PAUL RODGERS
''THE ROYAL SESSIONS''
FEBRUARY 4 2014
50:36
01 - I Thank You/3:10
02 - Down Don't Bother Me/2:17
03 - I Can't Stand The Rain/4:05
04 - I've Been Loving You Too Long/5:37
05 - That's How Strong My Love Is/3:14
06 - Walk On By/6:49
07 - Any Ole Way/2:38
08 - It's Growing/3:04
09 - Born Under A Bad Sign/4:07
10 - I've Got Dreams To Remember/6:30
11 - Shake/3:27
12 - Walk In My Shadow/2:59
13 - Wonderful World/3:15
ABOUT THE ALBUM
It seems almost too easy to say a record was “a lifetime in the making,” but in the case of Paul Rodgers’ The Royal Sessions, it’s more than poetic metaphor or press hype; it’s a genuine statement of fact.
In the mid ‘60s, before this singer/songwriter founded Free, Bad Company or The Firm with Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, Rodgers was a teen band singer in Middlesbrough, England besotted with vinyl 45s from America: hot new R&B sides from Memphis labels like Stax/Volt, Goldwax and later Hi Records. Spinning the records over and over, Rodgers would imagine how the artists and singers created such momentous sounds and wonder about the places they came from.
Flash forward to 2013: Paul Rodgers is at South Memphis’ Royal Studios, recording those familiar old songs with many of the same players who had graced the original tracks.
The session almost seemed fated. Rodgers had been working on an album of original rock material with his friend and musical collaborator Perry A. Margouleff. In late 2012, Margouleff was visiting Memphis where he was tipped to Royal Studios, the historic home of late producer Willie Mitchell and Hi Records. For over 40 years, Royal has remained a thriving recording hub where artists come take advantage of the vintage gear, old-school wisdom, and sheer magic of the room. They’ve also utilized the talents of the native players, foremost among them the stalwarts of the famed Hi Rhythm Section, built around the Hodges Brothers. Still turning out remarkable records and performances today, Royal Studios has become the last great resource for those truly seeking the real thing.
The result of Paul Rodgers’ pilgrimage to this musical Mecca is a deeply felt, powerfully sung and expertly played collection. Featuring a cross-section of material handpicked by Rodgers, it surveys a wide landscape of American R&B, offering fresh takes on the fatback blues of Albert King, the gutbucket balladry of Otis Redding, the sophisticated stirrings of Issac Hayes and a host of other classics from the Southern soul canon.
Working in the old-school style, everything was recorded on analogue tape, with the basic tracks – including Rodgers’ vocals – all cut live on the floor with the band. Unaware of Rodgers’ history or reputation, the veteran session men were surprised when he chose to kick off the session with a pass at Redding’s iconic “That’s How Strong My Love Is.” After Rodgers nailed the song in a single scintillating take, organist Charles Hodges took him aside and said admiringly, “Man, you’ve really got this in you. You can really do this.”
Moved by their experiences working in Memphis, Rodgers and Margouleff decided to donate proceeds from the album to the Stax Music Academy, as thanks to a city and musical community that’s meant so much to them.
The Royal Sessions represents the culmination of a long, profound journey for Paul Rodgers. Five decades after first discovering these songs on those old 45s, he has created a record direct from the heart.
Recorded at Memphis' Royal Studios, historic home of Willie Mitchell and Hi Records, "The Royal Sessions" features Rodgers' interpretations of songs by Otis Redding, Albert King and Ann Peebles, among others
Produced by Perry Margouleff, "The Royal Sessions" pairs Rodgers with an all-star roster of legendary musicians who played on the original hits dating back to the '60's. The classic rhythm section includes Reverend Charles Hodges (Hammond B3), Michael Tolls (guitar), LeRoy Hodges Jr. (bass), "Hubby" Archie Turner (Wurlitzer), Steve Potts and James Robertson Sr. (drums), The Royal Horns and the Royal Singers.
This is the sound of his R&B fantasy—his soul dream—finally come true.
REVIEW
By Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Recorded at Royal Studios in Memphis, Tennessee,
The Royal Sessions sees classic rocker
Paul Rodgers -- first known as the lead singer of
Free, best-known as the frontman of
Bad Company and later a
Freddie Mercury substitute in
Queen -- paying tribute to his beloved '60s Southern soul.
Rodgers set up camp in Memphis and surrounded himself with many veteran Memphis soul musicians, cutting a collection of deep soul covers -- primarily tunes released or recorded at Stax, sometimes songs that were made at Muscle Shoals -- that remain faithful to the spirit and arrangements of the originals. This familiar sound pushes the spotlight onto
Rodgers' vocals and he's in good form, never pushing the songs too hard but retaining his signature raspy swagger.
The Royal Sessions makes clear just how much
Rodgers learned from classic soul -- there are phrasings and runs reminiscent of songs he cut with both
Free and
Bad Company -- but the lighter setting shines a different light on these comfortable moves, making them fresher while also illustrating his debt to this style. Most of all,
The Royal Sessions is enjoyable: it sounds like
Rodgers is having a good time, so it's easy to have a good time too.
