The Record Plant Masters by Alex Kash

Guest artists on this CD include Lenny Pickett (from Tower Of Power and Saturday Night Live) on Tenor Sax, Pat Thrall (from Meat Loaf, The Go Project and Pat Travers) on Guitar and Bass, Preston Thrall (from the Greg Allman Band and The East Bay All Stars) on Drums, Corrado Rustici (from Narada Michael Walden and Zucchero) on Guitar, Nate Ginsberg (from Graham Central Station, Todd Rundgren, Steve Miller, Freddie Fender, Norton Buffalo, Del Shannon and Mary Wells)on Piano, and Cory Lerios (from Pablo Cruise) on Hammond B-3 organ. There are a lot of moods and dynamics on this album. It is easy and fun to listen to. I know, I've been listening for 30 years, and I'm still not tired of it.

I started recording at the Record Plant while I was a member of a band called ‘Fever’. A recording engineer named Chris Morris worked at several studios in Los Angeles, and liked the band, so we did some recording down there, and when Chris moved to Sausalito, we continued to work with him. Through Chris, we met Chief engineer Tom Flye, who developed an interest and worked with us as well. ‘Like No Tomorrow’, ‘Searchin’ and ‘It Drove Me Crazy’ are 3 good examples of the direction of that band, and the invaluable assistance of Chris and Tom. My songwriting partnership, and lessons in Jazz theory with Ralph Perucci, a fellow guitarist and singer in 'Fever', opened a lot of doors (and windows) for me. When I left that band, I called the studio and, because of my interest in the art of recording, asked for a job as assistant engineer. Amazingly, they had an immediate opening, and I started a few days later. I worked there on staff for about 4 years, made a lot of great records, learned a lot, and then quit and worked there occasionally as an independant engineer. While I worked at Record Plant, I worked on side projects with Pat and Preston Thrall and Brian Godula. ‘Materialize’, ‘I Stand Alone’, ‘Man In The Middle’, ‘Mass Confusion’ and ‘Never Say No’ are all examples of that work. The song ‘Lucky’ was brought to me by Gil Watkins, who is amazing at bringing people together and making them feel at home. ‘Just Ain’t So’ is a song recorded by a band I was in for a brief time after leaving the Record Plant, called ‘Aqua’. There are 12 more masters from this period than are on this album, but they just would not fit on a single CD. Maybe there’s a sequel, a volume 2. Time will tell... -Alex Kash

Credit where Due Department: On ‘Materialize’ and ‘Exception To The Rule’: Preston Thrall; Drums, Brian Godula; Bass, Pat Thrall and myself; guitars. On ‘Lucky’: Preston Thrall; Drums, Brian Godula; Bass, David Vogel; Piano, Pat Thrall; Elec. Guitar, myself; Ac. Guitar, Judy Tousseau; vocals, Lenny Pickett; Tenor Sax. On ‘Man In The Middle’: Preston Thrall: Drums, Brian Godula: Bass, Pat Thrall; Guitars. On ‘I Stand Alone’: Preston Thrall: Drums, Pat Thrall; bass, elec. guitar and Synth Guitar, myself on Elec. Guitar. On ‘Searchin’: Ian Thompson: Drums, myself on B3 organ, Ralph Perucci; Bass, Elec. Guitar and vocals, Michael Berman; Elec. Guitar, Daryl Lewandowski: Elec. Piano and Synthesizers. On ‘Mass Confusion’: Preston Thrall; Drums, Brian Godula: Bass, Pat Thrall: Elec. Guitars. On ‘Peace Of Mind’: Preston Thrall: Drums, myself on Bass, Nate Ginsberg on Piano. On ‘Summertime’: myself on Bass and Elec. Guitar, Nate Ginsberg; Piano. On ‘It Drove Me Crazy’: Ian Thompson; Drums, myself on Bass, Ralph Perucci and Michael Berman; Elec. Guitars, Daryl Lewandowski; Elec. Piano and Synthesizers. On ‘Tore It Apart’: Preston Thrall; Drums, myself on Bass and Piano, Cory Lerios; Hammond B-3 Organ, Judy Tousseau; vocals. On ‘Just Ain’t So’: George Francis: Drums, Brian Godula; Bass, myself on Elec. Guitar, Corrado Rustici; Elec. Guitar and Solo. On ‘Like There’s No Tomorrow’: Ian Thompson: Drums, myself on Bass, Ralph Perucci, Mike Berman; and John Hug; Elec. Guitars, Daryl Lewandowski; Elec. Piano and Synthesizers. On ‘Never Say No’: Preston Thrall; Drums, Brian Godula; Bass, David Vogel; Piano, Pat Thrall; Elec. Guitar, myself on Ac. Guitar.

A Special Thanks to: all of the musicians who played a part in the making of this beautiful music, to Tom Flye, Chris Morris and Rick Sanchez for your help in engineering, to Tom Flye for production assistance and mentoring, to Nina Bombardier, Chris Stone, and Laurie Nicochia for the gift of time in the studio, to Gil Watkins for permission to use ‘Lucky’, to Etra Peterson for all of the great photographs, to Bethany and David, and to my council fire.

Average Customer Review: