Bob Lenox Season of Souls

Bob Lenox
Season of Souls

BOB LENOX

Bob Lenox, américain de souche irlandaise est né à New York en 1944. Il a treize ans quand débute sa carrière professionnelle avec son groupe « Kiwi and the Dynamics » (1957). Il attire rapidement l’attention de « Capitol Records » pour qui il enregistre son premier 33 tours. Musicien de génie et compositeur précoce, il devient un pianiste de renom, connu pour son style individuel au phrasé « jazz », un musicien avec lequel il faut absolument travailler. Etendant son style au folk et au rock, il rejoint ensuite « Vanguard Records » et  collabore alors avec de prestigieux artistes tels que Ike et Tina Turner, Joe Cocker, Esther Philips, Garland Jefferies, Charli Persip, Charles Mingus, Scott Faggan, Mort Shuman, ou encore Jimi Hendrix qui demandera à Bob, la permission de jouer avec lui plusieurs soirs de suite à « l’ Electric Circus » de New York. Cette époque le voit également participer à de grands shows télévisés comme « Saturday Night Live », « Good Morning America » ou encore « Don Kirschner’s Rock Concert ». Engagé par la célèbre Warner Brothers Company, il enchaîne de manière frénétique les concerts dans les clubs les plus connus des Etats-Unis jusqu’à ce que l’alcool et la drogue aient raison de sa santé. En effet, la fin des années 70 voit sombrer Bob Lenox dans un abîme sans fond qui le fait déserter la scène musicale américaine au profit des chambres sordides dans lesquelles il s’enferme des années durant pour fouiller dans ce qu’il appelle lui-même : « La faille abyssale de l’être humain : la solitude ». C’est à Berlin que le chemin chaotique emprunté par Bob Lenox, croise celui de Tony Baillargeat et d’Elias Bellouti venus dans la capitale allemande pour les besoins d’un film de fiction  qu’ils ne tourneront jamais et qui devait s’intituler « La saison des âmes »… Impressionnés par le charisme et le talent intact du chanteur, ils décident alors de mettre le peu d’argent du film qu’ils avaient réunis dans la production d’un album qui devra porter le même titre. Huit mois plus tard, « Season of Souls » est né. Il contient dix titres dont le lyrisme n’a d’égale que la puissance de la nature sur le rythme des saisons. C’est un album « écologique » dans le sens où il adopte le temps éternel et intérieur d’un homme à la voix exceptionnelle qui a tout vu et tout vécu sans tricher et qui l’exprime sans mentir. C’est un album pur et épuré de tout sentimentalisme, dans le sens extérieur et académique du terme. Comme l’a écrit Nick Tosches sur la musique du mystérieux Emmett Miller, celle de Bob Lenox fait chavirer l’esprit de ceux qui l’écoutent car ce n’est « ni du country, ni du blues, ni du jazz… elle n’est ni noire, ni blanche, elle est une alchimie de tout cela… » Cet album au style raffiné est l’amalgame de toutes ces sources inconnues qui ont créé la musique américaine telle qu’on la conçoit aujourd’hui. Il rend hommage aux pionniers que sont Jimmie Rodgers, Gene Autry ou encore Furry Lewis ; il salue en chemin Hank Williams et Ernest Tubb, se permettant même d’adresser un clin d’oeil affectueux vers Bob Dylan et Johnny Cash.
 © 2007 2008 KRecords - Groupe Frémeaux Colombini SAS

