Roots and Wings

This review is part of a series in which I review Neal’s solo records one by one chronologically, and chat with various friends and bandmates who were part of the making of each record.

Neal said that No Wish to Reminisce was the best album he’d made… until he followed it up in 2009 with the flawless Roots and Wings. As he wrote in a Stereokill interview in 2009, “I would describe it as the best record I’ve ever made beyond any doubt. I’ve combined twenty years of songwriting, playing, singing, and producing into a record that I’m really proud of.”

It’s some of his finest songwriting, sophisticated and wisened, although there are a handful of older songs he’d written much earlier and had been trialing live for a good few years, like “Pray Me Home” which opens with a line mentioning “rain, wind and speed”; and “Keep the Peace,” a guitar and vocal-only Stills-esque jam that defined the desired vibe of the record.

Roots signals a return to the “rootsy,” acoustic-based sound that had become Neal’s trademark sound by this time, but on a much more elevated level. He retained some of the more intricate elements from No Wish, like a lot of overdubs, orchestral arrangements thanks to Michael Deming, and adding the talent of bandmates like Jeff Hill and Dan Fadel from Hazy Malaze, and fellow Cardinal Jon Graboff to really add depth and texture, among many other friends who sent in tracks they’d recorded from home.

Despite the long list of guest stars, Neal plays multiple instruments himself, adding some combination of bass, piano, wurlitzer, rhodes and tambourine to his own vocals and guitar on every single track. The record sounds incredible – each instrument shines, Neal’s vocals are at their best, no note drawn out too long or stopped too soon, and all the harmonies are angelic.

To begin, Neal and Dan headed back to Mix-O-Lydian Recording Studio in Lafayette, NJ where Neal had recorded Rain, Wind and Speed several years earlier. Mix-O-Lydian owner Don Sternecker, who engineered and mixed the album, shared some memories:

Neal came by and we talked about [making this record] a couple times. Talked about what records we liked, and what kind of sound he wanted to go for. He wanted to get that acoustic sound, so it’s an acoustic-based record with a lot of overdubs.

To start off, it was just Neal and Dan. He laid down his acoustic guitar and his vocal, and Dan played drums for all the songs with drums, there are a few without. Those tracks ended up being the keepers for fifteen out of those sixteen. That’s rare. Usually you just get a reference down and redo it, but he knew what he wanted to do. Those vocals sound great.

After two or three days putting down all the tunes, we started doing overdubs. We would work on it for two, three days in a row and then he’d be on the road. It was very slow and methodical. It started out sparse, but once he started adding the overdubs, it took on a whole new life. Took us about 4-5 months on and off to put it all together.

Most of the instruments he played himself. He did a lot of guitar and keyboard overdubs. A lot of the background vocals, which sound just great.

It was one of those magical records where everything was great, no drama. It was always fun. And it ended up being one of my favorite records I’ve ever made. He was a great writer, a great guitar player, a great arranger, great singer. Everything he did, he did with a lot of taste and feel. I was always kind of blown away by how good he was. A very impressive guy.

Don Sternecker, October 22nd

Don mentioned that one of the songs they discussed that had the sound they were going for was “Black Queen” off Stephen Stills’s 1970 self-titled album. Play it back-to-back with “Keep the Peace” back to back, and you’ll see they certainly achieved that sound.

Jon Graboff himself played no small part in ensuring that desired outcome was achieved.

I was in a car riding to an airport with Neal, and he played me a bunch of demos for what would become Roots and Wings. Realizing it would be a very acoustic guitar-centered record, I said, “Neal, I’m going to do you a really big favor. I’m going to loan you a couple of guitars.”

I had a couple of guitars in my possession that I knew were going to play a big role in the making of this record. I have a 1949 Martin D-28 that you can hear really loud and clear, like on “Super Highway,” “Keep the Peace,” and “Don’t Mind the Black Clouds.” I also loaned him a 1938 Martin D-18 that I was care-taking for a friend of mine.

