I was Al’s drummer in the eighties – early nineties… He discovered Jimmy Vivino and me when we were newbies in Phoebe Snow’s band. Coincidentally, I was living at Lookout Farm at the time (owned by John Simon). That band included just Jimmy Vivino, Harvey Brooks, myself and Al. That same Child is a Father music stripped down and naked. No horns.

The effect was sublime.

People would often say the best part of those Bottom Line shows Al’s storytelling – and it’s hard to argue that, but for me, the emotional high point of any Al Kooper show was the twelve hits out of the bridge of More Than You’ll Ever Know – with Al pleading, for real,  “I just gotta hear you say it, yeah yeah yeah.”

That there is the blues!

Thanks for all your words.

Love,

Gary Gold

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I would have been 14, in January of 1968,. That’s when I found an acetate in an issue of a short lived music magazine called EYE, from Al Kooper’s newest group, Blood Sweat and Tears.

The mix was sublime – whoever put that compilation of snippets together was a genius. As I recall, it began and ended with the start and ending of “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know.” No one hearing that acetate would have been able to resist the lure. I had to have that album. And once I had that album, it rarely left my turntable. In the more than 50 years since, I’ve worn out several copies of the LP before switching to a CD format, and eventually, an online version.

I can’t quit it. It’s got a hold on me, it won’t set me free – I can’t quit that album. Every song, from the overture to the underture is a gem, bonding me irrevocably to Al Kooper, and exposing me to the wonderful writing of Harry Nillson, Randy Newman, and Tim Buckley. Every song is indelibly etched on my memory, as alive and as effervescent today as it was then. The CD was, quite simply, magic. And I never forgave the band for unceremoniously and surgically deleting the heart and soul from the band and replacing Kooper with Clayton-Thomas as their vocalist. DCT was and is great – but he’s no Al Kooper.

Roxanne Tellier

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I brought The Child is Father to the Man to Middlebury second semester senior year, early 1968–along with the Electric Flag’s first album and Paul Butterfield’s Resurrection of Pigboy Crabshaw. They were great records from the first great rock & roll horn bands. All genius. You’ve got to remember that Al Kooper was a soul singer. When I interviewed him in 1970 for Zygote magazine, before my run at Crawdaddy, he told me, “I have a Black soul.” He had a soul singer’s attitude and passion, but an entirely different and personal set of chops. This is a soul song in the Otis Redding/Wilson Pickett/Sam & Dave/Solomon Burke/Chuck Jackson realm, except Al can’t sing it like that. He emotes how he emotes—personal, trebly, Jewish! Glad you’re giving this cut the attention it deserves; it’s been 55 years and it still gets to me.

Peter Knobler

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For some reason I received this post a day or two after receiving the post with everyones’ reaction to it…

I saw BS&T at the Mississippi Coliseum in October of 1971 when I was about 14 years old. I’d heard all the hits on Top 40 radio but I’d never heard a horn section live. Good lord it was amazing. I don’t remember anything else about the concert. I was simply astounded by the sound of those horns.

I’ve been a fan of the ‘horn bands’ (Chicago, Ballinjack, Tower of Power, Chase, Cold Blood, etc…) ever since.

We used to play all of ‘em on on WZZQ-FM. I think it’s a safe bet you can’t find a ‘classic rock’ station playing any of them now.

carry on,
Bill Fitzhugh

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Composer, author, educator, musician, sideman, producer, musicologist, storyteller and honorary doctorate. He’s got it all. Al Kooper is a national treasure and we are fortunate to have him. Thanks for a nice way to enjoy a peaceful Sunday morning with a cup of coffee and a story about one of the greatest songs ever written.

Bob Anderson

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I was 14 when our cousin Peter (the actor Peter Riegert) came to visit his California relatives. He told me and my older brother he wanted to buy us a record. He knew Steve Katz from when he was in the Blues Project, and Peter bought us “Child is Father to the Man”. Cliff and I knew Kooper from the Blues Project, because our older sister knew Katz from when she stayed with Peter’s folks. We were a bit disappointed with the album choice, our hearts and ears full of Hendrix et al. Long story short: we adored the album, and it felt like it was our secret, because we  seemed to be the only kids on the West Coast who knew anything about it, like we’d been with the Blues Project. And I still get a charge listening to it, for the nostalgia, yes, but for the excellence mostly. BTW you didn’t mention what I consider to be Kooper’s magnum opus: “The Modern Adventures of Plato, Diogenes, and Freud”. Terrific string arrangement by I assume John Simon.