english notes
BOB LENOX

Bob Lenox, an American musician of Irish stock was born in New York in 1944.  At the age of 13 he began his professional career with his group “Kiwi and the Dynamics” (1957) and quickly attracted the attention of Capitol Records which produced his first recording.  A precocious composer and musical genius, he soon became a renowned pianist, famous for his individual style of phrased “jazz”.  Extending his style to folk and rock’n’roll, he joined Vanguard Records where he collaborated with prestigious artists such as Ike and Tina Turner, Joe Cocker, Esther Philips, Garland Jefferies, Charli Persip, Charles Mingus, Scott Faggan, Mort Shuman, and Jimi Hendrix who jammed with Bob for several evenings in New York following the “Electric Circus”. This period also found him participating in great televised shows like “Saturday Night Live”, “Good Morning America” or “Gift Kirschner’s  Rock Concert”. Engaged by Warner Brothers, he hectically travelled from concert to concert in the best known clubs of the United States until alcohol and drugs overtook his health. The end of the Seventies saw Bob Lenox sinking into a bottomless abyss which prompted him to desert the American musical scene for the sordid rooms in which he locked himself up over the ensuing years with what he calls: “the abyssal human fault: loneliness “. It was in Berlin that the chaotic path borrowed by Bob Lenox crossed that of Tony Baillargeat and Elias Bellouti who had come there for the needs of a feature film which they would never shoot and which was to be entitled Season of Souls”. Impressed by the charisma and intact talent of the singer, they decided to put the money for the film which they had mustered up to produce a record album with the same title. Eight month later, “Season of Souls” was born. It contains ten titles whose lyricism is only equalled by the power of nature on the rhythm of the seasons. It is an “ecological” album in the sense that it adopts the eternal and internal time of one man with an exceptional voice who saw and lived everything honestly and who expressed it without lies. As Nick Tosches wrote about the music of the mysterious Emmett Miller, that of Bob Lenox capsizes the spirit of those who listen to it because it is “neither country, neither blues, neither jazz... it is neither black, nor white, it is an alchemy of all of these...” This album with its refined style is an amalgam of all those unknown sources which created American music such as we conceive of it today. It pays homage to the pioneers Jimmie Rodgers, Gene Autry or Furry Lewis; it salutes Hank Williams and Ernest Tubb, and even addresses an affectionate wink towards Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash.
 © 2007 2008 KRecords - Groupe Frémeaux Colombini SAS

All lyrics are written for the feeling of the words…
Not the correctness…
Language as a sound…
Is not a test.
Feel free to change any words you wish…
If that makes you feel better…
Bob Lenox

THERE IS NO RIGHT

CHORUS
WELL THERE IS NO RIGHT
AND THERE IS NO WRONG
THERE’S ONLY LIVIN’
AND THEN WE’RE GONE
WELL THERE IS NO RIGHT
AND THERE IS NO WRONG
THERE’S ONLY LOVIN’
AND THEN WE’RE GONE

OLD JESUS FOUND HIS PEACE ON EARTH
ON MOUNT CALVERY
THEY NAILED HIS HANDS
AND THEY PIERCED HIS HEART
AND THEY FINALLY SET THE BOY FREE..

CHORUS…..

GONNA BUY A CAR IN THE DDR
AND DRIVE IT TO BERLIN
STRAIGHT THROUGH THE WALL
TO HELL WITH ‘EM ALL
CAUSE YOU GOTTA GET OUT
TO GET IN

CHORUS…..

OH JESUS CAN YOU GIVE ME ANOTHER TASTE
I WANT TO HOLD YOU
BEFORE THEY LAY MY SOUL TO WASTE…

LIFE IS FINE

I’ve been trying to cope
With a bag full of dope
And a million women on my mind

With clouds in my eyes
And the changing of the life
I always thought, that love was blind

I remember the day,
The day you were born,
You came out ready to fight,
I sat down and cried,
Overwhelmed by the sight,
Of this beautiful love in your eyes,

Chorus
My life is fine,
With you in my mind,
When I go there,
I don’t feel alone,
Life is divine,
With you in my mind,
But it’s better,
When you’re in my arms

You brought me to tears,
And then came the fears,
Of the life and all of its lies,
The sad part I know,
Is I have to go,
And leave you alone in your life…

Don’t worry about me,
This life is fine,
You showed me just what to do,
When I’m feelin’ down,
I’ll just turn around,
And bring my heart back to you

ANGELS ON MY SHOULDER

Sometimes I can see
In the morning through my window
There’s a world a scrambling
to be free
And when I disappear for
the change of my skin
I’ll be found inside the mystery

And the angels on my shoulder
Take me on the road again
They’re pushing me to go now
I must begin again
And the angels on my shoulder
Telling me about you
And I’ll be there the very next
time I’m thru

I’ve only got a little time
To say the things I must
They’re comin’ to take me away

For a crime I committed a long
long time ago…
I don’t wanna care to spend
my life
Shadowed in lies so I go with
a smile by an’ by….

