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A Peace of My Mind, Dale Ockerman Project
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Information on the album's guest performers coming soon. Here are Dale’s comments on the songs, lyrics and recording processes, song by song. Click here for more information on Dale Ockerman. 1. Cookie Jar I put this one up top- 'cause everyone seemed to like the groove and message so much.  Tucker's triple- tracked hi hat, and nasty kick drum propel it into a blissful state of the funk, egged on by Mic's horns, Donny's comping, and lots of excuses for Hammond licks or clav stabs. A little bit political / mythical, what  with Emrys' suggestion of King Midas' situation, a reflection on the darkness that lurks in all of us but seems to really be surfacing a lot lately with the powers- that- be. Will's vocal delivers the "jig is up" message- yet somehow resists judgment. 2. Intuitive My doctor, Josie, thought I'd enjoy a book called the "the Power of Now", so I read it, thinking, "well, she's right, there's no time like "now" to improve on the state of things". I was also reading "The Field" and "The Biology Of Transcendence", all three of these books I'd highly recommend to anyone, and the message of the tune is really simple, get real, get busy, life if too precious to waste in illusion. Dont be Hatin', be Co-operatin'! This line of thinking coincided with a groove and changes that I couldn't get out of my head at the time, the simple two note bass riff reminded me of Booker T. and the M.G.s, the high arpeggios and slide solo were no doubt influenced by my having learned every post- '66 Beatles song, for our White Album Ensemble performances. An intercontinental collusion of styles, mixolidian mania!  Mazella, Darnell, Will, and Margaret added that gospel vocal harmony texture that carried home Richard Bryant's oh-so soulful vocal delivery. Everybody was on the same page for that one! 3. Expect Your Miracle: I always liked the combination of gospel, rock and blues, When I heard the Clark Sisters do "Miracle" I knew I had to cover it, such a great song, sung so sweetly here by six tracks of Tammi Brown! Fuzzy John laid down his "Hey Children" Rhythm Dukes shuffle, Paul's bouncing bass parts, the horns, it's all too much! We all had a great time recording it, I can’t listen without breaking a smile. Thank you, Twinkie Clark! These lyrics are powerful medicine. 4. Only Hurt yourself This one combines some 70's lyrics I had, combined with a funky Jam with Zigaboo early this century. Dr John appeared to me in a dream and asked that I change it from the key of E to Eb, and do that little Rhodes part- who was I to argue? I guess I'll owe his dream image some royalties! Mike just stings that thing on the Tele, and Will's vocal makes me believe. Connie and Tammi ask so nicely- " If You Want To Be Free"- I must say Yeah! 5. Just Let Go A respectful nod to the Eastern perspective of things, based on musings regarding what really matters in life, helped out by Emrys Hanley with some of his trademark dynamite lyric lines, delivered so well by Richard. David, Donny, Paul lay down a disgusting groove to counter all that philosophical heaviosity! A fun excuse for some double- tracked slide guitar. Tamboura and Tibetan meditation bells widen the focus a bit, geographically. 6. Blues for Mother Nature: I was wondering what Howling Wolf would do, if he did a song about the environment, would it quote sad scientific data, or would he that he sing it as if it was about a woman, and how he'd miss her when she's gone, how fine she is... A 13 1/2 bar swampadelic blues. Whipped out my blues harp and truck dispatch mic to further the cause, backwards cymbals suggest waves "when you hear the ocean sigh". 