Hey all,
Thanks for the great comments. To be honest I wasn?t sure how the picture would be received. But I should have known, a forum dedicated to Alembics would be full of classy folks with taste and intelligence. (flattery fully intended). A few notes of clarification
1. No the model does not perform on the album, shes a local amateur singer and coincidentally my barber. :-) She is possessed of a very beautiful voice tho?
2. The reason for the choice of photos for the album had to do with the name of the disc. With a name like ?Above And Beyond The Call Of Beauty? I couldn?t very well put my ugly mug on the cover now could I? I wanted to create an album cover that guys would notice right away but didn?t want to use some ?supermodel? type woman. Instead I wanted to use women who were more or less people you would meet everyday. These models all had done something to themselves that in their eyes improved themselves. The cover model had just completed a series of amazing tattoos that told the story of her life. Unfortunatly the photos didn?t turn out as well as I wanted so I couldn?t use them. Another woman had just lost around 50lbs by changing her lifestyle and yet another was a woman in her mid 40?s who as an athlete at the top of her division nationally and was in the most amazing physical/athletic shape. Each had done something that was ?Above and beyond the call of beauty? I was attempting to show everyone can be beautiful in the right setting. (Don?t know how close I got but that was what I was attempting at least) J
3. The inspiration for the album photography came from a few favorite albums I own, Stanley Clarke?s ?If This Bass Could Only Talk?, Brian Bromberg?s ?You Know The Feeling? and Al DiMeola?s ?Flesh on Flesh?. Two albums that utilize the beauty of the female form in a classy and tasteful manner that leave much to the imagination and hence, therein lie the appeal. I was also very influenced by the erotic photography of Hans Austin Feld.
www.Hafdigital.com (warning: some adult images)
4. Dela217: Yep that?s John Prock?s old bass. I was completely shocked to see someone know it! Were you the original owner? There is actually a great story regarding how I got it and why John will always be considered a ?Gentleman among Gentlemen? in my mind. John ended up selling that bass to a fella in Livermore over 15 years ago and had long lost track of it. When I asked him to help locate an Alembic for me, he remembered who he sold it to, tracked the guy down (who had moved in the iterim) and made the deal for me that landed that little beauty in my arms. Additionally he even quasi loaned me some of the money to get it and helped me sell an Epic to make up the difference. I bought the bass for an extremely fair price, (roughly 1/6th what they go for now). And will always be grateful to him. It had been kept under a bed in a spare bedroom in its original flight case. When I received it I the brass and strings were black!. I took the bass completely apart, restored all the metal and reassembled the thing. I also sent the case back to Anvil to be refurbished. The Gel they used back then had liquefied over time and the bass was resting on its own ?water bed? When Anvil restored the case, I even had them put back the laminated Alembic business card that had been riveted to the case. The card reads John Prock Artist and Relations. I intend to have the truss rod cover recessed and engraved with the words ?Thanks John? but haven?t had time to send it to Santa Rosa to have this done. Perhaps this year. If anyone knows John they know what a great guy he is and how much of an amazing player he is. You?ll never see it on stage but when offstage and when he thinks your not paying attention he can rip out some of the most amazing slap licks on the planet. A true bass player?s bass player.
5. yes I will take some pics of the instrument when I get back from NAMM and post them here. I have some more pics of the instrument (unfortunately with my ugly mug too) on the website so If you want to see more until then please feel free.
Btw if you look at the graphic for the disc on the website, you?ll see my late 80?s kawaii FIIb with Alembic 20th anniversary Electronics that John helped me get and Bob Malone installed for me. Anyway enough of all that. Thanks again for your kind words and support and I hope y?all get a chance to check out the album. I think y?all will enjoy it.
thanks again and sorry for the long post.
bob
