I've lived since it came out. The text and dedication on the original LP was as follows: "For those who dare to seek and speak the truth."

This album was my fifth album that I made when I was living in Denver in the early 80's. The first albums were "Dancing Through the Day" (1981), "Red Shoes" (1982), "Fired Up" (1983), "Geared for Running" (1984) and then this one.
The early 80's were filled with band drama and a lot of conflict over typical band stuff and I literally had to quit my own band during this time in order to take creative control over myself and my music. The first thing I did is just choose to feature the piano and stop using saxophone. I started writing the music while teaching 40 hours of lessons a week and playing a five nights a week gig.

After a few months went by, I had enough songs to start looking for a studio and my friend/fan Kirk Hutchinson offered his home studio as a place I could record since I didn't have the money to use a big studio. So every day for a few hours for about five months, I went over to Kirk's basement and worked on this stuff and recorded his great grand piano onto a Teac 8 Track reel to reel tape machine.
I basically did all of it myself including setting up the live drums and mics, programming the drum machine, and playing the piano parts on to the 8 Track Machine. MIDI had not been invented yet, so you can imagine how challenging it was to sync everything up. I could not do any overdubbing really and if there was something wrong with a take I would have to start all over again.

This was the first of my albums where I just played the drums live and a Linn Drum myself instead of using another person. I found it a lot easier to work out my ideas on my own without interference from others and the only thing I needed was a great bass player on most of the tunes. So I brought in Marty Ruddy, an excellent bassist from Boulder, CO who played a 5 string electric/acoustic bass that had just been invented. What a great sound he added! I did the horns and other keyboard stuff on a Roland Juno 106 keyboard and finished the recordings.

After that I went to a friend Kevin Clock who was just getting his studio Colorado Sound going and he mixed the project and did a wonderful job. He also had a sampler with some cool female voices on there and I added those onto the title track in the intro for the eerie FX at the beginning.

I was super happy about the results and then as always, the real work begins: artwork, manufacturing, mailings, phone calls (email not invented yet) and hoping for the best. NPR picked the album up and soon there were more than 50 stations playing the album around the world.

During this time, I got a call from a dear friend Mike Eldridge and he was calling from a pay phone at the Grammys in Los Angeles. "Rob" he said "they just read your name as nominated for a Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition right after they read Chick Corea's name." I was stunned and happy about this. I hadn't submitted anything to the Recording Academy and hardly knew anything other than a Grammy was a big deal. Later on when the winners were announced, I lost to Chick Corea but that's how I became Grammy Nominated-something that has always thrilled me to this day.

To choose cover art, I used to go to art galleries and bookstores and just look around at stuff. One day I saw a postcard with this great painting on it and I thought it would be great cover art. On the back of the postcard it said "Laura Shelton Seattle, WA." So I started the process of hunting this stranger down and eventually got her on the phone. I was in a rush to get her approval and I ended up playing her the whole album over the phone and she finally said yes, I would be allowed to use her art. The original is a fantastic painting titled "Coast Hiway" that is about 3'x5' and I have carried it around wherever I have lived for decades. It still is the perfect art and still makes me smile.

Now in 2023, I am a Voting Member of the Recording Academy and since "Soulscape" I've done another 37 albums or so. The era of the LP and Cassette, even the CD is long gone and I've not made any music in those formats for years. So, if you are tempted to go to Ebay and buy up my music as collectibles, just remember that I make not one penny from you doing that and in the words of Billy Joel "thanks for coming and buying this music-believe it or not, I need the money." Any recent or future manufacturing of this and my other albums is illegal and the reality of how sad it is that others steal my work is something I will never get used to.

I left Denver and moved to LA soon after this album came out and my journey into the mess of Hollywood began. But that's a story for another day and another album.
Hope you like this one. Fans still write me about this positive sounding joyous project and one guy calls it "packaged happiness."
All the best,