Back To Work

The recording of "Going For Broke" went on for many weeks, and the actual order in which I recorded the songs during those weeks is a little blurry. The first song I taught to Gene and Doc was a re-recording of Avalanche's first single, "Little Miss Sad Eyes." On the single, although the original band had played the song very well, I had never been happy with the quality of the recording, and I knew that in the newer studio, I could do a better job on it. I also knew that Sad Eyes had to be on the album, and for the album to sound consistent, the song had to be recorded again. Since I had the original recording to work from, I also thought that it would be easier for the new guys to get used to the feel of this project if the first song they played on was something they could hear in finished form. Gene picked it up immediately, but Charles' original bass line on that record was very distinctive, and I didn't know exactly what he had done when he had played it, so I couldn't teach it to Doc. He did the best he could to duplicate the bass line, but Charles was unique and irreplaceable at times, and so I had to settle for "close", but not the same. I didn't hold that against Doc, because the part that he couldn't copy...I'm not sure anyone could have. The two new guys did play well together, and Gene had a lot more energy and fire in his drumming..right from the start, then Tommy had. By the end of the first night, I knew Gene was going to make a very positive contribution to the project...but I was a lot less clear about Doc. I decided to give them both more time to get comfortable with me, the music, and the studio before making any decision. We pretty much duplicated the same process I had used on the earlier sessions...with one exception. We rehearsed for six hours on "Sad Eyes" and never ran a tape. I decided I wanted everybody fresh and rested before we laid down the tracks, and the extra rehearsal time allowed us to get very tight before doing that. Since I had agreed to pay for hotel expenses for Gene and Doc while they were doing the sessions, driving back to Boston on a daily basis wasn't necessary for them, and they were able to be rested and alert for each session. It was more expensive, but in the end, it was a good decision, because the sessions were long and exhausting, and road fatigue would have affected the quality of  their playing. We left the studio just after 3:30AM, and went out for breakfast and discussed the song. We were all looking forward to the following night, when we would actually start recording the track...and we were all anxious to hear what the song would sound like on tape.