PHOTO BRUCE McCLOSKEY
Maybe you don't know who the Achievements are. Or maybe you're looking for a song you know we did but don't know where to look and realize that the Internet is not in alpha order. Anyway, this may help.
Pictured in 1979 left to right: Greg Meade, Tom Rizzo, Ken (in Mrs. Rich Meade's unisex Indian shirt), George LoMuscio, Rich Meade.
A BIT ABOUT US
The Achievements flourished from 1979 to 1982 and graciously performed and recorded my original songs. The idea was we'd get a record deal, have some hits, move to homes in Malibu overlooking the Pacific or whatever they have out there. I assumed Stevie Nicks would stop by.
Members were Greg Meade, lead GTR and backing vocals; Richard Meade, keening high backing vocals and second GTR; Tom Rizzo; warm-sounding Fender bass. Our drummer was George LoMuscio, who passed away in 1989. Jack Gabis, Fender b-string bender specialist (sounds like pedal steel) and banjo expert (30 years before Mumford) was a frequent guest onstage and in the studio.
Among George's many percussive talents was his propensity to not use the common drummer move known as the "crossover" to strike certain surfaces at certain times. Instead, George, a serious student of the percussive arts (and secretly left-handed), struck items on his left with his left stick and those on his right with his right. Sound simple? It's not. Other percussion enthusiasts would observe this in action and marvel. Also he looks cool on video and we will have video links so you can see. All of us still love and miss George and hope you might pay good attention to his chops on these songs. In stereo!
The Achievements (and moi) were produced by Harold Kleiner. Our big NYC studio production was engineered by Irwin Bailey. We recorded live concerts at Stonybrook U (live to air on WUSB-FM) and at St. John's U (in color video, thanks to Terry Gabis). Our live shows, often at the old Lone Star Cafe on 13th Street in Manhattan and at My Father's Place (Michael Epstein's, that is) in Roslyn, Long Island, were special and we often got to open for cool national touring acts like Lightnin' Hopkins and Steppenwolf. The coolest was Kinky Friedman. We opened for him repeatedly at the Lone Star and he's the only guy we knew who eventually ran for governor of Texas.
We eventually did batches of self-produced studio work at Doug Wood's Onmimusic. Although we had one eye on the clock, this work sounds pretty darn good thanks in large part to our engineer and pal Joe Powell. Tunes below are all re-mastered (at Media Mechanix) and appear in alphabetical order (for now).