SYSTER FLY

Sisterin’ down the highway doing a hundred and nine
Sister fly’s makin’ time
Trying to beat the police to the country line
A voidin’ legal action for her life of crime

Oh sister fly’s out tonight if you got some time
She’ll relieve you of your story
Oh sister fly’s out tonight if you got some time
She’ll make some money on you

Started out to hustle at the age of ten
Learned about the bible but she turned around to sin
Claimed that the devil done took her in
And the only peace of mind was in a bottle of gin

Oh sister fly’s out tonight if you got some time
She will tell you a sad story
Oh sister fly’s out tonight if you got some time
You can get down and get a piece of glory

Sets up her tent then invites you in
Plays a little game and you think you gonna win
Look for your wallet and you find it’s gone
Tells you that’s the breaks so move along
She’ll get you into heaven, for a donation
Checkout the speech on reincanation
Give her a dollar if you wanna come back
But she’s gonna use the money for a Cadillac

Oh sister fly’s out tonight if you got some time
She will tell you a sad story
Oh sister fly’s out tonight if you got some time
She relieve you of your money and she’ll give you glory

Amen

I WANT TO THANK TONY AND ELIAS FOR THEIR NEVER ENDING SUPPORT. THE MUSICIANS IN THIS BAND ARE SOME OF THE BEST IN THE WORLD … ALL SOLO ARTISTs COMING TOGETHER FOR THIS PRODUCTION… ERIC FOR HIS SUPER GUITAR... MICHA EL FOR THE BEAT... STEFAN’S BRILLANT BASSWORK..ANDREJ’S VIOLIN PLAYING IS MAGIC.. MELISSA, MY DAUGHTER ... IS THE ANGEL … MARKO THE MAESTRO KNOWS THE RIGHT PLUGIN TO USE...  THIS MUSIC IS MADE LIVE WITH A LOT OF LOVE, POETRY AND HOPE THAT SOME HOW IT HELPS SOMEONE SOMEWHERE…  BOB LENOX  (JANUARY 2006)

Musicians

All guitars : Eric St-Laurent

Bass : Stefan Weeke

Drums : Michael Griener

Cello : Akira Ando, Solveigh Hubner

Violin : Andrej Sudnitsyn

Voice and Guitar : Bob Lenox

Featuring on “Life is fine” : Melissa Lenox

All words and music by : Bob Lenox

PRODUCED BY Tony BAILLARGEAT and Elias  BELLOUTI

Recorded and mixed by Marko Birkner at Studio P1, BERLIN
Mastered at Translab Studios, PARIS
Arrangements by Eric St-Laurent

Désign by Pierre Chatellier / Cover photography by Elias Bellouti and Susanne Schaefer-Doerrenberg / Interior photography by Tony Baillargeat, Elias Bellouti and Susanne Shaefer-Doerrenberg / Special Thanks to Susanne Doerrenberg, Andreas Flack, stéphane Moisset, Pierre Chatellier, Jessica and Thelma Aberg, Marlon Lenox, Salma Lahmer, Marwan Salim Camelia and Dalila Bellouti, Djibril, Phyllis Glaeser, Héliopolis Corporation. / All  tracks  published by  Kriminelle  Records  Coproduced by: Kriminelle Records / Général  Director: Elias Bellouti Artistic Director: Samuel Bouriahi / Communication Director: Stéphane Moisset Assistant Artistic Director: Pierre Chatellier

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