Posts Tagged ‘Bill Champlin’

  
Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

Popdose Contest: Bill Champlin Show and T-Shirts

by Ken Shane

Bill ChamplinOK, it’s time to have some fun — and win valuable prizes. One of our favorite artists, Bill Champlin, has graciously agreed to provide us with some cool stuff to give away, so we’re having a contest. The winner will get two tickets to any show on Bill’s West Coast tour, AND two tour t-shirts to remember the show by. The list of shows is below. We aren’t providing transportation, so please enter only if you can get to one of the venues, and let us know which show you want to go to.

In order to win, all you have to do is be the first person to e-mail me, ken, with the answer to the following question: Bill Champlin started a seminal San Francisco Bay Area band in the late ’60s, the Sons of Champlin. They were signed to Capitol Records. What was the name of the Sons of Champlin’s first album for Capitol, which was released in 1969?

Here are Bill Champlin’s tour dates. Remember, enter only if you have a reasonable expectation of being able to get to the venue on the date in question: (more…)

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Thursday, August 6th, 2009

CD Review: Bill Champlin, “No Place Left to Fall”

by Ken Shane

Bill Champlin - No Place Left To FallFirst an admission. Even though I am the New Music Editor for Popdose, I can be pretty old school. If you’ve been reading along, you already know that. There’s some really good new music coming out, but I have a soft spot in my heart not only for the older artists, but for the old way of doing things. I like real guitars, drums, and pianos. They’re doing amazing things with technology these days, but there’s no doubt that some of music’s soul has been lost in the process. Another issue I have is that so much new music is presented in hushed tones, per the “quiet is the new loud” movement. There’s a place for that, but I need an injection of good, upbeat rock and roll now and then as well.

I was happy when the new album by Bill Champlin came over my transom. Although Bill has been a member of Chicago since 1981, and has contributed songwriting, keyboard playing, and vocals to many of the band’s hits, I haven’t really been following Chicago, so I’ve pretty much missed that. My admiration for Bill goes back to the late ’60s when he fronted a San Francisco Bay-area jazz/funk band with horns called the Sons of Champlin. The band made several albums, but the one that sticks out for me was their wonderful debut album Loosen Up Naturally, which was released in 1969. It is pretty much solely on that album that Bill Champlin’s reputation rests with me. (more…)

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Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

The Popdose Interview: Bill Champlin

by Michael Fortes

Bill ChamplinBill Champlin has a lot to be happy about these days. He’s got a steady gig singing and playing keyboards with Chicago, a spot he’s held since 1982. His solo album No Place Left to Fall, released digitally last year, is finally seeing release as a physical CD this week. He has his first proper solo tour lined up for November along the West Coast. And he’s surrounded by amazing musicians, people he is all too eager to talk up and rave about. Champlin’s enthusiasm is positively infectious, which is something we all could use in this day and age. Not only was Bill generous with his copious good vibes we we phoned him for this interview last Tuesday, he delved into his distant past, at our request, to give us some perspective on the San Francisco music scene where he paid his dues in the Sons of Champlin before going on to co-write the Grammy Award-winning Earth Wind & Fire hit, “After the Love Has Gone,” and racking up further hits with Chicago (”Hard Habit to Break,” “Look Away,” “You’re Not Alone”) and playing on countless other sessions. All the while, Bill has maintained a healthy “other life” with his solo work and occasional Sons reunion gigs, and the benefits clearly come across in this interview.

I’ve really been a big fan since, you know, I guess since I started looking at credits on Chicago records. And I just remember being really, really jealous that I couldn’t come out here on the west coast when you reunited the Sons of Champlin. I was like, ‘oh man, what’s goin’ on here? Why can’t I go see the Sons?’ But now I’m in San Francisco and all is well.

Well, you know, we actually kinda kept doin’ that for about, I mean up until 2005 we’d do, at least once a year we’d do like a three or four week run of just at least weekends with the Sons. And after a while it just got to the point where we pretty much played out our welcome, know what I mean? (more…)

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Thursday, September 11th, 2008

Into the Ear of Madness: Week 15 — Hitman!

by Terje Fjelde

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Over the next year Terje Fjelde has agreed to listen to nothing but David Foster on his iPod. He’s loaded the thing with over 1,200 songs produced, arranged, composed, and/or played by David Foster. A deal with the devil? He keeps wondering.

Lee Ritenour – “If I’m Dreaming (Don’t Wake Me),” from Earth Run, 1986. Vocals: Phil Perry. Foster played keyboards and synth bass.