7. Lucky Dave, Will and I go way back, to the band "Delta 9" and Mom's studio, with Elio Schiavo ( Mandolin, "Judgment Day"). I was listening to some blues standards, Billie Holiday, Percy Mayfield, and Harold Arlen songs, like "God Bless the Child", "Please Send Me Someone to Love", and "Somewhere over the Rainbow", when I came up with these chord changes, digging that sophisticated worldly bluesy thing- I wanted to write something from that era, thinking that old "They dont write them like they used to" line, but then I realized that people like Stevie Wonder, Donald Fagen, or Madeleine Peyroux still speak that language now. David's lyric concepts on the mysteries of what we call "Luck" were exactly what the doctor ordered to complete the thought. I borrowed some quantum physics for the chorus, and Will's "Can I be- lucky enough?" brings it all right back to earth. Mic's flugelhorn sounds like he was in an empty nightclub after closing time, blowing one last heartfelt solo- before putting it in the case as they put the chairs up. Cosmic Blues, forever! 8. Fish This is a tune written by Zigaboo and Joey Altruda, I used to play it live with Zigaboo, and was always so much fun, I had to cover it- so I cut it with him, then had Mic do the Horns. Those drum breaks are ferocious! Jerry Miller's guitar solo is so "Jerry Miller", no one plays that jazz-rock blues style like him, they broke the mold! Schermer's funky Telecaster rhythm is the perfect foil to that fat Gibson L-5. Like walkin' into a smoky club in NYC during the Blue Note Era, or at least that was the thought. 9. Flame Burning I'd started this one with my good friend  Ronnie Barnes, we had the chorus, but the words weren't done, Bud Cockrell ( he was lead singer- bassist of Pablo Cruise) came up with that great first line. A little later on, I was working with Cornelius Bumpus in the "Doobies"- when I suggested he finish the  verses, and sing it, then blow a tenor sax solo. He kindly obliged and asked, "should this be Personal Love as the topic, or Universal Love, like a Martin Luther King, Jr message?" You can see the direction taken, "Freedom for every Man"- Thank You Cornelius, We miss you- 10. Iguana in The sauna This is a fun little Rock instrumental that I wrote in '71, right after I played with Quicksilver, when I was playing with the IAM band. Players often thought the riff sounded like Earth ,Wind and Fire's "Shining Star" intro, but that was later, so we must have drank from the same funky well. Zig and Mic add new dimensions to this Meters- meet -Zeppelin jam. I always liked instrumentals, from "Walk on the Wild side" by Jimmy Smith, to "Green Onions" and all those great Booker T tunes, or "Frankenstein" by Edgar Winter. Never hear 'em anymore, so dusted this one off, and there it is! another excuse to play some slide. 11.Judgment Day (Badlands lullaby) This was an instrumental at one point, called "Sorcerer"- a sort of an imaginary western theme (to quote Jack Bruce) from an instrumental record I made that didn't quite "go plywood." A dear friend, Ken Matthew of the IAM band , was listening to it while driving thru the Badlands of South Dakota, while dark storm clouds gathered. In his mind's eye he saw and heard this whole story unfold, he wrote a bunch of great lyrics and got me reinspired to do something with the track. Davey sang it like he owned it, and when technical glitches trashed the kick and snare drum parts; Ken brought in some exotic hand drums and added them to Jimmy's cymbals.  Then Steve Robertson's tablas (which he just brought back from his sojourn to India) took it even further, so tamboura, dobro, rattlesnake shakers and of course, Elio Schiavo's lovely bluegrass mandolin mailed in from his Manhattan studio became essential tools in the telling of the tale. Someday we'll make the movie...( Deep Smoky Voice) a Scotsman, his Lakota Sioux bride, an evil Posse, false accusations and resulting conflicts, some itinerant traveling musicians from India and Italy, heading west when they unknowingly step into the Twilight Zone, and their fates intertwine. 12. Dont Be Givin' Up I'd had this one for a while, too, It used to have a lighter reggae feel, but when drummer Dave Tucker heard that intro riff, he locked onto that stompin' jungle beat, so I re- recorded everything but the vocal to match that new feel . Now the CD's most rockin' track. Lyrically an optimistic yet realistic perspective for when you've almost had enough of the world's wicked ways, when you are on the receiving end. These words snuck in during a low moment, and I sure appreciated wherever they came from! © 2005 Dale Ockerman