some vintage sexism in the liner note
full details of the supersessions, plus reminiscences from exec producer + musical director Moogy Klingman - no really that is his name.
"The album was never released in America and when it came here on import from England, it was on two different labels with different titles yet! - Clapton and Beck didn't use their real names. Eric was "King Cool" and Jeff was "A.N. Other". So the effect of the record initially was muted. But with time, it did develop a reputation as being the ultimate super-session album.... There I was, around 19 years old at the time and I just kind of stumbled into working with all these superstars. And in many instances, I wasn't just working with them, I was running the show. Telling people like Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton what to do..... It was almost an "Emperor's New Clothes" situation. At any moment someone could yell out "who the fuck are you, sonny, to tell us what to do?", but that never happened. Well, it almost happened a few times, but I knew when to back off....
"My group, the Glitterhouse, had just broken up. We had done two albums for Bob Crewe's label Dynovoice, including the soundtrack to the movie, "Barbarella". I was playing with a big Long Island band at the time called the Vagrants featuring Leslie West. And I was always jamming the blues at the clubs and lofts around town til the wee hours, so I was pretty precocious. I tried to meet and hang and jam with many of best rock and blues musicians around then. I guess I was too young to know any better....
"... Todd [Rundgren] had to bow out and recommended me to Earl [Dowd] and I was given the spot. I figured that Earl would pay up eventually and what an opportunity! Earl Dowd was the producer of the First Family Albums with Vaughn Meader. Comedy albums that were big hits parodying President Kennedy and his family. Huge sellers till the assassination...
"Earl knew nothing about music or recording music. He just had this idea which he brought to the Record Plant in New York. He wanted to produce a supersession album with the biggest amount of the biggest stars. Record Plant had just opened it's doors and needed people like Earl to bring stars to it's facilities, with hopes they might record their albums there. So they gave Earl as much studio time as he wanted, free!... Earl had Carte Blanche as they say. He just never had any money. No one got paid.... So Earl was always telling everyone that the check was in the mail. But that mail never arrived...."
