THE RODS PROJECT - Hollywood CD HRR 925CD, slipcase Rick Caudle - lead vocals David "Rock" Feinstein - guitars Garry Bordonaro - bass guitar Emma Zale - keyboards Carl Canedy - drums 01. Prisoner of Love 02. Love is Pain 03. Tokyo Rose 04. Make Your Move 05. Mississippi Queen 06. Heat of the Night 07. All American Boys 08. Don't Take it so Hard 09. Money 10. Prisoner of Love (Rehearsal) 11. Love is Pain (Rehearsal) 12. All American Boys (Rehearsal) AVAILABLE

Transfer, audio restoration and mastering by Patrick W. Engel at TEMPLE OF DISHARMONY in February 2023. Additional tracks mastered in July 2023. First audible CD version ever! When the »Hollywood« album was released in 1986, it said “Canedy, Feinstein, Bordonaro & Caudle” on the cover. So technically speaking it was not a Rods album. However, the record company put a big round sticker on the cover saying “The Rods Project”. All very confusing? Not for Carl Canedy, legendary drummer and producer, who laughs: “The label had to protect their investment. I’m sure it was as simple as that. The Rods was a known name compared to the Hollywood Project.” “The Rods were still active,” he continues. “However, we were doing selected dates at that time. The reason for the title, which sounds much like a law firm, was because we felt that the songs were not typical Rods songs and we didn’t want the fans to feel deceived. David [Feinstein"> and I had written a batch of songs that we wanted out but were better suited to a singer such as Rick Caudle and were not in the vein of what The Rods were known for at the time. It was not a concept album. It was simply going to be a vehicle for our songwriting. And over time it has proven to be just that. There are some really good songs on the album.” “»Hollywood« is now an official Rods album,“ explains Carl Canedy 37 years after its original release. “I wanted to bring it back into the fold as part of our catalog. I didn’t want it hanging out there as a stand-alone when in fact it was a Rods album. The songs have stood the test of time in my opinion. Actually as I‘ve listened again, I think they’re all solid songs. I’m proud of the album. There was a time when I felt that we had played a low card by releasing it. Now I’m proud it’s part of our catalog. My hope is that the fans will come to love this album as much as we do. I’ve always loved David’s 'Prisoner Of Love', 'Tokyo Rose' and 'All American Boys'. And I’m particularly proud of my song 'Heat Of The Night'”. In addition to the songs mentioned, »Hollywood« also includes a version of “Mississippi Queen” by Leslie West. “David and I are both fans of Leslie West,” states the drummer. “This song was heavy and it was fun to play. It’s always fun to cover songs that influenced you.” Furthermore, on “Make Your Move” there is a Hammond B-3 organ to be heard, so did Deep Purple’s Jon Lord influence the band in any way? “Yes, it was a B-3, confirms Carl Canedy. “I wanted that sound! Jon Lord was a huge influence on both, me and David. He made Deep Purple 'heavy'! I thought it would give the song the edge I felt it needed.” “»Hollywood« was recorded in two studios,” Carl Canedy continues to explain. “Music America in Rochester, New York. Chris Bubacz engineered. I believe some of this album or mixing was done at Pyramid Sound in Ithaca, New York. The three of us tracked the album at Music America and Rick came up and did the vocals. The production was straight ahead. We worked out the arrangements in rehearsal, went to the studio and recorded the basic tracks. We then added simple overdubs to the project. Rick was responsible for almost all of the vocals.” The mentioned Rick is Rick Caudle, selected singer for the »Hollywood« album by “The Rods Project”. “Rick is an amazing vocalist!,” beams Carl Canedy. “He blew us away with his power and range. Our friend, Andrew 'Duck' MacDonald, found him (as he did with Joey Belladonna). I mentioned we were looking for a strong singer for this album. We invited Rick to audition and it was almost embarrassing that we asked him to audition … he was THAT good! Rick fit really well with us. A really easy going guy with a good personality. Sadly, we were never able to do any live gigs with Rick. The timing was wrong.” In the UK the »Hollywood« album was released by Zebra Records, a division of punk label Cherry Red Records, whereas in the USA the band had signed with Passport. Carl Canedy: “My guess is that it was licensed by Passport. We never knew that Zebra Records had released it, nor did we receive copies of their release.” Matthias Mader