“The games that people play can only bore you
But only those who know you don’t ignore you
And how many times have i come there to restore you
And found you lying on the couch
with Father Time
And the clock on the wall’s a bore
While you wander past the door
And find him lying on the floor
While he begs you for some more
You’ve frozen time” (?)

Now that’s writing. Might have that last line wrong.

All the best,

Berton Averre

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Folks rightfully remember Al Kooper for an unparalleled career in the music biz but let us not forget that fellow BS&T member (also Blues Project co-founder) Steve Katz literally saved Lou Reed’s career after the dismal failure of “Berlin” (only much later recognised as the masterpiece it is) by producing one of the greatest live albums of all time “Rock & Roll Animal.” Although Lou often dismissed his Steve Katz produced album “Sally Can’t Dance” (Lou’s highest US charted album ever) I’m here to tell you that Lou himself took me into the studio to listen to the final mixes of that unfairly derided album (“Ennui” is still stunning in my humble opinion) and he was totally enamoured with the results and couldn’t have been happier with the production. Don’t know why he changed his mind.

From Paris,
Elliott Murphy

PS: Just to be totally transparent I should mention that Steve Katz also produced my third album “Night Lights” (rated 4**** on All Music Guide) which featured the vastly underrated Velvet Underground member Doug Yule on guitar and vocals as well as Billy Joel on piano. Just saying …

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As for Kooper’s masterpiece, I bought it new at Karl Graf’s in Lafayette Plaza where I worked in high school. I used to get classmates albums at my employee discount until Lia Vigorito called the store to see if her album came in that I special ordered for her. It was an oddball title that outed my racket and left me out of a job.

Did you know Karl Graf played clarinet in a band that played for the Big Three in Yalta? Just a bit of Bridgeport musical trivia.

I used to make regular bus trips downtown when his store was on the corner of Main and Fairfield (where the ‘new’ courthouse is) and Rudy Frank’s, the soul music shop in town, that was just across Main down Fairfield a half block. They had listening rooms! Artists would do in-stores there!

Lots of musical history in that town.

Be well,

Ken Shain

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For years and years after that album, I believed Melba and Valerie were just about the best of the best backup singers.  I still hold them in the highest regard.

And this particular song stuck out to me like it did to you, from listening to the original album when it first came out.

And Fred Lipsius’s sax solo, I can still hear it in my mind all these years later.

R. Lowenstein

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And al kooper produced and arranged the first appaloosa album—what a gem—john parker compton had IT for a wee slice if time—recall seeing him on Sundays at the Cambridge Common (moments before seeing Wild Thing….and boy are they a different story for another time)

Frank

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Bob, Thanks for giving this song, and album, perspective and kudos.  Funny thing about “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know”.  Just to focus on the lyrics for a moment, Kooper goes for it…he’s a blob on the floor at the foot of his lover: Total surrender….totally committed to capturing THAT feeling, the vulnerability and magesty that so many of us songwriters have poked at but rarely delivered with out falling into soft or sappy.  As much as I love the singer/songwriters of that era, there seemed to be a lot of metaphoric waxing on that we as the listening public undinable loved….but this is a bullet straight to the heart of that emotion.  Not easy to be so direct, and that is where Kooper’s delivery comes in.  Can’t find many singers better than, or should I say more emotive than the late Donnie Hathaway, but Kooper’s version comes from deep inside.  A true gem.  Thanks again Bob.

Brad Cole

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“Everything but the cape.” Nice.

Growing up in New England and living in Boston after I graduated college in 1094, I knew Al Kooper to be a Boston legend.

I ran into him at a comedy club – a Robert Schimmel show. I’m not one to approach “stars” but I couldn’t resist. It was Al F*cking Cooper. No story here – just a bit of hero worship.

Al used to have a great website/email, “new music for old people.” That was so damn good.

Judd Marcello

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OMG! Your take on “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know” brought tears to my eyes. At 3 a.m. on a Sunday morning. Thanks for your great thoughts.

