Comeauâs songs are distillations of personal experience, growing up a young victim of the last polio epidemic and coming from the same town that gave us colonial hero Hannah Dustin, and transcendental poet John Greenleaf Whittier.

14 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Folk-Rock, COUNTRY: Country Rock

Show all album songs: Life Is in Session Songs


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LIFE IS IN SESSION by Allan Comeau

For Allan Comeau, the stuff of songs are the found objects of lifeâs experience. A homeless man, there one day and gone the next; a conversation with a producer about a play that dramatized a familyâs loss of their son in Iraq; watching his sonâs performance in âThe Wizard of Ozâ and hearing Dorothyâs parting words, over and over again; sitting next to a mental health director talking about âthings that everybody needs,â and so on. These are the moments that ignite, for Comeau, a singular and compelling urge to write, sing, and record.

A practicing clinical psychologist and psychotherapist for the past thirty years, Comeau is a graduate of the University of Southern California and Ryokan College, earning doctorates from both institutions. He is an assistant clinical professor of psychology at the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. For the past seven years he has written a syndicated mental health column, âYour Mind Matters,â which he is presently editing into a book, âHow to Change Your Mind.â

Comeauâs songs are distillations of personal experience, growing up a young victim of the last polio epidemic and coming from the same town that gave us colonial hero Hannah Dustin, transcendental poet John Greenleaf Whittier, Archie Comicsâ creator Bob Montana, and heavy metal guitarist and filmmaker Rob Zombie. âWith that kind of cultural zeitgeist,â he says, âanything is possible.â His songs speak to the heart and mind with themes of compassion, social justice, reconciliation, and, at times, a sense of outright silliness and good fun. âEverything changes,â he says and has printed on his psychotherapy office business card, âWhen you see everything as an opportunity for some good.â His music, his health writing, and his clinical work all consistently reflect that philosophy.

Although the CD project started out as a solo adventure, much like a classic journey, as the story and the songs unfolded, others joined Comeau in his quest. Loni Specter, a longtime member of the LA music scene, was there at the start as a cowriter. When recording began, Loni joined as coproducer. Former Frank Zappa bassman, guitar hero, and friend Arthur Barrow provided the studio, and each of the songs was painstakingly laid out, re-created, and recorded in his âvintageâ Lotek Studios in Venice. Barrowâs bass guitar moves from haunting to popping, as his steady riffs provide vital momentum and pacing. His use of the fretless bass on âBest Manâ is uncanny. Barrow, who also composes for silent films, plays keyboards and lead guitar on several songs. Percussionists Joseph McDonaldâwho flew in from New York for a sessionâand LA-based Mel Lee provide not only the beat, but also convey in rhythm the messages that are usually reserved only for words.

Choral teacher and master keyboardist Leonard Krubsack adds everything from the honky-tonk to the classical in his performances of âYou Canât Catch Me,â and âO Katrina.â Psychologist in his day job Evan Shapiro plays a masterful set of lead fills on covers of Chuck Berryâs âThe Promised Landâ and Leonard Cohenâs âHallelujah. Specter adds a signature lead solo to âSin to Be Savedâ and sings backup on several songs, along with Rox Diamond frontman Paul Daniels, Moira Marquis (who did the mastering at her own âMoâs Garageâ), Patty Fiden, Johnny Szmyd (who will accompany Allan in some of his live performances), and a then ten-year-old Julian Comeau.

LIFE IS IN SESSION was coproduced by Allan J. Comeau and Loni Specter and includes newly arranged covers of Leonard Cohenâs âHallelujahâ and Chuck Berryâs âThe Promised Landâ plus twelve original songs, including âYou Canât Catch Me,â âSin to Be Saved,â âBest Man,â âLately,â âLay Down Your Guns,â âHomeless Man,â âEverybody Needs,â âTeacher,â âThis Day,â âWith a Little Bit of Luckâ¦,â âNo Place Like Home,â and O Katrina,â presented with a prelude by pianist Leonard Krubsack.

LIFE IS IN SESSION will be in full release in early October. A Southern California and regional tour is in the planning stages.