Loss Leaders from Warner Brothers/Reprise: An album by album thread

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Seederman, Sep 14, 2015.

  1. Folknik

    Folknik Forum Resident

    Browning Bryant went to school with my wife in Pickens,SC. At age 12, he had a big powerful voice and was nationally known, appearing 8 times on a variety show called the Kraft Music Hall (with Wayne Newton, Eddy Arnold, Johnny Cash, and others) and was also on the Tonight Show. I'm not sure how he hooked up with Allen Toussaint for his Reprise album, but the combination clicked and they made a darn good album. An old cliche answer to the question,"Whatever happened to...?" is, "He's now selling shoes." 2 or 3 years after his Reprise album, my wife and I were in Belk's in Easley,SC and there was Browning Bryant selling shoes. He still lives in upstate SC and still performs occasionally. Though his major label days are behind him, in recent years he has released a few independent CDs including a Christmas album and an album of standards previously recorded by Sinatra and others called Frank and Since.
     
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  2. pickwick33

    pickwick33 Forum Resident

    His bio is fine, too, but that might depend on how deep your interest runs.

    [​IMG]

    Ivers is a prime example of the type of quirky artist that Warners became known for signing. I understand that he opened for his labelmates Fleetwood Mac right when they were starting to catch on. The mainstream loved Fleetwood Mac, while Ivers went straight to the cheap bins.
     
  3. Seederman

    Seederman Forum Resident Thread Starter

    The Force PRO596 (1975)
    [​IMG]

    The Force marks the first Loss Leader of 1975, number 20 in the series of 35. 1975 would be the series' most prolific year: five double album sets would be released. This year is also something of a turning point for the series too. After averaging about 3.5 releases per year from 1969-1975, the series would average 2.2 releases per year from 1976-1980. This decline in quantity will be felt most acutely in 1978, which will see only one release.

    However, at the time of The Force, it was business as usual. Compiler Barry Hansen seems to have been up to some mischief, with a couple of strange and improbable inclusions that he may have included for his own amusement. The album is a little shorter than usual, with only 23 tracks.

    Notes:
    Track Listing:

    A1 –Leo Sayer Long Tall Glasses (3:04)
    A2 –Jethro Tull Bungle In The Jungle (3:31)
    A3 –Kenny Rankin In The Name Of Love (3:21)
    A4 –Fleetwood Mac Silver Heels (3:22)
    A5 –Percy Sledge I'll Be Your Everything (3:19)
    A6 –Graham Central Station Feel The Need (3:54)
    B1 –Trapeze Turn It On (5:06)
    B2 –Foghat Rock & Roll Outlaw (3:43)
    B3 –Montrose I Got The Fire (3:05)
    B4 –Todd Rundgren's Utopia Freedom Fighters (3:57)
    B5 –Bachman - Turner - Bachman Goodbye, Soul Shy (3:39)
    B6 –Deep Purple Stormbringer (4:09)
    C1 –The Marshall Tucker Band This Ol' Cowboy (6:37)
    C2 –John Sebastian Wild About My Lovin' (2:59)
    C3 –Debbie Dawn Hands (3:07)
    C4 –Maria Muldaur It Ain't The Meat It's The Motion (2:59)
    C5 –Jan & Dean Laurel And Hardy (2:42)
    C6 –Mike McGear Norton (2:37)
    D1 –The Doobie Brothers Black Water (4:10)
    D2 –Ron Wood I Can Feel The Fire (4:44)
    D3 –Tower Of Power Only So Much Oil In The Ground (2:58)
    D4 –Gregg Allman Double Cross(4:33)
    D5 –Van Morrison Comfort You (4:27)

    Song Commentary:

    A1 –Leo Sayer Long Tall Glasses (3:04) Leo Sayer, who had experienced success in England in 1973, makes his second Loss Leaders appearance here with "Long Tall Glasses" from Just a Boy (1974). This album proved to be a success on both sides of the Atlantic, reaching #4 in the UK and #16 in the US. "Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance)" was the song that put him over in America; the first single from the album had only made it to #96, but this one peaked at #9. It's a woozy romp that sounds like an absurd cross between Arlo Guthrie and Stealer's Wheel, with a tasty slide on the side. Adam Faith, with whom Sayer would have a major falling out, co-produced with David Courtney (who co-wrote the songs on the album) Sayer would eventually sue Faith, who had also managed him, in the 80's over mismanagement of his earnings and bad business practices after millions of dollars was lost in wonky investments.

