Album Notes

The sound of DownTown Mystic is vintage yet modern. An industry trade publication put it this way: "DownTown Mystic’s music is inspired by ‘60s pop icons, ‘70s rockers, yet it’s planted firmly in the here and now." DownTown Mystic started as the alter ego of Sha-La Music President, Robert Allen and morphed into a group, combining forces with Bruce Engler. It was while working in the studio with modern rockers The Discontent, that Robert put his idea of playing his more classic rock sounding songs with modern musicians into reality. Having finished recording half a dozen tracks, Robert wanted to test out a song to see what the reaction, if any, would be. He found out soon enough in somewhat dramatic fashion. Veteran tastemaker, Jed The Fish, would play the track "Lost & Found" off of an Industry compilation cd as his "Catch of The Day" on "World Famous" KROQ in LA, one of the most influential modern rock stations. This would lead to some national airplay. When the "Mayor of The Sunset Strip", legendary KROQ DJ Rodney Bingenheimer, played another track, "Brian Jones", Robert knew it was time to go back into the studio and finish recording enough tracks for a full-length album. It was at this point that Robert decided to give DownTown Mystic more of a group identity by enlisting the talents of singer/songwriter Bruce Engler. Robert had worked with Bruce on projects and always felt the two had very compatible styles. The result would be the "Rock'nRoll 4 The Soul" cd. The track "One More Chance" would be put on another Industry sampler and once again lightning would strike when it was heard by WBCG PD, G. Michael Keating, who immediately added it to his playlist...quite rare by today's standards! This has led to radio play at commercial & non commercial AAA, as well at College Radio. Robert and Bruce are joined by a host of other talented musicians on "Rock'nRoll 4 The Soul", including one of the great rhythm sections in the history of American Rock'n'Roll--Garry Tallent & Max Weinberg of the E Street Band.