 

Bob Askey

Longmont, CO

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Also a huge fan of Child Is The Father. But this track which I have on a vinyl promo of
“Easy Does It” still gives me goosebumps.  If I can’t get Springsteen to sing “Jungleland” at my funeral this will have to do. EE

Eron Epstein

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Like you I have listened to this song and album since it came out and still do to this day. I read your earlier writing about the albums after the first one with Clayton Thomas and disagree with you and others as I loved the songs and the way he sang them especially the hits. I do agree the first album over all was not matched again. I am probably skewed a bit as during my high school years from 72-75 our high school Friday night dance band included horns and played both rock n roll like James Gang, Steppenwolf, BTO, etc but also played several songs from BS&T, Chicago, Tower of Power, and Chase after our basketball and football games in the gym as we danced. Probably because of that Forbush High band I still revisit many of these bands albums and always will. Not sure why Clayton Thomas gets such a bad rap but then everyone can have an opinion about music and that is just fine. Anyway thank you for giving us the heads up about this upcoming doc as I can’t wait to see it. Aloha Bob!

Van Fletcher

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FM radio in NYC loved “Child Is Father To The Man” upon its release in 1968; not because BS&T were a local band, but because the songs were that good.  WNEW-FM played “I Can’t Quit Her”, “House in the Country”, “Something Going On”, and “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know”. The djs at the station picked their own music, and knew that this album was special since they played so many different cuts. I never owned the album, but I know these songs like I know every song by the Beatles – it was that memorable.

Stuart Taubel

MC Mentholyptus Productions

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Years ago I saw Al in the aisle at a NAMM show. I introduced myself and told him he’d been a major influence on my career in the music biz. He shook my hand, half-smiled, and deadpanned, “don’t blame me, man.”

First BS&T album is still among my most influential. The opening riff to that song has been my wife’s ringtone on my phone for 20+ years.

Daniel Liston Keller

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Bob—Since you mentioned James Brown: Al’s call-and response schtick with sax player Fred Lipsius five minutes into “Somethin’ Goin’ On” is lifted almost verbatim from James’ 1964 track “Oh Baby Don’t You Weep”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNXEzCWZsfE  It’s at 4:20.   Paul Lanning

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I Love You More Than Youąll Ever Know˛ was literally Al’s homage to “It’s
A Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World.˛

William Nollman

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Still love the first BS&T album and have had the pleasure of working with Al Kooper on a few occasions

Around 1995 I was working on a project called “Woodstock Diaries” a more accurate telling of the weekend in 69. The three part doc included many acts that were not in the original movie and although BS&T played at Woodstock, they were not part of our project because they could not agree how to share the  advance every artist was offered from the film company (I think it was around $8000) , so their performance got left on the cutting room floor. Seems to fit the narrative you say is in the upcoming doc on the band, and I am looking forward to seeing it.

Mark Linett

P.S. Paul Schafer turned the song into a great James Brown moment……Check it out….. it starts around 13:30 in this clip

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Here is an impressive lineup of ‘Al Kooper & Friends’ from 1994 on YouTube that includes both Al Kooper and Steve Katz. First is ‘Something Going On’ featuring Al.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOSOtiaS_xY …and here’s ‘Morning Glory’ with Steve from the same performance  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx5Y9FVMxmM  This band is made up of some of the same guys from the first BS&T album as well as players like Will Lee on bass. You’ll see how good they were.

 

Somebody mentioned that Jim Guercio had been left out of the upcoming documentary. I’ve read Al Kooper’s and Steve Katz’s books and they mention that they had been impressed with the songs of The Buckinghams like ‘Kind of a Drag’. These songs were produced by James William Guercio and planted the seed for the direction that BS&T would take. Also Kooper said that ‘I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know’ was written due to his fondness for James Brown’s ‘This Is A Man’s World’. Great band, great songs.

John Nixon

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Growing up in my Brooklyn neighborhood the teenage music cognoscenti were in one of two camps, that of The Blues Project or that of the Butterfield Blues Band. I was in the former.
My dad knew someone who got me in to see them backstage at the Café Au Go Go and a starstruck me got to ask Al Kooper for his autograph. He was as kind and friendly as anyone could be.
I saw them there for multiple shows as well as at their “final” Town Hall performance, and saw Blood, Sweat and Tears first performance at the Café Au Go Go after that. Frank Zappa and The Mothers were playing upstairs at The Garrick Theater at that time and they came down to see the show as well.
I later fought through a huge snowstorm to see Al’s career retrospective at The Bottom Line celebrating the 25th anniversary of Child is The Father To The Man. The horn section at that show was the best I’ve ever seen.
Can’t wait to see the film.

