{"id":762,"date":"2012-04-25T05:02:08","date_gmt":"2012-04-25T10:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=762"},"modified":"2012-04-25T05:02:08","modified_gmt":"2012-04-25T10:02:08","slug":"jump-out-the-window-the-brotherhood-story-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2012\/04\/25\/jump-out-the-window-the-brotherhood-story-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Jump Out the Window: The Brotherhood Story (part 3)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Serialized Feature in Ten Parts:<\/em>
\n1<\/a> | 2<\/a> | 3<\/a> | 4<\/a> | 5<\/a> | 6<\/a> | 7<\/a> | 8<\/a> | 9<\/a> | 10<\/a><\/center>
\nContinued from Part Two<\/a>…<\/em><\/p>\n

The First Album <\/strong>\u201cAs it turned out,\u201d Phil grimaces, \u201cit took another eight months to finish the stinkin\u2019 album. Brotherhood had been getting way out, into too much production. We had that Sgt. Pepper<\/em> mentality. We had a hard time just scaling back and being a rock band. We sabotaged ourselves by being so eclectic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cRCA were very disenchanted with the fact that we went way over budget on the first album. They were thinking about $50,000 [about $310,000 in today\u2019s dollars], and we ran it up to $80,000. And they kept asking, \u2018When are you going to get this thing finished?\u2019\u201d Ernie Altschuler was the band\u2019s A&R contact at RCA Victor. Phil recalls, \u201cHe\u2019d come down and listen to something we\u2019d finished, and he\u2019d ask \u2018Why don\u2019t we put that<\/em> out as a single?\u2019 And we\u2019d say, \u2018No, we\u2019ve got another song we\u2019re going to record. It\u2019s gonna be even better.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Brotherhood <\/em>LP \u2013 released in May 1968 \u2014 opens with \u201cSomebody,\u201d one of the tracks started at Sound Recorders. A bluesy number with an almost\u2014reggae bit in the middle, the song features manic piano work from Ron Collins. Engineer Eirik \u201cThe Norwegian\u201d Wangberg was responsible for some of the innovative sonic effects on this and other tracks. \u201cWe don\u2019t know how he did it,\u201d Phil says.<\/p>\n

\tWritten on the final Raiders tour by Drake, Phil and Smitty, \u201cWoman Unkind\u201d features massed vocal overdubs and bright horn fills; it was also put down at Sound Recorders. \u201cWe had Stephen Stills\u2019 stamp of approval on that one,\u201d Phil notes with pride.<\/p>\n

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\u201cPastel Blue\u201d is a Drake Levin spotlight number, with a bossa nova, jazz crooner ambience. Phil recalls that this track was recorded separately (and before) the Brotherhood<\/em> sessions, and features Jim Gordon (later of Derek & the Dominos) on drums. \u201cIt was stuff like that,\u201d Phil observes, \u201cthat sabotaged our image.\u201d With the benefit of hindsight, he notes that \u201cWe needed to establish our name and sound before we did so much experimentation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHeeding \u2014 at least for the moment \u2013 Altschuler\u2019s concerns that the music being recorded was too far away from the Raiders\u2019 pop style, the riffy \u201cClose the Door\u201d moved things back in a rock direction. (In one of the odd sorts of cross-fertilization unique to the late sixties, a female vocal group called The Clinger Sisters would later use the instrumental track from this recording, overdubbing their vocals; their version doesn\u2019t seem to have ever been released, however.)<\/p>\n

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Phil recalls the LSD-influenced heavy waltz of \u201cDoin\u2019 the Right Thing (The Way)\u201d as the band\u2019s \u201cprotest song.\u201d The cut features Drake\u2019s sitar work, and Phil recalls that \u201cit\u2019s possible Ron Collins was missing in action on that session, because Smitty and I played Hammond organ together.\u201d He notes that the glissando effect was achieved by playing a clumsily de-fretted Hofner Club bass guitar.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cDrake had to do the National Guard thing,\u201d Phil recalls, \u201cso it was just Smitty and me to finish up tracks like \u2018Seasons.\u2019 In Drake\u2019s absence, Smitty got a chance to step up to the plate, to be a little more of a decision-maker.\u201d Musically, Phil describes \u201cSeasons\u201d as representative of Brotherhood\u2019s \u201ccore vibe,\u201d which he characterizes as himself plus Drake and Smitty, \u201call playing acoustic guitars together.\u201d The finished track features contribution from what Phil calls \u201ca gypsy cello player\u201d whose name has long since been forgotten. The song\u2019s elements come together to create something that wouldn\u2019t be completely out of place on The Velvet Underground & Nico<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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