What Toast has to give is an excursion into the world of music – one that I had never made before. Songs Like ‘Gateway’ and ‘How ya doin?’ possess a groove based in the history of the TOAST recording studio…… where Coltrane played many of his masterpieces, but it was also influenced by my previous tour. Returning from South America, the Horse brought that rhythm back to studio, continuing the quest for the finished TOAST album.
Eventually the album was finished at Toast studios, but i did not put it out at that time. That was a pretty big mistake for me. Toast had the groove. It should have come out. Instead, after spending so much time on it, i moved to another studio and recorded with Booker T, Duck Dunn and Steve Potts, along with Poncho Sampedro, doing many of the same songs again.
These songs were then well developed, having spent months writing and recording them with the horse at Toast studios during a tumultuous time for me, as is told in the lyrics. Possibly the songs had already had their ‘cherry’ moment. If I had put this out when it was made, it would have a had an effect on everything I did from then on – but that was not to be. When you hear Toast, I want you to know that it should have come out back in the early 2000s when it was made. I do think it is right up there with all the Crazy Horse records, at or near the top of the heap.
I put out ‘Are you Passionate?’ instead. It included many of the same songs, although my own performances are not as immediate as the Toast versions already were at the time. On songs like Quit, there is no comparison. So here is an album that should have been released when it was made, 20 years back now.
The picture included here is part pf the ‘behind the scenes’ Toast video, made for and coming exclusively to NYA members.
Thanks
ny