Paul Burstyn

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Home run, Bob.
It’s been many months since I listened to CIFTTMN but I’ve listened to it so many times I could hear every note and nuance of the song as I read your words.
The emotion and feeling Al puts into the song is so genuine …you believe every word of it!
It’s in my Top 5 list of greatest albums…maybe #1.
Every single song is unique and special and so artfully produced and performed.
It’s late in the evening as I write this but you can be sure come tomorrow morning I’ll be listening…volume up…and singing my heart out.
Alan Crane

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I saw Al Kooper and BST in 67 or 68 at La Cave in Cleveland and purchased the album around the same time. Really liked the cover. Saw BST without Kooper in 68 or 69 when they opened for Janis J. Nowhere near as good.  I actually forgot all about the album until Spotify came on the scene and now it’s part of my playlist. It’s still a great LP.

Don Calkin

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You should listen to their great version of Carole King’s “Snow Queen” on 1972’s “New Blood” which is a really good album. The song morphs into a cover of Herbie Hancock’s incredible composition “Maiden Voyage”. The album is perfectly played throughout and covers a wide range of genres which was the original DNA of the band.

It’s a shame that BST which were a really tight outfit from the very first album could not keep it together.

Olivier Chastan

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I was a big BS&T fan, saw them at my first Fillmore East visit. Loved the first 2 albums, but 3 & 4 lost me. I got back into the fold with later albums: New Blood, No Sweat, Mirror Image. Introduced me to jazz like Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage.”  Looking forward to the film.

-Hank Stone

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I became a huge BS&T fan in my youth compliments of my older brother.  Any music Bill listened to HAD to be cool!  But I must respectfully disagree with you on the subject of David Clayton Thomas.  As good as Al Kooper is, his vocal talents are not in the same class as DCT.  DCT has one of the most powerful & compelling voices in Rock…ever IMO.

I agree with you on the song “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know” being a masterpiece…however, my favorite rendition features not Al Kooper on vocals, but a version with DCT & BS&T I saw on “The Midnight Special” on NBC TV sometime in the Mid-Late 70s.  I have never been able to find it on YouTube, or anywhere else, which is a shame because it is AWESOME.  I actually recorded all those music TV Shows on my little cassette recorder (long before anyone had home VCRs!) & played that tape until I literally wore it out!

The TV performance of that song was similar to the version on the 1975 Album “Blood Sweat & Tears in Concert Featuring David Clayton Thomas” .  This live version is slower, more pared down & less “produced” than the one with Al Kooper on “The Child Is The Father To The Man”.  But great music all the same!

Love your podcast & your emails…thanks for bringing it!

Andy Allen

Houston, TX

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When BS&T played The Psychedelic Supermarket in Boston on Feb 1968, they played You Made Me So Very Happy, Smiling Phases and More and More with Al singing them. Arrangements were all in place when DCT came in. A bootleg exists and here is but one clip of Smiling Phases :

Paul Bronstein

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My Child is a Father to Man’s cover had a white circle from wear and tear from the vinyl

inside.

Remember going to the Fillmore East to see Al Kooper and his Super Session band,

where they introduced this guitarist named Johnny Winter.

Drove home in an epic blizzard on the Palisades Parkway and despite not being able to see five feet in front

of us, it didn’t matter. Because that’s what you did when you were a young punk

with your whole life ahead of you, a car full of your best friends in the seats next to you, and fueled from experiencing

an evening of ridiculously amazing live music.

Janie Hoffman

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I have the first three BS&T vinyls, which still permeate my South Florida home with great music and fond memories.

I attended Kent State University from 1965 to 1970.  In the fall, 1969, BS&T performed at Kent State in one of their smaller gymnasiums.  Of course, we were truly engrossed with the exciting music and the intimate setting.  My date for this concert was my girlfriend, Sandy Scheuer.

As a side note, Sandy Scheuer and I attended the Kent State May 4th, 1970, rally.

Unfortunately, Sandy was one of the four students killed that day.  James Michener’s book,  “Kent State: What Happened and Why” gives an accurate detailed account of this calamity.

Whenever any of the Kent State tragedy comes to my mind, I always have a great memory of Sandy at the BS&T concert,  “I Can’t Quit Her.”

