LINER
NOTES
FOR BEAVER & KRAUSE'S ALL GOOD MEN
By
Richie Unterberger
Over
the course of the four
albums they'd issued prior to 1972's All
Good Men, Paul Beaver and Bernie Krause had covered a great deal
of sonic territory. In addition to making some of the first use of the
then-new Moog synthesizer as a featured instrument, they'd incorporated
tapes of environmental sounds and placed their endeavors in contexts
ranging from blues and jazz to gospel. Each of the albums had been
quite different from its predecessor, and so was All Good Men. However, that's where
its similarity with previous Beaver and Krause records ended, for the
most part. For All Good Men
was a far more mainstream, vocal-oriented album than any of their
previous LPs, although both Beaver and Krause were still playing the
Moog.
Other musicians had
played
strong supporting roles on previous Beaver and Krause albums, and All Good Men included a cast of new
contributors. Arranging and conducting the record with Beaver and
Krause was Jimmie Haskell, who'd worked as an arranger for such pop
stars as Ricky Nelson, Glen Campbell, Simon & Garfunkel, Bobby
Darin, Dean Martin, and Bobbie Gentry. Krause, who had been a folk
musician in his early career (including a brief stint with the Weavers
in the early 1960s, and as part of a duo with Bonnie Dobson shortly
afterward), assumed vocal duties on "Looking Back Now," "Child of the
Morning Sun," and "Waltz Me Around Again Willie/Real Slow Drag." Taking
lead vocals on two cuts was Cris Williamson, now most known as a
leading figure in the women's music genre. Singing lead on the title
track, and writing three of the tracks with Krause, was Adrienne
Anderson, who as Krause remembers would have some input into the
direction of the record.
"Adrienne was writing stuff for Bette Midler and
Manilow," he says today. "She was local and married to a fellow who was
the local BMI rep in San Francisco. He happened to have an office down
the hall from ours and he introduced me to his wife. After Paul met
her, we thought it would be interesting to take a shot at including
vocals on an album."
The record was an odd mix of ragtime (with Scott
Joplin's "A Real Slow Drag" heard as both an opening track and a
closing reprise), early-'70s style singer-songwriter fare, and the kind
of Moog-paced compositions to which Beaver and Krause listeners were
most accustomed. Krause does not regard the album highly, asserting,
"We were all over the place on this album and it never should have been
released had we had our heads screwed on right. The only cut I like is
'Legend Days Are Over'" -- one which made imaginative use of looped
narration by the elderly Elizabeth Wilson, recorded in October 1971 at
Nez Perce Indian Reservation. As for how some of the other contributors
got involved, longtime friend Williamson "was local and we wanted a
great voice. Would have helped to have better material." Jimmie Haskell
"was asked, unfortunately. And did a chop-chop mediocre job on this
one." And the Scott Joplin cover "was one of those bad brainstorms that
occurs when an artist is distracted and trying to fill a canvas with
images regardless of whether they belong in the mix."
Bernie summarizes the results as "bad decisions all
around, mostly because of the weak material. We ended up hating it. So
did WB." In any case, the label would drop the duo after the LP.
"The scale was tipped when a fellow who was our copyright rep gave
[Warners executive] Joe Smith a ridiculously hard time over a couple of
thousand bucks related to a film that had used our stuff without prior
authority," Krause adds. "Joe offered one fee. Our erstwhile rep hit
him up with another. They never spoke to us again."
Although they were no longer with Warner Brothers,
Beaver and Krause continued to work together and were planning more
projects before his unexpected death in early 1975. "Paul and I were
working on an update of [their 1968 album] The Nonesuch Guide to Electronic Music
at the time of his death in January of 1975 and had just completed the
text," recalls Bernie. "I completed the music for the album and it was
released in 1979. Also, we had conceived of Citadels of Mystery, which was
written and recorded during the summer of 1975 and where I wrote most
of the music. Originally, it was due to be released on WB but, because
there was no contract, Takoma picked it up and released it (also in
1979). That album is now owned by Fantasy, which just re-released it in
2005."
Bernie Krause, of course, has gone on to a long,
esteemed career in the recording and archiving of natural soundscapes
from both terrestrial and marine habitats worldwide. The holder of a
Ph.D. degree in bio-acoustics, he has not only continued to release
numerous musical albums incorporating such environmental sounds, but
also create sound installations in museums, zoos, and other public
spaces. There's more information about his work in his autobiography, Into a Wild Sanctuary: A Life in Music
& Natural Sound (Heyday Books, 1998), and the website of his
Wild Sanctuary company (www.wildsanctuary.com), which provides natural
sound and media design services, and has one of the largest libraries
of wildlife sounds.
While he's long established a career independent of
his former partner, Bernie continues to honor the work he and Paul
Beaver did as collaborators. "We each inspired the other to deliver
insight to our respective strengths," he declares. "Paul's was the
technology and realization end of things. Mine was more conceptual.
Well-schooled musicians, we were also good friends and respectful
business partners. So, as we drew on the elements and experience each
of us brought to the partnership, our music reflected that harmony and
connection. Basically, I don't think either of us would have realized
the body of work we accomplished had it not been for the inspired help
of the other." -- Richie Unterberger
unless otherwise specified.
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