Lowen and Navarro - Walking on a Wire

(Original release in 1990)
Eric: The making of "Walking on a Wire" was a culmination of two lifetimes of big dreams and, at the same time, in so many ways, a beginning. We were, with Jim Scott's invaluable help, inventing ourselves as Lowen & Navarro. He coached us at the beginning of the intense nineteen-day process that we would have "no time for bad days, no time for bad moods and no time for bad work." Nearly twenty years later, the words still ring true.

Dan: We were so anxious to make a record, we couldn't quite contain ourselves. We tried to play it cool, like on a first date -- joy, tension and anticipation. Throughout the recording, we were in an edgy state of excitement, a netherworld between fun and fear, between party and panic. The whole thing felt like it could fall apart at any second. Yet, when we were done, we sat back and couldn't believe it was actually us. When the first track was recorded, I exclaimed to Jim Scott, "God, Jim, this sounds... great!" He shot back, "This ain't no hobby, motherf...."
(Re-release in 1994)
Eric: I remember distinctly when we went back into the studio in 1994 to cut the three songs we added to WOW for the Mercury re-release, we felt like seasoned veterans. We were no less enthusiastic -- quite the opposite -- but we had a much better idea of how the whole process worked.
Dan: Tom Vickers, our A&R guy at Mercury, thought that our first album had not had a proper chance in the marketplace, since the new Triple A radio format didn't exist in 1990. So he convinced Mercury to buy the album from Chameleon, which had switched from CApitol to Elektra dsitribution and delete the album from its catalog. When the deal was done, Tom first insisted we replace the all-English version of "We Belong" with a bilingual version, in English and Spanish, a staple of our live set since 1990. Tom also wanted bonus tracks, but we didn't want to use material slated for Pendulum (our third album). We had wanted to record both Gold Mine (a song we had performed since the singing waiter days, written by my old friend Joel Rafael) and Turn Out The Lights (another Boston-Lowen-Navarro tune) for a couple of years -- they had been staples of our live sets in the years between Chameleon and Mercury, but couldn't find room on Broken Moon. Rapt In You had actually been dropped from our set for two years. But on the road, Tour Manager Stumpy-Joe Avjean bugged us daily to play it, so we decided to record it, but with a twist. It was previously sung by me, but we decided this time to make it an Eric song for the recording. In the arrangement process, however, Rapt In You grew into a different song altogether, and in early 1995 became one of our biggest radio records.

Original Chameleon 1990 release - Tracks 1 - 11:

Eric Lowen - Acoustic & Electric Guitars, Vocals • Dan Navarro - Acoustic Guitars, Keyboards, Percussion, Vocals

Simeon Pillich - Acoustic & Electric Bass • Tim Timmermans - Drums & Percussion • Richard Dodd - Cello • Jim Scott - Omnichord, Percussion • David Navarro - Additional Guitars (What I Make Myself Believe; Someone Like You) • Didi Navarro Cortez - Flute (Seven Bridges) • Preston Sturges - Dobro (Hammerhead Shark) • Richard Hardy - Tinwhistle (What I Make Myself Believe) • Janet Thompson - Shark Sandwich (Hammerhead Shark)

Produced, Engineered and Mixed by Jim Scott • Recording assisted by Annette Cisneros • Recorded 12/14/89 - 12/30/89 at Track Record, N. Hollywood, CA • Assistance and Additional Engineering by Bob Lacivita • Mixed 1/2/90 - 1/7/90 at Soundcastle, Silverlake, CA • Mastered by Ron McMaster at Capitol Records, Hollywood, CA

David Navarro appears courtesy of Warner Bros. Records
Tim Timmermans appears courtesy of Higher Octave Music

Parachute / Mercury 1994 re-release - Tracks 12, 13 & 14 :

Eric Lowen - Acoustic & Electric Guitars, Vocals • Dan Navarro - Acoustic Guitars, Keyboards, Percussion, Vocals

Simeon Pillich - Acoustic & Electric Bass • David Raven - Drums & Percussion • Phil Parlapiano - Keyboards, Accordion • Richard Dodd - Cello

Produced, Engineered and Mixed by Jim Scott • Recording assisted by Teresa Caffin • Recorded 9/3/94 - 9/5/94 at Entourage Studios, N. Hollywood, CA • Mixing assisted by Matt Pakucko • Mixed 9/6/94 at Master Control, Burbank, CA • Mastered 9/7/94 at Future Disc, Los Angeles, CA