This CD was conceived and produced to be the soundtrack of the movie based on Ingo Swann's best-seller, Star Fire. It was originally described as "a space-rock-disco-opera" and is guaranteed to get your body in motion as it stimulates your mind and soul. Ingo writes: "Hear the beat from the heart / of the universe...help you thrive."
In the 1970s, the field of human potential was exploding, and scientists in many countries were exploring the expanded capabilities of extended sensory perception. As we've learned years after their research was declassified, the leading remote viewing researchers in this country were the team of Ingo Swann, Russell Targ and Hal Putoff. Unbeknownst to me, their lab was just a few miles from where I was living at the time.
One fine day in 1977, I received a phone call at home from Ingo Swann. A mutual friend had introduced him to my music. I had read an article about him in Reader's Digest, so I was aware of his international reputation as being able to be given longitude and latitude coordinates on a map and somehow he'd be able to go there with his mind and draw a picture of what kind of buildings or landscape were at that location.
I remember how surprised I was when he said, “I've just written a best-selling novel, and I want you to write the songs for the soundtrack for the movie that will be made from the book.”
STAR FIRE (the book) and STAR CHILDREN (the album)
Each chapter in STAR FIRE begins with lyrics that reference quantum physics, remote viewing and other juicy topics, composed and sung by the main character, a rock star who becomes super-psychic and discovers ominous doomsday weapons that he wants to have both the US and USSR destroy before they destroy the planet.
At that point in my career, I had released just three meditative albums. And yet, Ingo handed me the lyrics to the songs and told me, “I'll be back in four months. I want you to compose and arrange the songs. Hire musicians so we can record the album in time to coordinate with the release date of the book.”
How could Ingo have known that I'd be up to the task? (Could the character in the book have been somewhat auto-biographical?) He could not have known that eight years earlier, I had composed and arranged several rock and pop songs for my 8 piece band while I was still an undergraduate at the University of Buffalo (SUNY at Buffalo). More on that long-lost recording in next month's newsletter.
In any case, I accepted the challenge. It turned out to be an amazing experience. If you've only heard my healing music, you may be surprised by much of this album, which includes elements of rock, pop, disco and jazz. There are also, of course, a few meditative interludes that were to be included, as a way to introduce mainstream movie audiences to my relaxing and healing compositions.
At the studio I recorded at, I met the leading Bay Area disco band called Santa Esmeralda, and hired them, minus their lead singer, as the musicians for the session.
As we soon discovered, working with Ingo Swann in the studio was a unique experience. Indeed, after we recorded the blisteringly hot first song, the guys in the band looked at each other and said, "Whew! What got into us?"
We turned to see Ingo just smiling a huge Cheshire cat grin. Although he wouldn't discuss it with us, it was clear he was beaming each of us some special energy, and that is part of the magic of this album. It's much more than just the notes....and it's why I think the music will take you for a ride on what Ingo calls “the psychic starship.”
When the LP came out, it featured one of Ingo's incredible paintings on the cover. This image was part of a series that were exhibited at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC. The cover art alone is a collector's item. Several years ago, I saw one of the albums selling on eBay for $50. I recently found a few unopened copies in my archives, and if you're interested, they’ll be available after July 1, 2010 on my website.
