The Human's decision to record "Connection."
Connection of course is a Rolling Stones song. The lyrics are mostly by Keith Richards. It is on "Between the Buttons," released in 1967. It's about being stranded in an airport and can't get no Connection. (Everything is going....in the wrong direction) Of course Keith has his bags full of drugs and is worried about getting busted. (again) The reference to the Dr. wanting to give them more and more injections refers to all the situations you face regarding health when you travel to other countries, so immunizations are needed. And of course in the end, all he wants to do is, "get back to you." You assume a loved one.
In 1974, this song was included on the Montrose LP "Paper Money." The Human, being a big Montrose fan, had recently purchased a remastered copy. Their version of "Connection," grabbed him. Struck a chord with him to the point where he started wondering about recording it. He sent the track to Jerry Leal at Pyramid Studio in Fresno where he recorded his last CD Humanize, and asked him what he thought about it. He said, "I got a guy who can handle this track." A week or so went by and The Human finally said, lets do it.
Rich Willimech of Fresno, and a friend/partner of Jerry Leal got to work on it and brought some of the basic tracks in. The Human was very impressed at the quality. He knew he had his work cut out laying a solid vocal to go with it. And the intial scratch vocal was real rough around the edges and timing and phrasing needed much work. He got the track from Jerry, stopped listening to the Sammy Hager vocal and just started working his own with the song. He also started to feel and see places where harmonies could really punch up the song and give it much more soul and feeling. A Human trademark in his music is the use of properly placed powerful harmonies to add to the power of the track. The main vocal track took a couple of sessions to finally get it right. Sharon-Jordan Leal was brought in to add more soul to the harmonies and put icing on the cake with her killer vocal work. These harmonies do add power and soul, and create an ambience not found in Montrose version. Rick Willimitch added some smoky harmonica in key places to further add to the ambiance. The Harmonies at the end blended with the raw reverb soaked harmonica take the song to new heights in the most subliest of ways. In the end, Human's version of Connection stands with all others. A powerful, soulful tour de force. So enjoy this nugget from The Human Project. It was fun to make and work with this group of talented people, and their contributions shine on the track. Power and emotion. Personified.
The people involved with Connection are:
Rick Willimitch Guitars, Bass, Drums, Harmonica
The Human Vocals, harmonies, percussion.
Sharon Jordan Leal back-up vocals, harmonies
The track is produced by The Human and Jerry Leal.
Recorded the last 2 weeks of May, 2018.
Pyramid Studio, Fresno, CA
Connection is not for sale on any music distributions sites
at this time.
