Jeff Bridges plans to release an album of long-lost recordings he created with a group of high school friends in the late 1970s. Titled Slow Magic and in stores on Record Store Day (April 12, then online April 13), the album came out of a cassette tape Bridges discovered. It features "Kong," named after the titular creature in the 1976 King Kong remake, which Bridges also starred in ("Kong" was technically inspired by never-made idea he had for a sequel). Also on the tracklist are "Here On This Island," "Obnoxious," and spoken-word monologues from the late Burgess Meredith, who is best known for playing the Penguin on the 1960s Batman TV series. "Obnoxious" is out now.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Bridges talks about how he and a group of high school friends would hang out on a weekly basis to jam and what the Dude would think of this collection:
I hold my dear buddy Steve Baim responsible for a lot of that [relaxed] vibe. We used to meet every Wednesday night at Baim’s house. We would jam, and there were rules. No [cover] songs allowed, but singing was encouraged, and you could jam with your voice and make up shit, but no planned songs. But I was writing songs at that time, and I would invite these guys over to do my songs, too. And then we got in cahoots with this guy, [musician and composer] Ken Lauber. I was doing a movie called Hearts Of The West [released in 1975], and I met Kenny. I played him some tunes in my trailer. He said, "Oh yeah, let’s record these."
I’ve got another person I hold majorly responsible, [film composer] Keefus Ciancia. After [2009’s] Crazy Heart, which T-Bone Burnett was instrumental in producing, I said, "Hey, Bone, I got a batch of songs, man, do you want to go back into the studio and do it?" So I went back there with the same band that did [Robert Plant and Alison Krauss'] Raising Sand. And during that session, I met this guy, Keefus Ciancia, who played keyboards and does music for True Detective. And then a few years after that album, we did a thing called Sleeping Tapes.
It’s this weird little series that we did on the cuff. It’s in the same spirit as the Wednesday-night jams.So Keefus and I did that together. We had a ball, and then Keefus says, "Hey, why don’t we come into the studio and let’s just see what comes out." So I went there with all my tunes that I had written, and he fell in love with this material. And I played him this album, which consisted of a little cassette. We had to find a way to play it. He loved it. And without telling me, he sent it to his buddy, Matt Sullivan, at this outfit called Light in the Attic that is into archival music. And he ended up digging it and wanted to make an album. And I said, "You’re kidding, man." He said, "No." I said, "OK."
Listen to "Obnoxious" below.
Slow Magic, 1977-1978 is out on 4/12 via Light In The Attic. Pre-order it here.
