Fresh off the highly successful world tour for the album, “Silk & Swords”, AM Gold was approached by his management to play a series of concerts at the infamous Sun City resort in South Africa. However, by this time the relentless touring schedule had taken its toll, and he had this to say, “It all sounded very nice, but I had enough of the sun at that point. I was looking for some shade, maybe colder weather, some contemplative time off. The lifestyle was overwhelming, and I wanted to spend more time with the family.” It proved to be the right move.

AM Gold relocated to Nassau, Bahamas to contemplate his next move, “The 80’s were becoming the 90’s, I was getting older and was looking for something new, somewhere to go beyond the typical sex, drugs, and rock & roll lifestyle. That’s when I came up with the title of my next project: Love, Pharmaceuticals, and Smooth Jazz. It was where I was heading, and I didn’t even realize it until then.”

There was still plenty of hedonistic activity surrounding the recording process at Compass Point Studios, but AM Gold had a different mindset, “I hadn’t quite given up the past yet, but I was heavily involved in the task at hand, which was to fulfill the three basic tenets behind this new title that I had conjured up, Love was the most difficult concept for me to comprehend. I mean, what is love? All the fun was starting to dry up and I didn’t want anyone to hurt me, no more.” This tossed off idea eventually made its way into the international smash hit, “What is Love?”, and although he received no writing credits, AM Gold remained very positive.

“I didn’t think much of it, I just continued to move forward with the concept. Love might have been a foreign concept to me, but I was already well acquainted with pharmaceuticals. After my last stint in rehab, my doctor had prescribed me Ritalin. Well, it wasn’t exactly cocaine, but what is, right? At least it was legal, and I was able to concentrate on the task at hand.”

Furthermore, AM Gold was looking towards different musical inspirations. “Back in the early days, it was all Van Halen & Aerosmith, but the world was changing all around me. Ok ok, it was the drugs that were changing. I was mellowing out. My inspirations were changing. David Koz replaced David Lee Roth. Spyro Gyra replaced Steven Tyler.”

Thus, “Love, Pharmaceuticals, and Smooth Jazz” was fully realized. “It was a transitional period for me, a combination of where I was coming from with where I was heading at the time.” Indeed, it was. Heavy music mixing with mellower ideas. Songs that were once about life on the road, now more about life at a crossroads.

Pick up a copy today at your local Tower Records, or wherever records are sold.