Captain Beyond: Dawn Explosion at Record Plant Sausalito
Bobby Caldwell returned, Willy Daffern took the microphone, and Captain Beyond made its third album in Sausalito.
By Tom Proctor
Captain Beyond came back to Record Plant Sausalito with its drummer and without its singer. Bobby Caldwell was behind the kit again. Willy Daffern stood where Rod Evans used to. Larry “Rhino” Reinhardt and Lee Dorman held guitar and bass, as they had from the start. Three of the four founders were back in one building, making the album Warner Bros. released in 1977 as Dawn Explosion.
The building was not new to them. Their 1973 album, Sufficiently Breathless, was made partly here and partly at Capricorn Sound in Macon, Georgia.
A different voice out front
The first Captain Beyond drew its players from Deep Purple, Iron Butterfly, and Johnny Winter's band. Evans sang. Reinhardt played guitar, Dorman bass, Caldwell drums.
Caldwell sat out Sufficiently Breathless. When the band returned to Sausalito, he was back and Evans was gone.
Daffern took the lead vocal. The band produced the record with John Stronach, who also engineered it with Rick Sanchez. The work ran across the turn of the year, from late 1976 into early 1977.
“Too studio-ish”
Caldwell did not look back on the result fondly. In 2017, Steve Patrick of Hardrock Haven asked him about Dawn Explosion. Caldwell placed it at Record Plant in Sausalito and called it “too studio-ish.”
His yardstick was the debut. That first record had an immediacy he felt the Sausalito album lacked. It is one founder's verdict, forty years after the fact.
Hear it for yourself
The album opens with “Do or Die,” then “Icarus,” “Sweet Dreams,” and “Fantasy.” Later come “Breath of Fire” and “Oblivion.” The full release is in the player below.
Caldwell's verdict is on the record. So is the album.
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Turn on the radioSufficiently Breathless, Capricorn Records, 1973. The band's earlier album, made partly at Record Plant Sausalito. Album cover reproduced for editorial commentary. - documentDawn Explosion: session recordThe archive entry and research note. The December 1, 1976 date shown there is approximate. A session log or tape document would fix the individual days.
- deaddisc, Record Plant (Sausalito) Discography: deaddisc.com
- Steve Patrick, interview with Bobby Caldwell, Hardrock Haven, August 2, 2017: hardrockhaven.net
- The Deep Purple Podcast, episode 52 notes, April 20, 2020: deeppurplepodcast.com
- Dawn Explosion, album overview: Wikipedia