Joel Schackne

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I saw Blood Sweat and Tears perform many times from their beginnings through about 1974. I never saw a bad show by them. I remember hearing about them having a new singer and in September of 1968 I saw them perform at the Fillmore East for the first time opening up for the Chambers Brothers. They were freaking off the hook. The band was incredibly tight and David Clayton Thomas say what you Will about him had the audience mesmerized with his version of God Bless The Child.. I saw them a few more times at the Fillmore after that when they were headlining and they basically always sold out the place.

I also agree with you on BST 3 but the next record BST 4 was very underrated with some really great and some very crisp playing.. when the album came out …in the summer of 1971 my girlfriend and I were staying with my parents in Florida over the summer selling carpeting before the fall semester started. There was a place near Fort Lauderdale called Pirates World ‘s, and when we saw they were going to be there I bought the album got familiar with the material and went and saw an absolutely spectacular concert by them there.. it just wasn’t the Columbian gold that was kicking in but the band was really tight and playing great material again..

Greetings from Lisbon
Peace,Jason Miles

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Bob – I coincidentally listened that track yesterday. Well, maybe not so coincidentally, as you & my fellow readers have been waxing poetic about pre vs. post-Al Kooper BS&T, of late…

That first BS&T record was the first LP I bought with my own pre-teen hard earned money! Remind sometime to tell you how, a few decades later,  Al Kooper himself was responsible for me asking my  wife (of near 28 years now, thank you very much) to marry me. He may not even realize how that happened…maybe you’ll print this and he’ll read it here. It’s been years since we’ve seen each other, but as you know – not only is Al a brilliant musician and genius, but he’s a good cat & my wife Vickie & I are glad to have called him a friend way back when.

Bob Reeves
Nashville, TN

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Shouldn’t Al Kooper be in the Rock Hall of Fame. Voters, please! He has never even been nominated!

Larry Mollin

https://spoti.fi/3ZlYzhx

“Route 66”

Depeche Mode

“Autobahn”

Kraftwerk

“Always Crashing in the Same Car”

David Bowie

“Mustang Sally”

Wilson Pickett

“Ol’ ’55”

Tom Waits

“Radar Love”

Golden Earring

“Mercury Blues”

Steve Miller

“I Can’t Drive 55”

Sammy Hagar

“Highway Star”

Deep Purple

“Rockin’ Down the Highway”

Doobie Brothers

“Born to Be Wild”

Steppenwolf

“Car Wheels on a Gravel Road”

Lucinda Williams

“I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide”

ZZ Top

“Runnin’ Down a Dream”

Tom Petty

“On the Road Again”

Canned Heat

“Hot Rod Lincoln”

Commander Cody

“Carefree Highway”

Gordon Lightfoot

“Racing in the Street”

Bruce Springsteen

“Fast Car”

Tracy Chapman

“Low Rider”

War

“Freeway of Love”

Aretha Franklin

“Jeepster”

T. Rex

“Under My Wheels”

Alice Cooper

1

Apple TV+ is the new HBO.

HBO is in trouble. Actually, the entire enterprise, Warner Bros. Discovery, is in trouble. Once you start excising product to save money to stanch red ink you’re going in the wrong direction. When you’re pushing the envelope, do not be beholden to the Street. Because the Street only understands the distant future, the Cathie Wood future. They’ll invest in that, in the fantasy, but something more tangible, that they can kind of see now? They want to see profits. And tech has told us over and over again that to put profits first is to hamper your company. It’s all about users baby, never forget that in the attention economy. You want a huge user base,

And most people watching HBO are doing so via their cable provider, not via HBO Max. If they’re not watching in real time, they’re pulling up shows via on demand from said cable company. In other words, it’s positively old school. A dying paradigm. Now it’s all about subscribing to the individual streaming outlet, in this case HBO Max. There’s no differentiation between the two at this point, and even though cable subscribers get the app for free, they’re not using it. So when they cut the cord, and eventually everybody will, will they lay down an additional fifteen bucks a month for HBO Max after they’re already paying for Netflix and Amazon and maybe Hulu and Disney+ too? Doubtful. You’ve got to establish the habit, early, you’ve got to not only addict people, but get them used to paying. They’re comfortable paying the cable company, but you’d be stunned how many oldsters are still fearful of coughing up their credit card information. And HBO is the oldster channel.

But HBO offers premium product. And it continues to come up with hits. Albeit not a plethora.

But everybody is going to streaming.

Apple TV+ is streaming.

