Drums & Demons: The Tragic Journey of Jim Gordon : diversionbooks... Backline: Mental Health + Wellness for the Music Industry: Drums & Demins Playlist: open.spotify.c...
Awesome, Now that's what I'm talking about. Real Interview about Rock N Roll not the same ol Boring Shit that's been going on these Vinyl Channels. Bravo Mazzy! Lead The Way!!!!
Jim Gordon drummed on so many of my first loved records. At age 14, so many changes, I switched from stage band drummer to guitar, started getting high, and going to a lot of shows.. Shadowing his drum parts, and adding a second part was fun. At the time.. ( 1971-72 ) I didn’t always realize that it was Jim on different records.
Thanks Mazzy and thank you Joel! I had just finished the book (I’m a drummer who always worshipped both Jim Gordon AND D&theDominoes) and it’s a stunner, at both ends of the highs (Jim’s amazing, one-of-a-kind natural gift) and lows (the horrific depths of his illness & the result.) Good coverage here, and Thank YOU Mr. Selvin for the even-handed telling of this true tragedy.
Great interview with Joel Selvin! I grew up reading Mr Selvins work in the Chronicle! Important work on Gordon’s life! He was a brilliant drummer and his work needs to be brought to the light!!
Thank you for the insight. A delicate and important topic (mental illness) referenced. A terrible affliction for anyone. Your stellar work, knowledge and output is appreciated Mazzy.
Wow! This is an amazing interview with Joel Selvin on the tragic life of an amazingly gifted artist. I hope that one day our culture will stop stigmatizing the need to address our mental health. Thanks again for a channel that entertains, informs and challenges.
Great interview. Selvin is very clear and concise with his answers (He's like this with most interviews I've seen) which helps the flow of the interview. Mazzy let him talk, key to a good interview. Helps also that you both lived thru thru the era and have a common love for it.
Great interview. I saw Jackson Browne on tour in ‘78 in support of Running on Empty and Jim Gordon was the drummer. Likely one of his last gigs. Of course I was familiar with him from D&D and all his other album credits. I also remember the Rolling Stone expose on his condition and his murder conviction. Tragic story.
Mazzy must say this is the best VC video/ interview I’ve watched all year. The way the subject of Jim,s mental illness was covered was sympathetically and sensitively done by you both and you should be very proud of this video. Both me and my partner have worked in this field for the last decade and agreed with Jim on his analysis of schizophrenia particularly the staggering amount of people who suffer and use drugs to self medicate themselves to get some form of release. Thanks to Jim for writing his book and bringing some understanding to the tragic life and fantastic musical career of Jim Gordon. Peace and Love to you both from the UK 🇬🇧
Thank you Mazzy. Thank you for your guest. Love hearing your stories, this one I didn’t know, but love how thoroughly you did this video. I learned a lot from this.
Thank you for doing this interview Mazzy. What a tragic and moving fate for a very talented musician. I first became aware of Jim Gordon in 1975 when he played drums with Jim Keltner (who I now understand was a close friend) on the Sheffield Lab "I've Got The Music In Me" album.Working at a HiFi store at that time, we used this excellent (sounding) album to demonstrate the equipment with.
Great video and interview Mazzy! I grew up in the East Bay (Concord) and my parents subscribed to the Chronicle and as a teen I always looked forward to getting the Sunday edition with the "Pink Section" which had the listing of all upcoming concerts and shows, as well as the column by Joel Selvin with his reviews which I read every week.
Great interview, Mazzy. Just yesterday picked up a copy of Thelma Houston & Pressure Cooker's I've Got the Music In Me. Fantastic drumming from Jim (and Jim Keltner
Great interview Mazzy. Joel's recall of Jim Gordon's history and your knowledge of Jim's career is really good. BTW, if Jim Gordon did what he did to Rita Coolidge, to Joni Mitchell, David Geffen would have owned him.
Thanks, Mazzy & Joel. What a tragic story. I am looking forward to the Drums & Demons playlist. Also it would be great, Mazzy, to do a Rick Nelson deep dive. After all, no "In Concert at the Troubadour, 1969" LP-no Eagles (imho).
Very well done interview. I had already pre-ordered before it was halfway through. I'm looking forward to reading the book. And yes, hopefully discussing it on some livestreams with you.
Can’t wait for the book to come on Tuesday! I’ve researched Jims life quite a bit myself over the years I’m hoping there is some good interviews with his ex wife and daughter explaining there point of views on the whole situation. Mr selvin have you have any information on what happened to Jim after he died as far a a burial site or a cremation. It’s kind of a shame how his family just washed their hands of him. I guess he was so far gone
I grew up reading Joel Selvin's articles in the Chronicle, and he was the first page that I read. And don't forget that there was a lot of pages in those days.I was wondering if he was still around. He wrote some good books also during the halcyon days of my youth.
A fine interview about a tragic story. Jim Gordon was one of my favourite drummers and you could recognise his style immediately. The Dominoes' 'Bell Bottom Blues' or Steely Dans' 'Any Major Dude Will Tell You' for example, among many. Mazzy, did you ever read the horror episode as told by Chris O Dell in her book about Jim chasing her around the house until the doorbell rang and Jim answering the door to Robert Stigwood? It was so sad that a diagnosis was not made early.
Thanks for this video. Regarding the behavior towards women during Gordon's career, Kay Redfield Jamison in her biography of the poet Robert Lowell writes movingly of how Lowell's recurring bipolar episodes were a constant source of dread (when will the next one come?) and remorse (how badly did I behave?) throughout what should have been a "charmed" life. It doesn't excuse what happened but makes you realize the entrapment mental illness can have for those who are its victims.
