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Fabulous Twilight

by Jon Klages

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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $7 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Comes in a colorful trifold digipack that recalls the gatefold albums of Command Records, with illustration and design by Artministry, Inc., and art direction and logo design by Tom Gundred.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Fabulous Twilight via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days

      $10 USD or more 

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    The fabulous 12" vinyl version of the album features a slightly different track order, an insert, additional pics, and deep grooves. Note: The LP won't be pressed until May, but please preorder and you'll get the download of the CD version now.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Fabulous Twilight via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    edition of 100 

      $20 USD or more 

     

1.
2.
Rosalie 03:28
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Remains 04:41
10.
11.
Goin' Home 01:48

about

Liner Notes: Jon Klages, as you will soon hear if you don’t already know, is a musician’s musician, and the album you’re about to listen to is the result of the many sunrises and twilights that occurred in the decades since his last release. Why has he made us wait so long? We may never know. But the good news is, it was worth the wait. The years, and the music he loves, insinuate themselves in his songs’ rich lyrical and musical references. Indeed, each song lives in the here and now but is in its own way a tribute to the sounds and styles that influenced and inspired him to make music in the first place.

Some "Twilight" highlights: Our song cycle opens with “Best That We Can,” a tune that hints at much—but not all—of what is to come. We are introduced to Jon’s silky, sinuous tenor that is able to float into falsetto without effort or warning, and to his impressively understated guitar stylings. “The Fabulous Twilights” takes its name from the early 1960s doo-wop group led by 18-year-old Nathaniel Mayer, whose spirit inhabits Jon’s soulful lead vocal and the lush backing harmonies. It is this song that gives the album its title, and introduces one of its overarching themes as the lead character “Looks in the mirror / smiles and turns away / how did he ever get to be so grey?” Melancholic? Hardly. Instead, the story turns out to be defiantly romantic and overtly sensual. “Too Cool for Spy School” is the album’s first of two instrumentals, and serves as a canvas for Klages’s smart and soulful guitar orchestrations. It is also a tip of the hat to the iconic compositions of the great John Barry, and to Laurie Johnson and Edwin Astley, who scored many of the secret agent-themed British series of '60s. Here we luxuriate in the superb tone of Jon’s 1965 candy-apple red Fender Jazzmaster guitar: a classic instrument of appropriate vintage, in highly capable hands.

One of the many things that sets this album apart is that it seems to exist in its own parallel universe where jazz, pop, R&B, funk, and rock are allowed to play and mingle together as if for the first time. Perhaps the answer to how this came to be lies in the next song, “God Bless the Columbia House Record Club.” Apparently autobiographical, this song tells the tale of a young lad drawn into the fine art of record collecting during an era when true icons were born; the golden age of the long-player to which this album is itself a tribute. Stylistically, the song resembles the "Son of Schmilsson"-era Harry Nilsson—with whom Jon shares an equal sense of artistic irreverence combined with superior musicality. If this one doesn’t make you smile you have missed the point! “1133 Ave. of the Americas (For Enoch Light)” is a very special offering on the album, as it is a tribute to Jon’s own maternal grandfather, the legendary bandleader, producer, and founder of the Command and Project 3 record labels. Like his grandson, Light was a true musical iconoclast, creating lush, genre-bending soundscapes of technical brilliance. It is a testament to the talents of Jon and his producer Todd Solomon that they were able to create such a lovely tribute of such simple beauty in just under two-and-a-half minutes. As the song ends, Jon offers a nod to “Kites Are Fun,” The Free Design’s 1967 hit produced by his grandfather. A highlight among highlights.

In full disclosure, Jon Klages and I have been lifelong friends, and I have long ago abandoned trying to curb my enthusiasm and admiration for him and his musicianship. That said, by anyone’s standard, this album is a miracle of pure and unbridled talent, poise, and artistic merit. It’s a place to enter whenever you need it, like a cool jazz club in your record collection, filled with ghosts and spirits of the past that rub shoulders with us here in the present moment. Put it on your turntable as the sun begins to set, in that magical time between daylight and darkness, and let it be the soundtrack to your own fabulous twilight.

Richard Barone
New York City

credits

released April 1, 2021

JON KLAGES:
Lead Vocals, Guitars, Piano ("Goin' Home), Kazoo
NEIL LARSEN:
Keyboards
DAVEY FARAGHER:
Bass
PETE THOMAS:
Drums, Bongo Mania
ARNOLD McCULLER:
Vocals
HONEY WHISKEY TRIO (Courtney Gasque-Politano, Ann Louise Jeffries, Christina Wilson):
Vocals

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about

Jon Klages Los Angeles, California

As lead guitarist for the Individuals, Jon helped create the Hoboken Sound. After releasing his acclaimed EP, "In a Dream," Jon toured with the Richard Lloyd Band. Since moving to L.A. in the late '80s, Jon has performed/recorded with Steve Wynn (the Dream Syndicate), Russ Tolman (True West), and Steve Allen (20/20). "Fabulous Twilight" is a fresh and bold addition to Klages’s musical resumé. ... more

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