many times. With “Good Lovin’, ” he said, “Man, you got it.” I said, “No, I think we got another one in us.” And he said, “No, you got it, man!” After it became a number one record, I was a believer. He knew! When the Rascals made their first record, we were a live band, not a recording band. We had to learn how to sing on a mic. We spent a lot of time finding sounds. Today you can just pop in a sample that somebody worked for months on. Atlantic’s in-house wizard engineer/producer had a mutual respect for the Rascals as well: “They were a macho band,” Dowd once said. “Three of them could sing like birds, but they played aggressively, even on ballads. There was an energy to them, a positive energy. They put on a great show, and they were fun.” Felix Cavaliere: Tom had good ideas about music, but he kind of backed off with Arif there. He knew he wasn’t needed. After a while, Tommy left to work on other projects. Between Arif and me, we had it covered. Arif was unbelievable. I don’t know what to say about him other than thank God I had the pleasure and privilege to work with him. Believe me, I know I’m a lucky guy. Now if I could only dunk, then I’d be happy! Felix had to go and promised to get back to me a few days later. That night I called Lenny Kaye, legendary punk guitarist, author (check out his latest book, You Call It Madness ), and producer of
tilled. All we had to do was throw some seeds in and they grew. The environment at Atlantic Records was made for music. You were in the room where John Coltrane recorded. You could feel that presence, that life. Everyone there was interested in making the greatest music they could make. It was a great family, and I was so proud to be part of it, believe me. Sounds like a dream come true. I was twentysomethin’ and walked into the room with the boy wonder—Tommy Dowd and this guy from Turkey who talked like Count Dracula. [Arif] was a Berklee professor with a bow tie who could tell me anything I wanted to know about music. I’d sit down with him at the piano and play him what I thought the chart would be, then he played it for me, and I’d go “ Oh! ” It was a joyous experience. In those days, you had more latitude and could stretch out. We were the producers. We were in charge and had free studio time. It was incredible. Wilson Pickett, rest his soul, used to get very angry: [ in a gravelly voice ] “Man, I can never get in the room with those Rascals in there.” So as long as we were makin’ hits, it was fine. What was it like working with Tom Dowd? Tommy was well established before he met us. He was so far ahead of us. I’d say, “Tom, I’d like to try this,” and he’d say, “I al- ready did that an hour ago, you got any more ideas?” He taught me how to make it happen in the room, the same way jazz artists did. Make it happen and then stop the tape. I saw him do that
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Photograph: Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images.
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