As told to the Awizard and Beyond Awiz lists
by Mark "Moogy" Klingman...
Part 10
2/21/00
Going thru the old tapes I came upon a few big discoveries. Todd R. - at my house in around 1970-69? - It was after the Nazz but before any solo albums, - He taped a few songs on my home reel to reel. First song is me on the piano and Todd singing a song of mine that he wanted to record - It was called "Just to be There". And he sings it pretty well. But he never recorded it with a band. I recorded it on my 1st album but it didn't make the final cut. Brethren (with Tommy Cosgrove and Stu Woods) recorded "Just to be There" on their first album on Tiffany records.
The best story about "Just to be There" is a true story. I swear. Some months after Janis Joplin's death, I was with Sam Gorden, the head of Albert Grossman's publishing company (they handled Todd, me and Janis Joplin), and he told me what a shame it was that Joplin died when she died. "She died in the middle of recording an album" Gorden told me. "And the day they found her body in the hotel, that was the day she was going to record "Just to be There'. You know, Moogy, Joplin had rehearsed the song with her band and loved it."
The song was about looking back on the good ole' days.
The chorus went -
"Just to be there, once again, with a bottle of whiskey and an ole friend. Will it ever be that way again?"
A true story. I think that since the chorus had that line about drinking whiskey, Janis probably identified with it.
Next, TR hits the piano and sings a song he wrote that was supposed to be for a Libby Titus album (that never came out, as far as I know) - It's a ballad and the chorus goes "You used to make me lonely, now you only make me sad". Has anyone ever heard this song. I know it's not on any of his solo or Utopia albums. Is there a Libby Titus album with this song? Anyone know anything?
Next, TR does a song on the guitar with a chorus that goes "Take the hand that reaching, you'll find a heart that's...." Anybody know the song?? Was it ever recorded?
Finally, I just got a tape of the Moogy Klingman Review live at Max's Kansas City in NYC. Spring of 1974, between Utopia tours - the review featured me - Schuckett, Siegler, and Ellman, with John Lissaur on horns, Googie Capolla on additional vocals and Andy Kaufman on comedy and conga.It was a five nite stand. Luckily, this was the nite that Todd Rundgren came down and sat in with us on a few songs. We do my song "Do the Slop" (it's on "Old Times - Good times) and then I give Todd an intro and he does "Freak Parade" and my section of the Ikon "The Conquering of the West" with the band - and then I introduce Andy Kaufman, who does a funny comedy bit starting sweet and ending as a Tony Clifton type- then the band does "Sister Bessie" with googie sings and ends with the "Night in New Orleans" mini - opera.
So six degrees of separation came together here - from TR to Andy Kaufman both onstage in succession. And now documented.
Moogy
The Awiz list now comes to a screeching halt after 10+ years due to the constant posting by a list member of private communications including chat transcripts, in reference to an ill fated net-romance with another list member.
Capt. Cantankerous started a new list at onelist called Beyond Awiz. Most list members migrated over. It is here that our story continues....
4/11/00
[I guess it shows the spectrum of tastes here at awiz but to me Grand Funk represented the swamp that the glow of the 60s descended into - LSD revelations to PCP psychosis.]
Well, it's time to get credit - where credit is due. We would be hanging out at my loft - jamming and recording - Moogy and the Rhythm Kings and TR. Ralph Schuckett was my organ player at the time. And his friend, Lynn Goldsmith would come up to the loft to take pictures of the band and Todd, of course. Ralph had gone out with Lynn's sister, and that's how he met Lynn. Lynn was going out with a guy named Andy (I forget his last name) - he was managing "Grand Funk Railroad" at the time. Then Lynn got the idea - while hanging with all of us at the loft --- to introduce Todd to Andy, so Todd could produce Grand Funk. And that's just what happened.
So, though I didn't bring TR together with Grand Funk, myself........... without the Moogy link, TR woulda never met Ralph, and Lynn and............. oh, my god!! GFR!!!
They didn't record those hits at our studio - secret sound - they recorded them with Todd at their farm...... (Locomotion, American Band) - but they did mix those hits at secret sound. Todd at the board with the Grand Funkers wandering in at certain points. That was pretty amazing, too. Seeing TR mix "we're an American band" at our studio on his homemade console, with homemade everything, in that control room... and a few short months later....... the number one hit in America.
Moogy
4/17/00
[I have heard and seen Felix several times throughout the years and he still sings the shit outta everything...great pipes! Do you know the solo album Todd produced with him?]
Todd produced the Felix Cavilere album at our studio - secret sound. Todd actually took over production from Felix or someone else. The tracks and vocals had been cut. Todd hated the drum and bass sounds and overdubbed Kevin Ellman and John Seigler on every cut. Sometimes not very successfully. I mean, a wee bit out of sync. I joined Felix's band, between Utopia tours for some TV appearances to promote the album. We were on Don Kirshner's Rock concert and Midnite special. I even got a flashy synth solo on "funky Friday" - a dance number off Felix's album, where I got to do some of my Utopia moves.
The songs were weak, and Felix was blissed out on transcendental meditation. He smoked a pipe and wore Guru robes. Not a very energetic frontman on that tour or album. It bombed. Todd and I both loved Felix's songs and vocals with the Rascals, but even with our help, his first solo album zipped. It was on Bearsville, by the way. Anybody have it??
Moogy
4/21/00
[How did the "spaced out" middle of "I'm In The Clique" come about? Was it planned or was it a "studio created" fabrication (ala Zappa) that was assembled afterwards from different takes?]
Todd planned out the whole song in advance. I don't think he assembled different takes. He went with the best one.
[Were there ever different versions of "I'm In The Clique"? Or any other unused tunes like "Say No More?" In fact, can you tell us anything about the different versions of the Runt album? Why were songs removed & altered?]
Don't know the answer to these questions, but, in general, TR always used all material, he wrote and recorded for his records. Never any left over anything. Don't know the whys, about what was used and what was not. If TR had extra songs he just made the record longer, like AWATS, or added another record "Todd", S/A...... "Back to the Bars".
Moogy
4/22/00
[Hey, did you ever go out with any of the GTO's?]
I didn't - but in those early years, TR was living with a GTO for a little while. I always like her too. Miss........ I forget, but you guys must know her name. She was nice.
Moogy
4/22/00
[Who are the GTO's?]
Girls Together Outrageously - ex-groupies had a band on Frank Zappa's label.
Moogy
4/22/00
[Miss Christine (I could never tell which one was which). Miss Christine was one of the infamous GTO's.]
Miss Christine, - that's who TR lived with at his east 13th St. digs..... ( at least for a while) She was sweet. I think I read, many years back, that she died. Anybody know anything about that? I could be mistaken.
Moogy
4/22/00
[I bought the Felix album when it came out in '74, and bought the Jap import CD a few years ago. Thanks for the explanation on synching up the drums and bass tracks. I always wondered why Kevin was so horribly off in the song "Long Time Gone." Actually Todd left a couple of the rhythm tracks alone not utilizing Siegler and Ellman. One of the songs, "Summer In El Barrio" is one of the better songs on the album.]
I always though he shoulda either left the tracks alone, or recorded them from scratch. The drum and bass overdubs never really made it. Todd did it to improve the sound, but he lost the groove, ... which is just as important.
Moogy