Apple TV+ started from scratch, there was no catalogue, no “Friends” or “Seinfeld,” it was only new product. But Tim Cook made a decision early on that it would only be highbrow, inoffensive content. It wouldn’t be salacious for no reason, it would not play to the lowest common denominator. And this is different from every streaming outlet other than HBO, which as I stated above, is not really about streaming.

Is everybody interested in highbrow content? No. But highbrow has a halo, it reflects positively on the underlying enterprise, it gets respect, and notice. People feel good about themselves when they talk about highbrow content.

Now Apple TV+ started with some misfires, stuff you didn’t need to see, like “The Morning Show.” But then came “Ted Lasso.” Comedy is incredibly hard to do, which is why networks don’t focus on it anymore. And it doesn’t travel well internationally. But the whole world is excited about “Ted Lasso.” That was the beachhead.

Now to be clear, although Apple TV+ was cheap, most people were watching for free. THEY’RE STILL WATCHING FOR FREE! Yes, Apple raised the price, and I paid for a month, but now I’m watching three months for free because I have a Roku? That’s nearly everybody, or close to it. And Uber Eats had a promotion and…

Apple is building something here.

And Apple is so damn rich that unlike its streaming competitors the streaming division does not have to balance the budget, may never have to balance the budget. Because ultimately, it’s about selling subscriptions, a bundle. And Apple TV+ is part of that bundle. It’s not about hardware anymore, it’s about software. And with Apple TV+ the Cupertino company is hewing to its paradigm, i.e. not volume, but quality. They don’t make a cheap iPhone…they don’t make a cheap anything! And Apple products impart a good feeling upon their owners. You may hate Apple, but it’s a large cult, and the members don’t care about your hate.

And Apple TV+ keeps rolling out one quality show after another. It’s not quite a juggernaut, but unlike Netflix there’s no dross, no reality detritus, the viewer is respected, and that counts for something.

2

“Slow Horses” is based upon the books by Mick Herron. My college buddy John Hughes recommended the books long before there was a TV series, although he hipped me to the TV series when the first season became available. Now I’m gonna check out one of the Herron books, because John is an intellectual, and most of these crime/mystery books are barely more than outlines.

So…

Don’t confuse “Slow Horses” with “Fauda.” “Slow Horses” is genre, fantasy, it doesn’t feel real at all. This is what studios are purveying, most notably with their superhero movies. But the truth is we’re all human beings, and we react to the visceral and real, and that’s “Fauda.” And if you can’t handle a little blood…then I guess you never had a boo-boo, you’ve never been injured, and you’re convinced you’re never going to be killed in a school shooting, or a mall shooting, they seem to happen every week in America, not only does Janie have a gun, seemingly everybody does!

“Fauda” is visceral, cutting edge, it feels real. And it’s tense and you should watch it.

You don’t have to watch “Slow Horses.” However, it’s done on a highbrow level, both the cinematography and the acting.

The first season was mostly set-up, establishing who and what the Slow Horses were.

The second season is pure plot. We know who the characters are, now we’ve got a story.

And I must say, I was not riveted by the first two and a half episodes, but then I got hooked. It’s not a big commitment, it’s only six.

You see there are the twists and turns, the surprises endemic to this genre.

But the real reason “Slow Horses” works is the acting.

Primarily Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb, the overseer of Slough House, of the Slow Horses. In the first season Oldman verged on chewing the scenery. But he’s more three-dimensional in the second season. He’s more believable. And Oldman gets so much credit for playing against type, he’s not a handsome beau, who knows when he last had a shower, he’s disheveled and unbothered by it, which is a great contrast to other productions where we get wooden actors in designer clothing and you can see, but you cannot feel.

Kristin Scott Thomas is always good, but she is not playing to the audience, she has no need to be liked, and that makes her ever more believable.

Jack Lowden as River Cartwright is a tad too good-looking. You know he’ll never die. But, he makes mistakes, he has blind spots, and that makes him transcend his looks.

Christopher Chung as Roddy Ho… He’s the computer expert/hacker. On one hand he’s a bit too one note, but by the end of the series he shows a bit more commitment as opposed to his usual detached demeanor.

My personal favorite is Saskia Reeves. You can Google her and find her attractive, a babe, but here she plays the secretary/assistant who puts not an ounce of effort into her look…Reeves looks her age, which is 61. But her beauty, her intelligence shines through. In an industry where everybody gets plastic surgery, where no one grows old, Reeves is a revelation.