I told him, “Use this guitar for this kind of track, and this guitar for this kind of track, and you’ll find that those are really where these instruments really shine and benefit the cohesiveness of the tracks.

He called me a few days into basic tracks, and he goes, “Dude, I can’t believe it. I’ve been running around from one studio to another my entire life to try to get an acoustic guitar sound that sounded like a Neil Young record. And now I realize it was the guitar.”

And I said, “Yeah, that’s why I loaned you these guitars, because I knew that they were going to feature prominently in these tunes and you really needed to have that sound.”

Interestingly enough when I listened to that record, the sound of those, especially when he’s playing my guitar, especially the D-28, they sound so much like a Steve Stills record from like 1970. I know that Neal was a really big fan of his guitar playing, particularly from that era. And it’s got that sound and that’s exactly why I loaned him those guitars. Because I knew that was the sound of the guitars in his head. And I knew that I was going to be able to help him get there.

So he says, “Man, I got these two songs I want you to play on.” I was one of the last things he did on that record. We recorded at a studio in Brooklyn, an old industrial building in Williamsburg. And I think the studio was on the sixth or seventh floor and the elevator broke down that day. And I had a big double-neck pedal steel that weighed 90 pounds in the case, and an amplifier. And I made Gary Waldmann carry them up the stairs.

Neal used to do this thing when he was listening to somebody do an overdub. If he felt that you really nailed it, he’d make a fist and throw both arms straight up in the air. Almost like a referee declaring a goal in football, you know, and I just remember when I hit the last note of “The Losing End Again,” I hit that last note and out of the corner of my eye, I see those arms go straight up in the air.

The thing I liked the most of what I did on that record was I really liked what I played on “Chasing Her Ghost.”

I have this little sound in my head when I play pedal steel that I liken to an air raid siren, and I kind of employed the air raid siren very heavily on that. I just wanted something that was really kind of edgy and a little spooky, but not like, “ooOOOOoo”, or some stereotypical kind of ghost sound. At the time I wanted this air raid siren thing, because the subject matter of the song is kind of disturbing, you know? It’s almost like you’re talking literally in that song. And, um, so I was kind of going from this, my air raid siren sound and also channeling “The Outer Limits” theme song.

I’m still not sure if I got it exactly right, length-wise. I wanted to create that real tension with that really dissonant kind of lick. I didn’t want it to become obnoxious, but I wanted to resolve it, so the tension kind of released a bit. I’m still not sure if I got it a hundred percent. I remember really deliberating about it at the time. How long should it be? How long should I do that? Okay. I better stop. When I was listening to it yesterday, I was wondering if I really got it, that could have gone maybe another measure of the longer… And it’s too late to second guess it now, because there it is.

I think this is Neal’s best record. I think the songwriting is really, really great and really mature and very, very skillful. I mean, there’s some really interesting melodic changes and modulations that really developed the sound of the record. I think it’s just grown as one of his best sounding records.

I also really liked the way he sang on this record. I think he was super satisfied with just laying it out there without being particularly emotive. It didn’t have to be over the top or anything, or even close to over the top. It seemed like he was really, really vocally in a really comfortable place. I love the sound of his voice on this record. I just think it was like in a particular spot in his range that was really pleasing, at least to my ear.

I remember when he finally sent me the record, cause I didn’t hear the whole record until it was done. And the song “Cold Waves” made me stop in my tracks. That song is… incredible. He pretty much played everything on that song, except the strings.

Of all his records, that’s the one I’ve listened to more than any of the others. I just find it draws me in on so many levels.

Jon Graboff, October 2020

All eighteen tracks on Roots & Wings are uniformly fantastic. However, I don’t think any songs from this record have really received kind of the cult-like acclaim some songs from earlier albums have. Maybe it’s a matter of timing. The rest of the world doesn’t seem to catch up with Neal’s music until a few years (or decades) later, so maybe Roots and Wings will have its day in due time.