You’ve heard his lyrics on classic albums like Dennis Wilson Pacific Ocean Blue and the Beach Boys Friends. His 1969 collaboration with Brian Wilson A World of Peace Must Come, gained near legendary status as one of pop’s most storied lost albums before being resurrected to great acclaim by Light in the Attic Records in 2008. His songs have been performed by the likes of Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Paul McCartney, Steve Cropper, PF Sloan, and Diana Ross. Now, you are cordially invited to take a trip into the mind of poet and songwriter Stephen J. Kalinich.
Heyday Again Records (helmed by reissue maven and counterculture author Pat Thomas) presents I Love My Life – confirmed for release on Friday July 11, a postcard from one of the last-standing poets of peace and excitation. The album, which is available for preorder here or here, is credited to Stephen J. Kalinich and Friends and produced by Milo Binder, and Willie Aron (Thee Holy Brothers, The Third Mind) - marks a stylistic departure from Kalinich’s earlier works in that it eschews the format of a collection of poems with accompanying scores in favor of songs that Kalinich and Binder co-wrote that alternate with a series of spoken-word performances that Kalinich improvised online during the global pandemic.
“Stevie (Kalinich) and I decided to have weekly phone sessions that took place every Sunday just before the pandemic shut down the world,” said Milo Binder. “When we had enough songs, we decided to record them. I wanted to do something different with Stevie this time around; his filmed posts on social media were sincere and soulful, they addressed his life as well as the world in its current state; it seemed that having them transcribed for audio to follow each song was a unique and timely way to present the album to the world.”
Binder and Kalinich enlisted his longtime friend and collaborator Aron - who had accompanied Kalinich in concert many times and produced Binder’s critically acclaimed album The Unspeakable Milo Binder, also released on Heyday Again - to co-produce the album with them. “Willie is my closest friend and the person whom I have relied upon the most to fulfill whatever musical obsessions pop into my head; he was a perfect fit for this record.”
Kalinich - who first garnered acclaim for writing the lyrics for “Little Bird” and “Be Still” on The Beach Boys’ understated classic album from 1968, Friends - has been unwavering in his fervent desire for the arrival of peace on earth; he attests, “I have been writing poems about world peace well before the Sixties’ peace movement; this has been a constant theme in my life for decades.” After all, this is the same artist who titled his debut album, A World Of Peace Must Come, done in collaboration with Brian Wilson in 1969. The themes that he explores on I Love My Life - homelessness, aging, gratitude, narcissism, and other topics - are universal, hard-hitting, and passionate, delivered with a heart full of soul, yet imbued with the spirit of grace and humility that has marked all of his previous works.
I Love My Life features vocal and instrumental contributions by Randell Kirsch (Beach Boys, Jan & Dean), LuAnn Olson, Rob Bonfiglio (Wilson Phillips), and other musicians and singers. The album was recorded at Pasadena’s The Pie Studios and engineered by Jeff Peters, who has worked with the Beach Boys collectively and individually for over forty years.
Kalinich sums up his feelings about the album thusly: “The recording of this album took place during a vulnerable time in our world. But working with Milo and Willie and the other remarkable musicians was such a joyful, satisfying experience, it gave me the energy and confidence to persevere. I am immensely proud of this album, and I’m hopeful that it touches the hearts of those who listen to it.”
Track Listing:
1. Preamble
2. Today
3. What Would Love Do?
4. If I Could Write the Poem
5. Beyond Frightened
6. Change
7. The First One to Heal Is Yourself 8. There Is a Loneliness
9. Across Bridges
10. The Divine
11. Down This Road
12. Enjoy Your Life
13. I Love My Life