So they’re all mixed up in the plot, and you get hooked by the story, and it’s complicated and…

Like I said, this is genre work. You’ve seen this construct before. Only “Slow Horses” is done at a highbrow level, it respects the audience, it’s not buffoonery on parade.

And it’s better than stuff endorsed by the hoi polloi, like “Poker Face,” which the “New York Times” labeled “the Best New Detective Show of 1973.” You’ve seen “Poker Face,” it’s just new faces with a slightly different plot. This is the stuff that HBO was the antidote to. This is the stuff the “Sopranos” fans pooh-poohed.

“Slow Horses” is not “Poker Face.” It’s a bit different from what you’ve seen before. It respects you. It does not play to the lowest common denominator.

It’s this high quality and respect that Apple is building its streaming service upon. Apple is not trying to be all things to all people. And Apple’s shows are not the indie movies that win awards but no one goes to see. The work is more mainstream than that. And it is series, which you can sink your teeth into.

We’re all looking for great stuff, when we find it we tell everybody about it.

People are now talking about Apple TV+, because you know if it’s on the service it might fail, but it’s a noble failure, everybody tried to do their best, to create great work.

And sometimes they succeed.

But still…

Watch “Fauda.”

Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3StkPns

YouTube: https://bit.ly/3Sv2Fl3

I bought “Child Is Father To The Man” used, one of only two albums I ever purchased that had previously been played, the other being Bob Dylan’s “John Wesley Harding” a year later in college. I’d seen a note on the community bulletin board that someone was selling their records and I went up to their room in Starr Hall, where I wouldn’t live for three years, and purchased an LP that looked like the guy had ironed his skis over it. I was caught up in the college experience, you know, when everything is brand new, before you become jaded and ultimately can’t wait to graduate. That Dylan album, which I paid two bucks for, convinced me that from then on every album I ever bought would be brand new, because no one treated their records like I did, I dare you to find a fingerprint on a single one. That’s me, that’s OCD. People forget the downsides of vinyl, the scratches, the skips, the warps… CDs were a revelation. Files even better. And if you want to buy an old analog album on vinyl, go for it. But if you’re buying a digitally cut album on vinyl, you’re actually missing a bunch of the music, vinyl is inherently limited in response, and then there’s the issue of the angle of the needle as it crosses the record and I have all of my vinyl, I never sold it, but I must admit I’m scratching my head on this vinyl revolution, furthermore it’s not like most of the buyers have a playback system good enough to hear the nuances anyway.

“Child Is The Father To The Man” was delivered to me in Modern European History, an AP class so boring I don’t think I retained a single thing. And a boring teacher too. I’ve had very few good teachers in my educational experience, a great teacher can make the most boring material interesting, it’s a reason to take that course, but oftentimes school was just dull, that’s the last place I ever want to go back to, the classroom.

So, the copy of “Child Is Father To The Man” even had the original clear plastic inner sleeve, as opposed to the paper with mini-album pictures of most other labels, it was a step up, or was perceived to be.

And my copy was not perfect, but it’s not like it was played only at a gram or so on a great turntable. Yes, the key element of a stereo system is the speakers, but back then a record player/needle could ruin a record, which is why I popped for a Dual 1228, even though it was years before the rest of my system lived up to that quality, and by that time I’d upgraded to a Technics direct drive.

Now at this point in time, over fifty years later, my favorite track on “Child Is Father To The Man’ is the closer, the Gerry Goffin/Carole King song “So Much Love.” Kooper is testifying, with the organ in the background, and then the horns flourish and the number goes from subtle to in-your-face and you can’t help but pay attention, you’re along for the ride, and oh, what a ride it is.

But for a long time my favorite cut on the LP was the second side opener, “I Can’t Quit Her,” a direct message delivered directly. With melody and emotion. It’s a tour-de-force.

And then there are the covers. Harry Nilsson’s “Without Her,’ a year before Three Dog Night had a hit with “One,” back when no one was covering Harry, you could read about him in the press if you were dedicated, but his was not a household name. Although Gene Pitney covered “Just One Smile,” it wasn’t until 1972 and “Sail Away” that most people had any idea who Randy Newman was. And “Morning Glory” originally appeared on Tim Buckley’s second album the previous year. Buckley never broke through to mass appeal, his son is famous, but the father was the darling of the cognoscenti back then, at least for a while.

And then there were the other originals. Steve Katz wrote “Megan’s Gypsy Eyes,” and the rest were Kooper’s. And “Somethin’ Goin’ On” and “My Days Are Numbered” deserve their own analysis, but today I’m focusing on the first track after the “Overture,” “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know.”

