Lowell George & The Factory: Lightning Rod Man

I WAS FORTUNATE enough to meet Lowell George close on 20 years ago. He was a charming great bear-like man rumpled and a little worse for wear and far too stoned to negotiate the spiral staircase in his hotel suite. He talked fondly of his mid-‘60s group The Factory but bemoaned the way their recordings suffered at the hands of an over-attentive producer.