Mark Doyle

I owe my introduction to Andy to Rich Mendelson, an old friend of mine from Syracuse who had moved to Boston and started working with him. Rich was recording some demos of mine at a studio in Boston (Maynard, actually) called Great Northern. I was recording a song of mine called Out of Control and Rich knew that it was a strong song and that we were about to record a guitar solo, so he arranged for Andy and Susan Logan (Josh Logan’s daughter) to just happen to show up at the studio while I was doing it. They both were floored and this began a lifelong friendship and collaboration with Andy.

I lived at his house in Arlington for a few months as we put together the demos for Resolution, and then we scored the legendary Arif Mardin as producer. I was profoundly affected by meeting Arif – he was everything I wanted to be in a producer: he was infinitely patient, funny, loved the studio and musicians, and was a great arranger. And being part of the whole Atlantic family at that time was a chance that very few people ever get to experience. Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler, and Arif had been a part of some of the greatest music ever recorded.

Resolution was an amazing album to make. First of all, I got to play with Andy Newmark, Alan Gorrie, Steve Gadd and Tony Levin. We recorded at the Columbia Studio that hosted Janis Joplin, Laura Nyro, and countless others. And when it came out and got the leading review in Rolling Stone, written by Stephen Holden, proclaiming that Andy had forever changed the face of rock, we really thought we were on our way. To this day I consider Resolution to be a lost classic (even though Razor and Tie finally released it on CD in the late ‘90s, it’s now out of print again.)