This “Overture” was a year before the one opening the Who’s “Tommy,” and it was shorter, but it was a symphonic version of what you were going to hear and then…there’s this hysteric laughing, a chorus of “YEAH” and then…there’s a soulful, stinging guitar, underpinned by organ chords, locked into an R&B groove and then…

How many times have I listened to “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know”? Zillions! But Thursday night I finally got it. All those years I thought it was blustery bragging, the guy’s in control, but he wants the woman to know that he does care about her, he really does, as he goes on the road and takes advantage of opportunities and forgets about her.

But that’s not what’s really happening at all. He’s the underdog. He’s the one who needs her. He’s coming from the bottom, not the top. He’s down on his knee, emoting with all his heart, trying to convince her to believe.

“If I ever leave you

You can say I told you so”

He realizes she’s doubtful. After all, he’s a musician. And not a rich one. She’s not totally in, she’s holding back a little bit of herself, to avoid the inevitable hurt down the road.

“And if I ever hurt you, baby

You know I hurt myself as well”

He’s not talking about kicking her to the curb, crawling from the wreckage into a brand new car, if he missteps he’s gonna suffer the consequences, be broken up just as much as she is.

“Is that any way for a man to carry on

You think he wants his little loved one gone”

The music changes, it’s a pre-chorus, there’s an additional level of heaviness. Does she really think he wants her gone? He’s not going to misbehave, that’s not how he’s going to carry on.

“I love you, baby

More than you’ll ever know

More than you’ll ever know”

More than you’ll ever know. There are no words. It’s something he feels deep inside. He’s more than committed, he’s connected, he not only wants her, HE NEEDS HER!

“I’m not trying to be any kind of man

I’m trying to be somebody

You can love, trust and understand”

Trust. You don’t often hear that on the hit parade. But that’s the essence of a relationship, along with commitment. He’s not average, he’s not run-of-the-mill, he’s one of a kind, and he wants her to know!

“I know that I can be, yeah

A part of you that no one else could see

I just gotta hear, hear you say it

It’s all right, yeah, yeah, yeah”

He’s begging her, shine her light back on him, tell him she got the message, that she feels the way he does. PLEASE!

“I’m only flesh and blood

But I could be anything that you demand

I could be president of General Motors, baby

Or just a tiny little grain of sand”

Al tells a great story about Donny Hathaway’s version of “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know.” He gets a copy of it and THEY CHANGED THE LYRICS! Al is incensed, he calls Jerry Wexler all heated-up, complaining, and when he can finally get a word in edgewise, Wexler says AL, A BLACK MAN COULD NEVER BE PRESIDENT OF GENERAL MOTORS!

That’s 1973, fifty years ago. We’ve since had a Black president, but we’ve still got a long way to go.

Al’s at her mercy. He’ll be whatever she wants. Just as long as she commits and stays true. He’s doing it all for her, not himself.

“When I wasn’t making too much money

You know where my paycheck went

You know I brought it home to baby

And I never spent one red cent”

He’s hers. Everything he owns is hers. He’s doing it all for his baby.

And the amazing thing about listening to these old records is they sound amazingly clean, but they were mixed completely differently. Instruments play in one ear only. Engineers and acts wanted to demonstrate stereo, which was really just coming into vogue, after the labels raised the price of mono albums to those of stereo and then eliminated mono completely.

So we’ve got the stinging guitar, with just a bit of distortion added in. Clean. And an angelic choir in the left ear. And the organ in the right and all the instruments breathe, there’s enough air around them that they can be heard. And then a string flourish in the right ear. And then Fred Lipsius is blowing his alto sax in the right ear, setting your mind adrift, to think and contemplate.

It’s a who’s who on the track. Randy Brecker was in the original incarnation of the group. Jerry Weiss too. They left with Kooper before the second album.

But it’s not only the players, it’s the backup singers too, Melba Moore and Valerie Simpson. John Simon arranged the strings. Stephen Stills is even credited as an engineer!

“I love you, I love you, I love you, baby

Well, all right

I told you so many times before

I love you, I love you, I love you

You know, I got to tell you one more time

I love you, I love you, I love you”

He’s bearing witness like James Brown. The track contains everything but the cape. He wants her to get it. He needs her to get it. She’s gonna get it, right?

You never know.