Albums of the week: Jeff Bridges | Slow Magic, 1977-1978

THe worked on the press release: “Slow Magic, 1977-1978 is a collection of songs that have never been heard before Jeff Bridges wrote and recorded with a band of his oldest and closest friends. The ligaments capture in turn unpleasant, inventive, vulnerable and joyfully strange when he plays with total joy and dedication. The rag day of these recordings not only calls La in a certain place and at a time showed a missing link in the life of bridges, an actor who always viewed himself as a musician.

The Bridges from West Los Angeles was born in a showbiz family who happily encouraged him to follow them in films and television. “I had other interests such as music, painting, ceramics, all kinds of things,” he says. “And my father would say: ‘Jeff, is not ridiculous. This is one of the great things about acting. You are asked to use all the talent and the different interests you have.’ “”

Even after he was nominated for one Oscar Award at the age of 22 for his role in 1971 The last picture showBridges were uncertain whether the spectacle would be his way. He bought a dilapidated house in the hills over Malibu, which became a club house for a group of close friends who were the outsiders University High SchoolClass from 1967. Among them were Stan Ayeroff (A guitar virtuoso that later wrote books Django Reinhardt And Charlie Christian); David Greenwalt (A guitarist and songwriter who later started writing scripts and finally co-produced Buffy the Vampire Slayer); Matthew Hell (A bass player who went into the direction Reese Witherspoon In the Gonzo cult film Highway); And Steve Baim (Your fearless leader, famous for his spontaneous art production, over 300 acid excursions and the audition to be James BrownDrummer).

On the Malibu pad they surfed and flew dragons and soaked into the whirlpool and sweated in the sauna that Jeff installed. Everyone played music. Songwriting was just an expansion of the slope mühelo as dancing or parts of a joint. While bridges worshiped Bob Dylan And The BeatlesHis approach to music was transferred with craziness – he also loved it Captain Beefheart And Moondog.

After Jeff ended the 1976 Blockbuster -Remake from 1976 King KongHe and his friends rented a warehouse in Venice, about where they recorded songs that contained ObnoxiousA wonderfully chaotic waltz that satirizes the self -confidence, and Slow magicMix a sweet to stoned enlightenment. The meetings were monitored by the songwriter and orchestrator Ken Lauberwho had recently moved to La to work with Dylan and together The band at Shangri-La Studio in Malibu. He and bridges met when Lauber made the soundtrack Heart of the West. “Jeff went to Est -Seminars Werner ErhardAnd that made it possible for him to get in touch with these psychological foundations of his life experiences up to this point, “says Lauber.

A selection of old friends and La Oddballs hovered through the meetings. Hörner were played by Sam “Sluggo” Phipps or Billy Superball – Both members of the guerrilla theater troop The mystical knights of Oingo BoingoWhat later turned Oingo BoingoLed by composers Danny Elfman. While Jeff at recording VillageThe famous studio, which will soon be taken over Fleetwood Mac for TuskHe met the legendary character actor Burgess MeredithThe Jeff’s second film wrote and staged the surreal thriller The Yin & Yang by Mr. Go (1970). Meredith was an early supporter of Jeff’s music and encouraged him to contribute original songs to the film. A few years later fresh from his role in Rocky (1976) Meredith added extraordinary monologues Kong And Here on this islandTwo stunning slices of mutated disco. The inspiration for Kong came from Jeff’s concept for a sequel King Kong; As a producer Dino de Laurentiis Jeff rejected his pitch and turned it into a song.

Sometimes her music occupied the same airspace as Arthur RussellPresent Speaking heads or Frank Zappa – or everyone who plays together. They were aware that their taste could be too strange or vulnerable for public consumption. After the meetings were put up, Jeff and his friends continued to meet privately “The Wednesday evening jam”A drug -made, free form ritual that took place every Wednesday evening in Baim’s Storefront Art Studio in Culver City. The rules were simple: 1) No songs, 2) No blues, 3) No preparation. The racket that they made could be catastrophic or wonderful. The instrumental collages of Room No. 1 And Room No. 2 Come from this room.

When Jeff’s fame grew, the friends continued to meet, generated new songs and collected themselves recorded tapes that were traded like Deadheads. In the meantime, his film career and music converged. He and T-Bone Burnett became lifelong friends and employees after met on the set of Gate (1980). Burnett and Bridges worked closely on the development of the character and the music of Crazy heart (2010), for which Jeff Die won Oscar for Best actor. Burnett produced Jeff’s self -titled album in 2011, the Followup for his first solo album Be here soon (2000). Follow Crazy heartJeff started touring The abiderswho have been his live band since then.

After working with Jeff with the ambient / spoken-word album 2015 TapesPresent Keefus Ciancia Was in the studio with Jeff when Bridges accidentally raised some old recordings from the 1970s. Ciancia was blown away. He said that the old ligaments like “sounded”The band play at CBGB with The exploding plastic inevitable. “”

The music on Slow Magic, 1977-1978 comes from a single decaying cassette called “July 1978”. It represents a cross -section of these lost sessions of the 1970s. Ciancia, Jean Sievers And Matt Sullivan Spent the second half of 2024 closely with Bridges to prepare the music for the publication. Although he has a tight shooting schedule, Bridges devoted himself to studying mixtures and sequences for countless hours and even studying a version of the label logo for the work of art.

Whether films, music or visual art, it was always his process to be able to dive into the opportunities joyfully at the moment. He would never have thought that this opportunity would arise for these ligaments. “Pretty wild that this thing that happened about 50 years ago blooms,” says Jeff. “I think craziness is what happens these days. You can never say what will happen.” The spirit of these ligaments is connected to each other Emerging behaviorA number of raw, non -polished songs that Jeff has recorded and published on his website in recent years.

All physical formats contain extensive liner notes of Sam sweet With a new interview with Bridges and a treasure with an archive photos that have never been seen before Loretta Ayeroff And Candy Clark. The album shows 11 previously unpublished tracks by newly mastered by grammy-nominated engineer John Baldwin. Behind the scenes, filmmakers Isaac GalePresent Paul Lovelace And Ben Wu (The team behind the recognized documentary 2025 Swamp Dogg gets his pool painted) have produced a number of short documents about the project. “

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