    A2 –Jethro Tull Bungle In The Jungle (3:31) Jethro Tull returns for the sixth time, and for the first time since 1970, Loss Leaders promotes them with a current song. "Bungle in the Jungle" is taken from the band's seventh studio album, War Child (1974). Ironically, this marks the point where Jethro Tull's sales would begin to decline, although it wasn't yet evident in 1975. War Child peaked at #2 in the US, missing the #1 attained by each of its two predecessors. In the UK, the album reached #14, the lowest for any Tull album so far. Critical reception was also muted. Nonetheless, even if it did not match recent albums in sales, it still sold very well and Tull would maintain robust, if constantly deteriorating, sales into the early 80's. The song itself reached #12 on the US singles chart, their second and final top-40 hit. It is one of the band's best known hits and probably needs no description. It was originally intended for a different album, but Ian Andersen abandoned the concept for that album, and retained this song for the new one.

    A3 –Kenny Rankin In The Name Of Love (3:21) Kenny Rankin was a lite jazz/pop artist who enjoyed some moderate success in the mid-70's. He recorded for Little David Records, a label started by comedian Flip Wilson and distributed by Warner Bros. from 1975-1977. A regular on the Tonight show for awhile (Johnny Carson wrote the liner notes to Rankin's 1967 debut), and also the songwriter of "Peaceful", which Helen Reddy took to #12 in 1973, Rankin showed some promise when his fourth album, Silver Morning, from which "In the Name of Love" was taken, reached #63 in 1975. This is a breezy, jazzy, swinging little number with a sweet-sounding vocal with some scat singing from Rankin. It's fairly lightweight but ambitious too with a jammy quality, and doesn't quite fit easily into a radio format. As it turned out, Silver Morning was his commercial peak, but he maintained modest sales and a working career until his death from lung cancer in 2009.

    A4 –Fleetwood Mac Silver Heels (3:22) We haven't seen Fleetwood Mac since 1972 on a Loss Leader, and even then it was an old song. The Bob Welch years were nearly completely ignored by Loss Leaders, except for "Silver Heels" from the band's ninth album, Heroes Are Hard to Find (1974). The song is an uneasy blend of soft rock and harder rock elements, but it does anticipate the direction the band was heading in. The song name-drops Paul McCartney and Etta James. Fleetwood Mac had just gone through a difficult year; Welch had, in fact, quit the band at the end of 1974. Earlier in the year, the band suffered the indignity of their own manager sending out a "fake" Fleetwood Mac to tour in their place. This resulted in lawsuits and fights about ownership of the band's name. By 1975, most of this had been sorted out with the help of Bill Graham, who interceded with Warner Bros. on their behalf, vouching that the real band was indeed the real Fleetwood Mac. Replacements for Welch were found in Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. The band also relocated to Los Angeles specifically because they felt Warner Bros. was neglecting them. While their audience had long ago dried up in the UK, Heroes Are Hard to Find ultimately became the band's most successful album in the US to date, peaking at #34.

    A5 –Percy Sledge I'll Be Your Everything (3:19) Sledge appears for a second time on a Loss Leader with "I'll Be Your Everything", the second song chosen from his Capricorn album of the same name and its lone single. Sledge's comeback attempt was ultimately a failed one, but it almost succeeded; "I'll Be Your Everything' made it to #62, his first charting single since 1969. It is a stirring song, which relies on a very similar sound to his greatest hit without quite aping it. However, it wasn't enough to keep the public's interest, and the only future hit in Sledge's career was the re-release of "When a Man Loves a Woman", which reached #2 in the UK in 1987. Fortunately for Sledge, he had managed to become an international concert attraction, drawing crowds in Scandinavia and Africa through most of the 70's and 80's.

