The Prodigal Sons Return ......

This much we can tell you: when you're talking about the recent chain of events that found the Sons Of Champlin - one of the best (and probably the most underrated) of the great San Francisco rock bands - reassembling for their first officially scheduled gigs in twenty years, playing more than a dozen shows to ecstatic critical and audience acclaim, culminating in the recording of the Sons' brand-new live album, available exclusively from Grateful Dead Records - when you're talking about all that, do not - we repeat, NOT - use the word "reunion."

"'Reunion' is a dirty word!" Sons drummer James Preston says, most vehemently. Preston, one of the five core band members (along with lead vocalist/organist/guitarist Bill Champlin, guitarist Terry Haggerty, keyboardist/vibraphonist Geoffrey Palmer and bassist David Schallock participating in this, um, reconvergence, contends that "reunion" connotes something done for the sake of nostalgia and/or commerce - something brokered by record companies, agents and lawyers - unlike the organic, intuitive process that convinced the Sons that the time was right to resume. "This isn't a reunion for the sake of reunion. It's not about the money. It's like the continuation of a love affair it just felt right to get back together. We've been together all along - we just haven't been performing, is all."

Indeed, all of the Sons have remained friends over the decades. These are musical and personal bonds that go back a long way, with several of the band members having attended high school together in Marin County, California. Bill Champlin recalls having played with original Sons saxophonist/arranger Tim Cain as early as 1962, and the first incarnation of the Sons of Champlin was formed at the very dawn of the San Francisco rock era, in 1965. From very early on, the Sons stood apart from most of the other Bay Area bands, many of whom were known for a rather loose musical ethic, characterized by long, structureless jams. The Sons, on the other hand, were as tight and professional as they come, inspired by the greatest R&B artists, especially Soul Brother #1 himself: "We all grew up with James Brown, Stax Records, all that stuff, " Champlin recalls, "and we worked really hard I've always been a stickler for good hard rehearsal. Now, don't get me wrong we could party as hard as the best of 'em back then, and did! But no matter how high we got, it just wasn't in us to lie down on the stage."

Still, the Sons shared many of the philosophical and spiritual concerns of their fellow bands and so many others of the era, and Champlin had an uncanny ability to write lyrics that fused those higher ideals with a decidedly urban musical sensibility. Phil Lesh (like so many musicians, a huge fan of the Sons) calls it "funk with a hippie twist." (Or, in Jim Preston's words, "acid-laced Motown") .

Geoffrey Palmer concurs, contending that "we were the original urban hippies. Our image was that of 'the guys who live on the hill,' but we were listening to the guys in the street James Brown, Motown, jazz At the same time as we were hearing all this great, revolutionary music, there was a revolution of consciousness going on, something a lot of people couldn't articulate. And that's were Champlin comes in. He just had that amazing gift for taking those feelings and putting them into lyrics, and putting those lyrics to a melody. And," he adds with a laugh, citing the old American Bandstand mantra, "You can dance to it!"

Terry Haggerty also stresses that, for him, the Sons has always been "A really deeply spiritual thing. We wanted to be thought of as well-meaning guys with a deeper purpose to act as a loving force in the world." And through the heady days of the Summer of Love and beyond, the Sons were that and more, becoming one of the bands most widely respected by their fellow musicians. "No one can sing like Champlin, and no one can play like Hag," says Phil Lesh (Indeed, Terry has often been acclaimed by many of the the world's best-known guitarists - including Jerry Garcia, Mike Bloomfield, Carlos Santana, Pat Metheny and Robben Ford - as one of the instrument's great unsung heroes). Another fan who will attest to the Sons' status as "musician's musicians" is Mickey Hart, who last year told the San Francisco Chronicle "They were a dance your brains out all night band They were the most talented of all the bands. They played better than anybody and never made it."

It was that "never made it" status that ultimately led the Sons to go their separate ways in 1977. "It was time to retreat, so that we might charge again," says Jim Preston. Ironically, the band called it a day at a time when the music was at an all-time peak in the estimation of many people, including Preston who recalls saying, at one of their very last gigs, "We've never sounded better !why are we breaking up?" But others were more philosophical. Geoff Palmer says "one of the strange things of being in the music business is you must do it as a business, which is not at all like the thing that attracted you in the first place which is that, hey, this is really cool!" And David Schallock says that "Bill really deserved a shot at making a name for himself." For Champlin, that "shot" eventually led to his joining the enormously successful band Chicago, and helping that group come back from a temporary career slump, to become a top recording and live act again. All the Sons kept a hand in music in some capacity, and they all stayed in touch, with the idea of getting back together always a possibility, but one that was never seriously attempted.

Not, that is, until early in 1997. Recollections vary as to just who made the first call, who said yes, who said no and then yes, but this much is known: the Sons, egged on by such old friends as Rita Gentry (a longtime Bill Graham employee and former Sons assistant) and Wally Haas (former Oakland A's owner, who once managed the band), decided that the time was right to get out there and play some more music. Dave Schallock recalls that "Jim Preston called me and said "You're not gonna believe what I'm about to tell you!" The news was that Bill, Terry and the rest of the crew, had agreed to give the Sons another whirl.

The rest is the history that you hear so brilliantly encapsulated on "Sons Of Champlin Live" recorded on January 24, 1998 at the Luther Burbank Center in Santa Rosa, CA, the final of the 15 shows that the band has done so far since regrouping - a run of performances that included two triumphant return engagements at the fabled Fillmore Auditorium, as well as promoter Chet Helms' Summer Of Love 30th Anniversary Bash in Golden Gate Park. All the shows drew absolute raves from fans and critics alike, who agreed that the Sons hadn't missed a step - in fact they were better than ever.

The Sons, too, feel that the music has never been better. Terry Haggerty says that the new live recording represents "The first time ever that people will get to hear us do what we do," and hopes that "maybe we can get some acknowledgement of how good we are." All the band members were tremendously gratified by the audience response. "It's just a wonderful thing," says Dave Schallock, "The people were very kind to us." Geoff Palmer adds that "we came feeling appreciated, and that meant a lot."

Best of all, the Sons intend to keep right on doing what they're doing, and later this year expect to do some more shows and, better yet, a studio album of all-new material. The live album represents, for Jim Preston, "Our entire body of work, distilled." But, he adds, "I feel that the time we can really call ourselves fully functional is when there's new stuff." Bill Champlin is already turning out new songs, which thrills his bandmates, who consider his writing for the Sons to be where his talent shines best. "I think this is really good for Bill it spurs him on," says Schallock. And Preston agrees, "We are definitely the best vehicle for his writing."

So, consider the last 20 years merely a lengthy intermisson in the life of the Sons of Champlin a time for, as Jim Preston puts it, "going out to the corners of the world, gathering the spices, riches and jewels. Now we're ready to share the treasure."

Sons of Champlin · Live

Fat City · 1982-A · Rooftop · No Mo' · Black & Blue Rainbow ·

Things Are Getting Better · Get High

Time Will Bring You Love · Follow Your Heart

Misery Isn't Free · Tobacco Road · Freedom · Hold On