Great Video and I cant wait to read the book Jims drumming on Power to the People makes that song His work with Zappa again spectacular Sad figure and I hope with the times and conversations like this people who need it find help and peace Jim Gordon , Peter Greene , Syd Barrett , Nick Drake , Skip Spence all casualties to mental breaks And many anonymous people who are siblings , parents or Children Sorry to get heavy but this is a call for anyone to help anyway you can your local mental health centers are they are all underfunded
Bobby whitlock has talked about how the coda ended up on layla and his account of events is completely different from what Joel is talking about. I'm sure Bobby's past comments about Jim stealing the coda is probably in this book, but he doesn't back up Rita's claim now. When I started watching his RU-vid videos I was shocked to see that he would come to Jim's defense when people accused Jim of stealing from Rita. BTW the reason why the coda wasn't on the single is because Bobby threw a fit about the coda and that's why it was left off
Yeah I’ve seen that. But Rita was treated pretty badly. And I’m nit even referring to he she was punched around. And I realized it was Jin’s mental illness
A sad and important subject-schizophrenia. Mental illness is a part of our lives and we need to make a greater effort to understand it. Art of course as a venue for self-expression often presents some of the darker sides of the artist in the work. However, the connection between depression and suicide, and whatever links may be made to schizophrenia, are important to publicize. Is a reference to schizophrenia what we hear in the Cheap Trick lyric for 'Voices', "You didn't know what you were lookin' for/ 'Til you heard the voices in your ear"? Symptoms of mental illness are not dealt away by self-medicating with booze and narcotics. Yet it is interesting to hear Joel say how the drugs used for treating Jim Gordon may have been even more severe. On to the music... Massy has done a video, and I have always pondered the connection between Delaney & Bonnie, Eric Clapton, Derek and the Dominos, George Harrison, Mad Dogs and Englishmen, Concert for Bangladesh, etc. Or 1969 as the year the Beatles played on the roof and the gear was finally available to produce 'Live Shows' like Woodstock. However, Joel's list adds even more bands and some the other stand out tracks of the era: Traffic, Merle Haggard, Judy Collins, Steely Dan, Tom Waits, John Denver, Gary Puckett & the Union Gap, Good Vibrations, After midnight, Different Drum, Marakesh Express, River Deep, Mountain High (Phil Spector), The beat goes on, Everybody's Talkin', What is life, Layla, You're So Vain, It Never Rains in California, Sundown, Diamonds and Rust (Joan Baez), There's a Kind of Hush (Carpenters), Rocking Pneumonia, Ricky Don't Lose That Number, You're So Vain, Midnight at the Oasis, Pretzel Logic, Woman, Woman, Coconut by Harry Nilsson, Beat Goes On, Expecting to Fly, Only You Know and I Know (Delaney & Bonnie, studio version), Rockford Files Theme, ... and Power to the People . These are sounds that have always caught my imagination and make Jim a start alumnus of the Wrecking Crew. It finally makes sense that the drummer is the thread running through all this music... I wonder what Ringo thought of Jim Gordon's drumming? The story about Rita Coolidge writing the piano outro to Leyla and writing 'Superstar,' which the Carpenters put over the moon, is just so heart-wrenching. Has there ever been any legal settlement, or official recognition I wonder?
Bobby whitlock who was Jim's Bandmate in derek and the dominos, is on record saying Rita had absolutely nothing to do with the writing of the song superstar. He addresses it on one of his RU-vid videos titled superstar. Go check it out.
Just to point this out, the “unplugged” version of LAYLA that Clapton did and won the grammy for did NOT contain that CODA section or the melody on that part. It is only the main progression and vocal melody part slowed down, which is essentially how Clapton wrote it as you pointed out that whole piano driven end section was recorded later and edited on to the original long album version recorded with Derek and the Dominoes. Jim Gordons story is so tragic but his work remains documented on thousands of recordings.
I just got that Mason Williams LP and it's great - IMO "Classical Gas" does not represent the highlight of that record. Side 1 is fantastic! ...Hey, I thought you sold your records - are you "recollecting" like I am? I sold my 1st LP collection over 20 years ago - they're not 3/$1.00 in the budget bins this time!
A very interesting listen, I wish there was some decent interviews with him to see. If he was a singer it would be a bit easier to get a better idea of the man.
Clapton won the Emmy for the acoustic version of Layla. Why fault him for not mentioning Gordon? I prefer to view Gordon as a session musician and let it go at that.
Because the songwriting and publishing is credited to both Clapton & Gordon. Since it first came out. Just because you rearrange it or leave a portion out shouldn’t matter.
I love Derek & The Dominos but man I could give a shit about Jim Gordon. Does the average person even know who Jim Gordon is? I doubt even the most avid music aficionado would know. No one under the age of 70 will buy this book (boomer book). It's bad enough no one even buys books anymore. The guy will be lucky to sell 10 books. Let's hope this guy didn't sink a ton of money in this book.
Actually those who know records and musicians from around 68 through most of the 70s know him. Gordon was one of the main go to drummers by musicians and producers. Combining physical copies and downloads, the book is now number one in the music and arts category. ✌🏼
Wow, scary comment. I knew. Maybe instead of being so negative you could take the time to appreciate all the research Selvin did on Gordon's tragic life, shedding light on mental illness and thank Mazzy for the great job he did. But as you said "You could probably give a shit". Go back to your insulated narcissistic world and leave us that want to learn something alone. And how do you know who will and will not buy this book?
I only know the name but I’m going to get this book, partly due to interviews like this. I also respect Selvin as a writer given his definitive book on Altamont.
