Daze Of The Night from ‘Heal My Soul’ (Convexe Entertainment 2016)
Welcome to the latest installment of our Essential series. Today, we return to ‘Heal My Soul’ to focus on ‘Daze Of The Night‘, the stunning lead off single from that critically acclaimed ‘lost’ Jeff Healey album. (Please note: not to be confused with the rough demo version released on the ‘House on Fire’ compilation. The version on HMS is a completely different recording, containing Jeff’s finished performances.)
One of several tracks during this period to be co-written by Marti Frederiksen, Daze is a freight train, a relentless showcase for Jeff’s powerful voice and masterful guitar.
“I first met Jeff in 1998 …I would just sit there and watch him (play) in awe. It was so cool.” – Marti Frederiksen
As with most of Heal My Soul, Daze Of The Night is cemented in the rock solid foundation of Jeff’s long time collaborator and friend, Joe Rockman on bass, and the incredible Dean Glover on drums.
I have a very vivid memory of Jeff playing me early versions of Daze and the great Tim Beatie penned ‘Baby Blue’ on cassette shortly after they were recorded. He was very proud of the work he’d done and rightly so. I was completely floored. His guitar playing and vocals had a powerful urgency, that although a live performance staple, seemed lacking in most of Jeff’s recorded output. To top it off, Daze Of The Night was quite possibly one of the strongest rock songs Jeff had written in the better part of a decade. It was however, destined to languish on a shelf for almost 20 years… (For more on that side of the story, please check HERE)
“Pfft… I want 10 of those on an album. That’s got me written all over it. I love it! I could listen to rock like that all day.” -musician, Danko Jones
Under different circumstances, this track should have ushered in a new golden era in Jeff’s Rock & Blues career. Instead, its fate serves as a metaphor for that time period. Jeff’s professional and personal life were both in turmoil. As related elsewhere, what should have been several months of recording leading to a new album release turned into almost 4 years. Writing, recording, writing… Perspectives became cloudy.
Ultimately, only a fraction of what was recorded during this period yielded the JHB’s final studio record, the year 2000 release, Get Me Some. The album contained some incredible work, but arguably the best of these sessions remained behind. It would be another 16 years before these remarkable tracks were resurrected and finally given the attention they deserved…
So, crank your speakers and push play! I dare you not to break into a grin when Jeff cuts loose in the solo.
Peace.
Rog
#MarchIsHealeyMonth
Sounds awesome good to hear some more of Jeff, miss him.
I saw him live in San Diego at the outdoor star light bowl. Balboa park in the 90’s.What a great show he put on.
Again I feel humbled though awed at the same time listening to this Daze of the Night track. How many musicians have any of us seen during our lifetime that has had the intensity of passion that Jeff Healey had during his time here on earth with us? We’ve all seen guitarists that stunned us with their being one with something like “a guitar.” It’s not just because he had no physical sight that made him great because some of us already know his talent came from a place far deeper and personal that most others. To see Jeff live was something I can only remember now as the loss of him being here with us will forever feel strangely real like something being stolen from this place kind of like a personal thing. Of course I’m only speaking from experience at watching him spin in circles on one foot while playing behind his head or with his teeth that gave everyone there who knows what was involved knowledge of Jeff’s unlimited ability to give all he had during every live performance. I have the notion Jeff enjoyed playing the smaller venues the most like when I saw him at the “Little Bear” saloon in Evergreen Colorado about a year before his passing. Further I’m sure I’ll never see another show with as much intensity as I did at that new years eve show in 1999. From the bottom of my heart I will never forget that night and hope his lovely wife Cristie Healey will to continue to offer up live performance audio and video shows for us all to feel that magic the best we can.