Separate Oceans

Ned’s songs could be sung by any great singer, and perhaps best by a soul singer... A white boy who played that funky music.

With no less than a mansion, a state beach, and a three-mile stretch of Los Angeles road bearing his surname, Ned Doheny easy-glided into the 1970s on a crest of notoriety. Signposting Ned’s sojourn through the LA recording industry were Jackson Browne, Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Chaka Khan, Graham Nash, “Mama” Cass Elliot, Bonnie Raitt, and David Geffen—each a household name both inside and far from southern California. And while no bust of Ned Doheny appears alongside those of his Laurel Canyon brethren in the pantheon of classic rock, it's not for lack of songwriting abilities or recording chops.

Over the last three decades, Doheny’s albums have slid in and out of print on LP and CD, budget jobs without any involvement from the self-described “avatar for casual vulgarity.” Separate Oceans examines Ned Doheny’s first ten years adrift in song, pulling together choice album cuts and 11 previously unissued demos. An 8000 word essay is illustrated by images from the archives of noted rock photographers Henry Diltz, Moshe Brahka, Clive Arrowsmith, and Gary Heery, creating the first ever overview of this unheralded marina rocker.