BIOGRAPHY
By Richard Skelly
In a career that now spans four decades, vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter
Paul Rodgers and his various groups have sold in excess of 125 million records around the world. Best known for his expressive vocals on songs that have become rock & roll staples, like "All Right Now," "Feel Like Makin' Love," "Can't Get Enough," and "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy,"
Rodgers has been cited by dozens of 1970s and '80s rock groups and musicians as a major influence. U.S. groups like
the Black Crowes and
Guns N' Roses have cited
Rodgers and his various groups --
Free,
Bad Company,
the Firm,
the Law -- as an influence on their styles. As a vocalist and songwriter,
Rodgers had great admiration and respect for the classic African-American blues and R&B vocalists.
Rodgers credits his father for buying him a guitar in his youth, but he later taught himself bass and piano as well. He began writing songs when he was in his early teens, before he had mastered any instrument.
Rodgers began playing out in clubs around Middlesborough, in northern England, when he was 13, taking singers like
Rod Stewart as his role models. Right after he left school, he set out for London in a van with a band called
the Roadrunners. The van broke down en route, and while the other members hitchhiked back north,
Rodgers went south to London. After a short time he returned home to his parents, who were supportive of his musical endeavors. But having seen the club scene in London, he became determined to go back and make his mark there.
Returning to London, he formed the blues band
Brown Sugar, deciding to see how far he could go as a vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist. In the mid- and late '60s, London was in the midst of a huge blues revival, and
Rodgers had the opportunity to see
Muddy Waters and dozens of other American blues musicians perform at London's Marquee Club and other blues and R&B venues. Seeing
Waters live had a lasting effect on
Rodgers, and his early experiments,
Brown Sugar and
Free, started out as blues bands.
Rodgers was working with
Brown Sugar when guitarist
Paul Kossoff heard him sing.
Kossoff was so impressed with
Rodgers' voice that the two decided to create a new band, joined by
Simon Kirke on drums and bassist
Andy Fraser. After seeing them at the Nags Head Pub in Battersea, Britain's godfather of blues,
Alexis Korner, suggested they call themselves
Free. A song
Rodgers co-wrote with
Fraser, "All Right Now," hit number one in 20 territories around the world in 1970. The song remains a rock staple, having been entered into ASCAP's "One Million" airplay singles club. By the early '70s,
Free was one of the biggest-selling British blues-rock groups; by the time the band dissolved in 1973, they had achieved an uncanny level of superstar success: they had sold more than 20 million albums around the world and had played more than 700 arena and festival concerts. In 1973,
Rodgers formed
Bad Company, then a prototype "supergroup," with
King Crimson bassist
Boz Burrell,
Mott the Hoople guitarist
Mick Ralphs, and
Free drummer
Simon Kirke. But this time,
Rodgers learned from the mistakes he'd made with
Free; he was determined to have bandmates who shared his musical vision -- the overnight success that
Free experienced put undue pressures on the personalities in the band.
Rodgers contacted
Peter Grant,
Led Zeppelin's notorious manager, who was fortuitously starting Swan Song Records, the group's vanity label. By the close of the 1970s,
Bad Company had recorded six multi-platinum albums, which spurred classic blues-rock and rock staples like "Can't Get Enough," "Feel Like Makin' Love," "Shooting Star," and "Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy." By the time
Bad Company called it quits, they had played to over ten million people around the world and sold 30 million albums.
Other highlights of
Rodgers' career include a showstopping version of
Otis Redding's "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" at Atlantic Records' 40th anniversary party at Madison Square Garden in 1988, and his formation of a new group with
Jimmy Page of
Led Zeppelin,
the Firm, in the mid-'80s. Following that band's two albums,
Rodgers formed
the Law with former
Small Faces/
Who drummer
Kenny Jones.
Since the early '80s,
Rodgers has also released a number of solo albums. They include
Cut Loose (1983) and The Morning After the Night Before/Northwind (1984), both for Atlantic Records. His 1990s output includes
Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters (1993, Victory Records) and
The Hendrix Set, a mini-CD released that same year.
Muddy Water Blues was nominated for a Grammy and features guest performances by
Slash,
Richie Sambora of
Bon Jovi,
Jeff Beck,
Steve Miller,
Buddy Guy, and
Pink Floyd's
David Gilmour.
Rodgers then put together a backing band featuring guitarist
Geoff Whitehorn, bassist
Jaz Lochrie, and drummer
Jim Copley, recording
Paul Rodgers Live (1996) and
Paul Rodgers Now (1997) for the New York-based Velvel Records.
After a
Bad Company reunion in 1999,
Rodgers switched over to CMC International, issuing the album
Electric in 2000. Taking a break from his solo career in the middle of the decade,
Rodgers joined
Brian May and
Roger Taylor in a version of
Queen for some live shows, one of which was documented on 2005's
Return of the Champions, a double disc on the Hollywood label. In 2007 Eagle Rock Entertainment released a new solo album,
Live in Glasgow, taken from a October 13, 2006, concert at Clyde Auditorium in Scotland. Released on both CD and DVD, it highlighted both
Bad Company and
Free material, some of which
Rodgers hadn't performed in 35 years.
Rodgers continued to perform live with Queen through the end of 2009. Not long afterward, he reunited with Bad Company for a 2010 tour that was documented on two separate live releases. After this, Rodgers turned to his solo career, releasing a collection of classic soul covers called The Royal Sessions early in 2014.
