Acoustic Sounds
It All Comes Down to Mood
By: Michael Fremer

September 10th, 2024

Category:

Interviews

Patrick Leonard and I Discuss His New Album "It All Comes Down To Mood"

and you get to hear some of the tracks

Patrick Leonard's new "prog rock" extravaganza It All Comes Down to Mood, released at the end of August is now on sale at www.acousticsounds.com, www.elusivedisc.com and at www.musicdirect.com. It's a double LP 180g vinyl set with cover art by Storm, which did DSOTM all those years ago, and features Tony Levin and John Patituchi on bass, plus Martin Barre, Ian Anderson many other greats and of course PL himself is a multi-instrumental keyboard wiz.

Leonard co-wrote and produced songs for Leonard Cohen's final three records, all of Madonna's early records, Roger Waters' Amused to Death and Elton John's Songs From the West Coast, and Bryan Ferry's Bête Noire (he co-wrote five songs), among his many writing and producing credits. It's a musical and sonic spectacular and has enthusiastic endorsements from Elton and Todd Rundgren among others.

You'll hear for yourself as well spin tracks in between talking about Leonard's incredible career as a musician and producer. Kevin Killen engineered and mixed, Bob Ludwig mastered, Chris Bellman cut the lacquers, Dorin Saurbier at RTI plated and RTI pressed. I'm credited as "Vinyl Shepherd", meaning I produced the vinyl version of album, seeing it through from files to finished record. .

Also, you'll have an opportunity to hear the new Audio Technica ART-1000x cartridge and McIntosh's $2000 MP100 phono preamp with defeatable built-in A/D converter. I'll review that as soon as possible.

I couldn't use my Lynx HiLo converter because the Thunderbolt cable went bad and they are not made anymore so I had to order one from China that may or may not work, but this $2000 McIntosh piece borrowed from my friends at SkyFi Audio is USB-based and sounds really good. You'll hear both its phono pre and A/D in these recordings.

 

Comments

  • 2024-09-11 08:46:08 AM

    James Ellis wrote:

    I purchased this LP via Bandcamp and it arrived in late August. I have played it 3 or 4 times and I am seriously impressed. Musically it has some Pink Floyd and later Leonard Cohen influences but it is its own thing and ultimately I have really enjoyed listening to it. Sonically it's excellent, as you would expect with Bob Ludwig and Chris Bellman involved. I have a feeling that this recording will generate a lot of interest and I hope that is the case. 9/10 for music and 9/10 for sound.

  • 2024-09-11 05:26:42 PM

    HiFiMark wrote:

    Sounds strikingly good even on my MacBook speakers.

    OK, I give in. Ordered. Good interview, great song samples.

    And I am trying to stop buying so many records...

  • 2024-09-20 10:36:29 PM

    Wayne wrote:

    Worth owning for all the talent alone. You might not here it at a show but you really should own a copy fun fun fun.

    • 2024-09-20 11:48:13 PM

      Wayne wrote:

      I actually did pass second grade spelling.

      • 2024-10-05 06:23:18 PM

        Michael Fremer wrote:

        Do you want me to ficks it? It's not too bad an error, not like when I spelled it "Billy Holiday" and it was in print!