It’s funny how sometimes you think you ‘found’ a new artist, only to discover afterwards that you’ve ‘known’ him for quite a few years, but somehow his name never registered…
In this case I got intrigued in Bernard Fowler after reading reviews of his 2019 solo album ‘Inside Out’, a fascinating spoken-word album featuring only Stones covers, which gave familiar songs quite a different twist.
I listened to the whole album and was very impressed, this guy knew what he was doing!
Since then I have been paying more attention to Mr. Fowler and although he released only 3 solo albums, he has been appearing as a guest vocalist on loads of albums, including several in my own collection; Sly & Robbie’s 'Language Barrier', Material’s 'One Down', Jazz Passengers' 'In Love', James Blood Ulmer’s 'America - Do You Remember The Love?', and many more…
Plus he has been working as a backup vocalist with the Rolling Stones for a very long time, both in the studio and on stage!
Here’s a brief overview of his career so far.
He started singing in 1975 with the group The Total Eclipse for the album 'A Great Combination'.
In the early 1980s he provided vocals for several Celluloid Records and Bill Laswell projects, incl. Herbie Hancock’s 'Future Shock' hit album. During the later 80s and 90s he was a popular vocal gun for hire, besides the earlier mentioned albums and bands he also worked with Tackhead, Little Axe, Yoko Ono, Bootsy Collins, Philip Glass, etc.
The Stones connection started in 1985 where he contributed vocals to Mick Jagger’s solo ’She’s The Boss’ and 4 years later for the band’s ’Steel Wheels’. Besides those he also appeared on albums by Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, and Charlie Watts…
In 2006 Fowler finally released a solo funk/rock/pop/soul album ‘Friends With Privileges’, which was followed by ‘The Bura’ in 2015, featuring a mix of reggae, blues, rock and more…
Despite such an impressive resume no compilation has ever been released, consequently this seemed like an excellent opportunity for Jokonky to correct this lack and hopefully introduce his work to our regular visitors and beyond.
Considering the huge number of artists/groups he has worked with, the most appropriate name for this (double disc!) compilation seemed ‘In Good Company’.
In this case I got intrigued in Bernard Fowler after reading reviews of his 2019 solo album ‘Inside Out’, a fascinating spoken-word album featuring only Stones covers, which gave familiar songs quite a different twist.
I listened to the whole album and was very impressed, this guy knew what he was doing!
Plus he has been working as a backup vocalist with the Rolling Stones for a very long time, both in the studio and on stage!
Here’s a brief overview of his career so far.
He started singing in 1975 with the group The Total Eclipse for the album 'A Great Combination'.
In the early 1980s he provided vocals for several Celluloid Records and Bill Laswell projects, incl. Herbie Hancock’s 'Future Shock' hit album. During the later 80s and 90s he was a popular vocal gun for hire, besides the earlier mentioned albums and bands he also worked with Tackhead, Little Axe, Yoko Ono, Bootsy Collins, Philip Glass, etc.
The Stones connection started in 1985 where he contributed vocals to Mick Jagger’s solo ’She’s The Boss’ and 4 years later for the band’s ’Steel Wheels’. Besides those he also appeared on albums by Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, and Charlie Watts…
In 2006 Fowler finally released a solo funk/rock/pop/soul album ‘Friends With Privileges’, which was followed by ‘The Bura’ in 2015, featuring a mix of reggae, blues, rock and more…
Despite such an impressive resume no compilation has ever been released, consequently this seemed like an excellent opportunity for Jokonky to correct this lack and hopefully introduce his work to our regular visitors and beyond.
Considering the huge number of artists/groups he has worked with, the most appropriate name for this (double disc!) compilation seemed ‘In Good Company’.
Disc 1 includes Fowler with:
Material / Beside / B-Side / Taxi Gang / Sly & Robbie Band / Jonas Hellborg / Philip Glass / Ryuichi Sakamoto / The Strange Parcels / Ronnie Wood / Stevie Salas / Jazz Passengers
Disc 2 features him with:
Tack>Head / The Uptown Horns / Bomb The Bass / Herb Alpert / Doug Wimbish / Paul Rose / The Boneshakers / The Chess Project / George Lynch & Jeff Pilson + a few tracks from his solo albums
Link: https://pixeldrain.com/u/cQQ6LzxA
ReplyDeleteQuestion: Have any of you ever had a similar experience like mine with 'discovering a new artist' who in hindsight wasn't that 'new' at all?