I bring excellent news, good friends! After nearly a lifetime in the music business, David Foster has decided to call it quits to write his autobiography. It’s long overdue — we’re finally getting Foster’s take on his own reputation as an all-powerful, evil mastermind of popular music, not to mention juicy details from his collaborations with thousands of artists and musicians over the years. I can’t wait to get behind the scenes of all those magnificent recording sessions that he participated in during the early ’80s — this is the real story of “yacht rock.” Unless, God forbid, he decides to focus on his marriages, his kids or the later parts of his career.

It’s due November 11 – just in time for the Christmas season. And he’s so modest: It’s called “Hitman: Forty Years Making Music, Topping the Charts, and Winning Grammys” and comes with an accompanying double CD with, let’s face it, very little punch — among the contributors are Babyface, Eric Benet, Andrea Bocelli, Michael Bublé, Peter Cetera, Charice, Celine Dion, Kenny G and… well, you get the idea. Boz Scaggs is on it, though.

The good news (for me) is that there will be no need to go on writing about David Foster here on Popdose come November 2008. Yes! Christopher Cross can finally reclaim my iPod. Cross has never collaborated with Foster, at least not to my knowledge. Bomb! And for God’s sake, don’t hit me with some Google search proving me wrong. I can’t take it anymore! (more…)

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Thursday, July 31st, 2008

Into the Ear of Madness: Week 9 — Bill, Dolly & Alice

by Terje Fjelde

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Over the next year Terje Fjelde has agreed to listen to nothing but David Foster on his iPod. He’s loaded the thing with over 1,200 songs produced, arranged, composed, and/or played by David Foster. A deal with the devil? He keeps wondering.

Are you bored? What can I say? My David Foster experience is a breeze. It’s fun. It’s educational. My posts so far are almost snark-free, I’m turning into a blind-eyed David Foster apologist a la the loyal hordes of Trent Reznor. Is this real, or is it a subliminal reaction to my unsound David Foster exposure? It’s too early to tell for sure, but you can rest assured I’ll be keeping a close eye on my condition, and keep you updated on any sign of mental decay.

Dolly Parton – “Here You Come Again,” from Here You Come Again (1977)

David Foster collaborated with Dolly Parton on several occasions, but this was probably their most important encounter. You may even say that a little bit of pop music history was made during the recording of this Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil song. Then again, you may not. Anyway, here’s David Foster in 1986:

I love that sound of the Rhodes and the piano together. We stumbled across that when we were doing “Here You Come Again” for Dolly Parton. Gary Klein was the producer, and I was playing keyboards. I don’t remember whether I started on the Rhodes or the acoustic, but after we got the track, I said, “Hey, why don’t try the exact same part again on the other piano?” I did it, and it was this very cool sound. That sound stuck with a lot of people for a few years.

I loved that sound, too. I still do, actually, but I’m embarrassed to admit it, so therefore I speak in the past tense. (more…)

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Wednesday, July 16th, 2008

Bottom Feeders: The Ass End of the ’80s, Part 16

by Dave Steed

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Last week I talked about “the Shrink,” the guy at the record show who thinks he knows everything about every artist that ever recorded. This week we move on to another one of my favorite characters: Mr. Random.

Mr. Random is the dude who comes into the twice-a-year record show with thousands of records in milk crates all around the floor and gets pissed off when the records aren’t in alphabetical order. I don’t expect everyone to be a hardcore collector like me, but it still makes me laugh when I see people get angry at randomness. Mr. Random was probably in his mid-40s or so and came in with his wife and two children. He immediately asked the seller, “Are these in any sort of order?” The seller told him that they were by genre only and that he was in the rock and pop section, with country, jazz, easy listening, etc., over on the far wall. After the seller walked away, Mr. Random started loudly complaining to his family: “How does he think anyone will buy any records if they aren’t in order?” Then he started flipping through the crates, you know, like ten records at a time, kind of looking in their general direction and feigning a bit of interest before walking away seemingly disgusted.

I really just wanted to answer his rhetorical question to his wife. “Who’s going to buy them? Well, pretty much everyone who comes here, sir, since you are clearly the only one that just stumbled across this record show. The rest of us are here because of the show, and I’m sure all of us don’t mind not having anything in order, and in fact most of us enjoy the fact that they are random because that’s part of the fun of the search.”

And yes, I completely realize that I sound like a record-show snob at this point, but I’m really not. Ninety-nine percent of the people that were at the record show were totally cool and, really, I couldn’t have cared less what they were doing or buying, but it’s the 1 percent that make for a good story.

NEW MUSIC FOR THE COLLECTION:
David Hasselhoff, Lonely Is the Night
Atlantic Starr, Brilliance
Jethro Tull, Under Wraps
Jethro Tull, Rock Island

More “C” artists to come as we try to keep up with the quality of last week’s songs with 20 more from the bottom of the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the ’80s.

(more…)

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