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He’s got it. He’s always had it. – Aaron Neville

Who You Been Talking To is a revelation—a lost masterpiece of blue-eyed soul and literary street poetry produced by the legendary Jack Nitzsche (Neil Young, Rolling Stones) and featuring an all-star cast of L.A. session players including Ry Cooder, Jim Keltner, David Lindley, Fred Tackett, Tim Drummond, and Flaco Jimenez.

Who You Been Talking To captures Forman at the height of his powers, blending doo-wop sophistication with 1970s noir, Randy Newman’s wit with Aaron Neville’s melismatic soul. The album opens with “Who You Been Talking To,” a smoky Motown groove that builds into an intoxicating wall of sound. “Let It Go Now” features a gigantic guitar riff and Forman’s soaring falsetto rising through columns of angelic backup singers amid Nitzsche’s cavernous production. “A-Train Lady” is a quintessential New York subway soul serenade with a Drifters groove. “Little Asia” unfolds as a sphinxlike ballad of high cinematic intensity featuring Ry Cooder on Colombian tiple. Throughout, Forman’s lyrics paint vivid portraits of a 1970s New York that lives somewhere between memory and myth.

The album was recorded at the Sound Factory on Selma Avenue in Hollywood over two weeks in late summer 1977—just days after Elvis Presley’s death—and engineered by Dave Hassinger, who had worked with the Rolling Stones and Frank Sinatra. Despite the extraordinary musicianship and Forman’s remarkable vocal performances, Arista Records head Clive Davis chose not to release the album, offering instead to return it to Forman to shop elsewhere. Devastated, Forman declined and the tapes went into storage.

This guy should have been a massive star. His voice is incredible. – Jim Keltner

For decades, the album existed only as a digitized copy from a reel-to-reel that Forman had sent to Hal Willner, the late musical director for Saturday Night Live. Then, while clearing out his late father’s archive, Jack Nitzsche Jr. discovered two rough mix tapes sequenced by Nitzsche himself and sent them to Forman. These tapes became the source material for Who You Been Talking To, mastered by Steve Addabbo (engineer for many of Bob Dylan’s recent Bootleg Series releases) who spent considerable time bringing Forman’s vocals forward from Nitzsche’s dense, layered production.

Both the LP and CD come with a deluxe booklet with extensive liner notes by acclaimed journalist Joe Hagan, featuring exclusive interviews with David Forman, Aaron Neville, Jim Keltner, songwriting partner David Levine, and other collaborators. The package includes rare photographs by legendary downtown New York photographer Peter Hujar—known for his images of Susan Sontag, William Burroughs, Candy Darling, and other downtown luminaries, and Peter Berman, along with never-before-seen memorabilia from Forman’s extraordinary life.