Written, Arranged, and Produced
by Little Steven
Little Steven: Vocals and Guitars
Adam Clayton: Bass
Jason Bonham: Drums
Background Vocals:
Steve Jordan
Jean Beauvoir
with
Ben Newberry
Frank Newberry
Recorded by Ben Fowler and Zoë Thrall
Assisted by Scott Austin
Mixed by Kevin Shirley
Most Ably Assisted by Rich Alvy
Additional Recording by Dan Gellert
Additional Assistance by Andrea Yankovsky
Recorded and Mixed at Avatar Studios, NYC
Mastered by George Marino
at Sterling Sound
Art Design Alex Ewen
Assisted by Lorraine Cullin
Original Wood Engravings by Gustav Doré
Photography by Ronnie Farley
Thank you pages photograph by Holly Cara Price
Business Management Jeff Schwartz
Burton Goldstein & Co., LLC
Agent (Music) Frank Barsalona
Barbara Skydell
Barry Bell
Jane Rose
Premier Talent
All Rights Reserved 1999
Correspondence
hollyc@littlesteven.com
Thank you Maureen. Your love is all that matters to me. (And you too Jakie)
Thank you Ma, Billy, Kathi, and Nana Lento. La Famiglia é tutto.
Thank you Zoë for the 10 years of sharing the adventure with me. I will always cherish our friendship and without you many things, including this record, would not have been possible.
Thank you Lance Freed for keeping me alive in the 90's. Your encouragement and support are unique in my experience. This record could never have been finished without you. You are truly a great friend.
Thank you Adam Clayton. Your bass is the anchor of this record and your friendship and encouragement got this whole thing started.
Thank you Jason Bonham. In my not particularly humble opinion you are the greatest hard rock drummer in the world.
Thank you Ben Fowler. Recording a hurricane could not have been easy.
Thank you Ben Newberry for standing by my side through the wars of the 80s.
Thank you Kevin Shirley for mixing the unmixable.
Thank you Jeff Schwartz for keeping me almost solvent. Your loyalty, support, and friendship mean the world to me.
Thank you Alex Ewen for always being there and always inspiring me.
Thank you Pat Thrall for the wicked guitar devices that only a knobbin' mamajamma like you have.
Thank you Bruce Springsteen for constantly showing me the possibilities.
Thank you Steve Jordan
Thank you Jean Beauvoir
Thank you Frank Newberry
Thank you Frank Barsalona
Thank you Ronnie Farley
Thank you Scott Greenstein
Thank you Addie Szabo
Thank you Holly Cara Price
Thank you Lorraine Cullin
Thank you Burt Goldstein
Thank you Steve Popovich
Thank you Bruce Moser
Thank you Jeff "Doc" Wollock
Thank you Alarik Skarstrom
Thank you Rondor family worldwide
Thank you William Brewster Van Zandt
(1928 - 1998)
Thank you John Hey
(1949 - 1996)
Thank you Willie Vacarr
(1929 - 1995)
Liner Notes
This is the record I would have made in 1969 had I been capable.
It took 20 more years to write it and another 10 to get it out but chronological time is overrated anyway ain't it?
It is a tribute to the hard rock pioneers that kept me alive growing up. The Kinks, the Who, the Yardbirds, and the three groups the Yardbirds spawned - Cream, the Jeff Beck Group, and Led Zeppelin.
It is additionally a statement of profound gratitude to George Harrison, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Jefferson Airplane who first turned me on to Eastern melody and philosophy and forever expanded my cross-cultural consciousness.
I must also thank Bob Dylan from whom all lyrics flow, and Allen Ginsberg for being a Buddhist among other things.
This is the fifth and last of the political albums I outlined when I decided to make my own records. I wanted to learn about what was going on and write about it, talk about it, and hopefully learn something about myself in the process. After 5 albums and 7 years of traveling and studying and looking around me I wrote the following liner notes intended for the original release of this record.
We live in an insane asylum. A barbaric, merciless cesspool. And in this purgatory filled with disease and ugliness and violence and hatred and injustice and greed and lies and pain and frustration and confusion there are brief, fleeting moments of peace and love and truth and beauty. They are rare. They are years and miles apart. But they are so meaningful that they make life worth living. Those moments give you strength to face the insanity with your balance intact and your eyes focused and you endure and tolerate and survive.
And if you're lucky, real lucky, you can tap that strength and hold on to it long enough to, in your own small way, try to make it all a little bit better. Just a little bit more civil and just. To serve. And you don't do it for anybody else because no one is going to thank you or reward you or even notice. Don't kid yourself. You do it for you. For your own soul.
Because in this world that's all the salvation you're ever gonna get.
Little Steven
1999
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