Richard Clapton Channels David Crosby For New Album ‘Music Is Love’ - Noise11.com
Richard Clapton, Photo Ros O'Gorman

Richard Clapton, Photo Ros O'Gorman

Richard Clapton Channels David Crosby For New Album ‘Music Is Love’

by Paul Cashmere @paulcashmere on March 22, 2021

in News

Richard Clapton has referred back 50 years for the nucleus of his new album ‘Music Is Love 1966-1970’. The title track is a David Crosby song which has special meaning for Richard.

“I’ve always been aware of Crosby’s history and in the fact that the latter days of The Byrds there were a lot of problems,” Richard Clapton tells Noise11.com. “I hear he had been going through a tough period. What he said in a recent interview was that his first solo album was something he had to do because he got so heavily into drugs and was distraught. He was a very damaged human being at the time.

“By that time I had moved to Berlin and I had a German band. The German band had an amazing guitar player called Ziggy. Ziggy got into the David Crosby album because each song had a different guitar tuning which attracted him. That was the first time I had gotten into smoking pot. Pot and Crosby go together. Ziggy and I listened to that album over and over again.

The Clapton version of the Crosby song came together with help from Richard’s guitarist Danny Spencer. “Fast forward decades, Danny Spencer, who I have been playing with for 22 years, is an aficionado of this genre of music,” Richard says. “Early in my relationship with Danny I got Danny into this album and Danny just ate it up. ‘Music Is Love’ is not an easy song to reproduce. Danny ended up doing all of it himself. It’s a strange song, it has strange tuning, everything about the song is strange. Danny had total control of the song”.

Recording ‘Music Is Love’ began in Sydney had had to be finished off remotely because of Covid. “The other thing I have to say is we recorded it with bandtracks at a studio in Sydney called Rancom, which is owned by Garth Porter. Rancom is great because it’s very authentic, it has all the old gear, old mics, old outboard gear which gives you that authentic old sound. Then we had to have time off because three of the boys play with Jimmy Barnes, the drummer is from Baby Animals, I was touring as well. We had to put it on the back burner for several months and then Covid hit”.

Danny drove the album’s sound. “All the guitar overdubs and the backing vocals were done by Danny except ‘Love The One You’re With’ which is Mahalia Barnes, Eliza Jane Barnes and Darren Percival,” Richard says. “Every other vocal is by Danny. That is because he was in St Kilda which was a hot spot, so he couldn’t really go anywhere, so we did the bulk of this album on laptops”.

Richard Clapton ‘Music Is Love 1966-1970’ will be released on 9 April 2021.

Noise11.com

Follow Noise11 on Social Media

NEW: Noise11 on YouTube SUBSCRIBE

Noise11 on Instagram

You’ll discover music news first following Noise11 on Twitter

Comment on the news of the day, join Noise11 on Facebook

Related Posts

Shirley Strachan Skyhooks (photo from skyhooks-music.com)
Shirley Strachan of Skyhooks Left Us 24 Years Ago Today 29 August

It’s hard to believe it’s been 24 years since Australia lost one of its most iconic musical sons—Graeme “Shirley” Strachan, the charismatic lead singer of Skyhooks. Today, on 29 August 2025, fans, friends, and fellow musicians remember the voice that defined a generation, the performer whose presence lit up stages, and the personality who made Australian rock both fun and unforgettable.

8 hours ago
Russell Morris at Hamer Hall Melbourne 27 August 2025 photo by Winston Robinson
Russell Morris The Farewell Tour Is A Treasure Trove Of Hits and Rarities

Russell Morris was almost apologetic when he stepped onto the Hamer Hall stage in Melbourne for the first night of The Farewell Tour on Wednesday (27 August 2025). He admitted to his fans that a 60-year career can look confusing from the outside. The truth is, Morris was never one to sit still.

1 day ago
Steve Martin and Alison Browne photo from Compass Records
Steve Martin and Alison Brown Unite for Safe, Sensible and Sane Out October 17

Steve Martin has spent decades balancing comedy, acting, writing and music, but his love for the banjo has always been more than a hobby. On October 17, Martin will join forces with banjo trailblazer Alison Brown for their new collaborative album Safe, Sensible and Sane, a star-studded roots music project set to be one of the year’s most intriguing releases.

3 days ago
Tom Waits supplied by Anti
Tom Waits To Reissue 1975 Classic Nighthawks at the Diner For 50th Anniversary

Tom Waits’ Nighthawks at the Diner is being reissued for its 50th anniversary on October 24, with ANTI- Records pressing the landmark album onto three limited-edition yellow vinyl variants. More than just a re-release, this marks a celebration of one of the most unusual and defining recordings of Waits’ early career.

3 days ago
Queen autographed A Night At The Opera
Why Queen’s Quietest Member John Deacon Chose to Become a Recluse Until This Rare Return

For fans of Queen, John Deacon has long been the enigma of the band, a brilliant musician, masterful songwriter, and humble presence behind the scenes. Since the early 1990s, Deacon has shunned the spotlight, retiring quietly after Freddie Mercury’s death in 1991. But now, years later, he has quietly resurfaced, lending his signature alongside bandmates Roger Taylor and Brian May on a charity auction item, signalling, perhaps, that even the most private of souls can still make their mark in unexpected ways.

4 days ago
Patti Smith Horses 50th Anniversary
Patti Smith ‘Horses’ Gets 50th Anniversary Reissue With Unearthed Demos and Live Cuts

In 1975, Patti Smith entered Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios in New York City with a vision: to fuse the jagged energy of punk with the fluid imagery of poetry. That vision became Horses, one of the most groundbreaking debut albums in rock history. Now, half a century later, Sony has announced the 50th Anniversary Expanded Edition of Horses, a release that both celebrates the legacy of the record and offers fans newly unearthed material from Smith’s early years.

4 days ago
Bruce Springsteen Born To Run
Bruce Springsteen’s Born To Run Album Turns 50

On 25 August 1975, Bruce Springsteen released Born To Run, the album that transformed him from a New Jersey barroom songwriter into one of the most important voices in rock history. Fifty years later, the record still stands as a landmark, both for its ambitious sound and for the way it defined Springsteen’s career.

5 days ago