High Moon Records releases the long shelved 1977 album from acclaimed singer songwriter David Forman, produced by Jack Nitzsche and featuring an all star cast of Los Angeles musicians
by Paul Cashmere
Nearly fifty years after it was recorded and quietly shelved, David Forman’s long lost second album Who You Been Talking To has finally arrived. Released today by High Moon Records, the album captures a singular songwriter at the peak of his creative powers, supported by one of the most formidable studio line ups assembled in 1970s Los Angeles and guided by legendary producer Jack Nitzsche.
Recorded in Hollywood in late summer 1977 for Arista Records, Who You Been Talking To was meant to follow Forman’s acclaimed self titled debut. That first album had drawn attention for its literate songwriting and distinctive voice, positioning Forman among a generation of American writers redefining soul, pop and street poetry. Expectations were high when he returned to the studio, but despite the strength of the recordings, the album was never released and the tapes were placed into storage, effectively halting his recording career.
The sessions took place at The Sound Factory on Selma Avenue, engineered by Dave Hassinger, whose résumé included work with The Rolling Stones and Frank Sinatra. Nitzsche brought depth and scale to the arrangements, surrounding Forman’s elastic, emotionally charged vocals with textured keyboards, sweeping strings and rhythm sections drawn from the top tier of West Coast players. Among them were Ry Cooder, Jim Keltner, David Lindley, Tim Drummond, Fred Tackett and Flaco Jiménez, musicians whose collective credits read like a map of American popular music.
The album opens with the title track Who You Been Talking To, a smoky, Motown inflected groove that sets the tone for a record steeped in doo wop harmony, Brill
Building craft and late 70s sophistication. A-Train Lady draws on New York subway imagery with classic soul propulsion, while Let It Go Now pairs Forman’s falsetto with cavernous production and surf styled guitar figures. Elsewhere, Little Asia unfolds as a cinematic ballad, its atmosphere enriched by Cooder’s Colombian tiple, and Midnight Mambo leans into nocturnal rhythm and romance.
Forman’s background informs every corner of the album. Raised in Brooklyn, he absorbed street corner harmony singing before moving through folk rock circles and eventually crossing paths with Aaron and Charles Neville, who backed an early demo that helped launch his career. Beyond music, his life intersected with downtown New York art and film, including work on Robert Downey Sr.’s Greaser’s Palace and a long association with photographer Peter Hujar, whose images now appear throughout the album’s deluxe packaging.
The journey to release began decades later when a group of friends rediscovered Forman’s debut album and tracked him down, curious about rumours of a second record. That meeting set in motion a campaign to locate the tapes. After a winding path involving reel to reel copies sent to Hal Willner and the eventual discovery of rough mixes in the archive of Jack Nitzsche Jr., the album was restored and mastered by Steve Addabbo, who carefully lifted Forman’s vocals from Nitzsche’s dense, layered productions.
High Moon Records has presented Who You Been Talking To with the care it long deserved. The release includes extensive liner notes by journalist Joe Hagan, new interviews with Forman and key collaborators, rare photography by Hujar and previously unseen memorabilia. The artwork and presentation echo how the album might have appeared had it been issued in 1977, completing a story interrupted for nearly half a century.
Sophisticated, soulful and rooted in lived experience, Who You Been Talking To restores David Forman to the narrative of great American singer songwriters of the 1970s. It stands not as a historical curio but as a fully realised album, resonant and alive, finally taking its place in the catalogue where it always belonged.
Who You Been Talking To
(High Moon Records)
Tracklist:
01 Who You Been Talking To
02 A-Train Lady
03 Thirty Dollars
04 Painted in a Corner
05 Let It Go Now
06 Midnight Mambo
07 Little Asia
08 What Is So Wonderful
09 We Both Talk Too Much
10 Losing
11 Now That I Told You
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