    A6 –Graham Central Station Feel The Need (3:54) Making their third Loss Leaders appearance, Graham Central Station offers up "Feel the Need" from their 1974 sophomore album, Release Yourself. The album almost exactly duplicated the chart performance of its predecessor, peaking at #51 on the Billboard 200 and #22 on the r&b chart. Tower of Power provide horns on "Feel the Need" and almost steal the show. The song is a solid bit of funk almost built around the horns. Great bass and backing vocals on this one. Larry Graham isn't imitating Sly Stone here as much as he did on the debut, but Sly's still an obvious influence. However, if Graham Central Station were a poor man's Sly & the Family Stone, they were now outselling the mothership.

    B1 –Trapeze Turn It On (5:06) Trapeze was a British hard rock band of the early 70's best known for launching the career of Glenn Hughes (who left in 1974 to join Deep Purple Mk. III, and much later, Black Sabbath) Despite his departure, the band's sales and concert attendance continued to grow in 1974-1975, although never enough to provide more than a token appearance on the charts. "Turn It On" is from the first post-Hughes album, the band's fourth overall, Hot Wire, which peaked at #146, the band's best showing. It's a bit of funk-influenced hard rock, built around a bass riff, and punctuated by metallic guitars and a great guitar solo. It builds into something greater than the sum of its parts though, and is one of the standouts on the album.

    B2 –Foghat Rock & Roll Outlaw (3:43) If "corporate rock" means "rock that meets a reliable standard of record sales, with no big surprises", then Foghat is the standard bearer of corporate rock. Here, they deliver exactly what they had delivered on their previous three albums, one slide-guitar-slathered old standard, a bunch of simple, slide-guitar-centric originals, and a couple of slide-guitar-friendly songs by friends or corporate labelmates. Their lyrics are simple and to the point. They relentlessly tour even in the most backwards places, ensuring themselves sales all over the heartland. They pose beside a Lear jet on the cover. Foghat pretty much stuck to this pattern for more than a decade, selling albums that consistently made the upper half of the charts. "Rock & Roll Outlaw" was penned by Felix Cavaliere, and is pretty standard Foghat. "Rock & Roll Outlaw" follows the standard mid-70's rock template to a T, and it rocks. It signifies absolutely nothing, but it isn't supposed to. The album peaked at #40, about par for the band.

    B3 –Montrose I Got The Fire (3:05) "I Got the Fire" is from Paper Money (1974), the band's second album. This would be the last album to feature Sammy Hagar as lead vocalist; Hagar would split in the middle of a European tour in February 1975. This came at an inopportune time, because Montrose was on the verge of breaking bigtime; Paper Money peaked at a respectable #65 in the States, a huge improvement over the debut. "I Got the Fire" shows the promise the band had; straddling a line between boogie and metal, this is a sound a lot of bands that followed tried to capture. Taken together with Trapeze and Foghat, we have a trio of songs that represented state-of-the-art FM-ready hard rock in 1975. Montrose would put out two more albums to moderate, if underwhelming, success, before dissolving in 1976.

    B4 –Todd Rundgren's Utopia Freedom Fighters (3:57) Todd Rundgren's Utopia was hatched in 1973. Intended as the more progressive arm of Rundgren's output, which would also continue under his own name, Utopia (as the band was known from 1976 forward) would actually enjoy a level of commercial success roughly equivalent to Rundgren's solo work. For a few years, there was a lot of overlap between the two, but in 1976 Utopia had its own dedicated lineup. "Freedom Fighters" is taken from the band's 1974 debut album, Todd Rundgren's Utopia, which peaked at a solid #34. "Freedom Fighters" continues in the vein Rundgren had been forging, a pastiche of somewhat homely sounds into a kind of post-modern rock. There's hints of psychedelia, Bowie, country rock, krautrock, heavy metal, and Zappa all rolled together into an electronic composite. It's worth was debated; Utopia got as many bad reviews as good ones, with "pretentious" the most common charge. Still, it's interesting music, and "Freedom Fighters" sounds good breaking out of the hard rock groove the previous three songs had built.

    B5 –Bachman - Turner - Bachman Goodbye, Soul Shy (3:39) Don't let the name fool you. This is really Brave Belt, a precursor to Bachman-Turner Overdrive, who had an immense year in 1974. As Warner Bros. had done with David Bowie and John Denver, they went fishing around for old tracks they might won to capitalize on the band's popularity. As it turns out, Reprise owned the rights to Brave Belt's two albums, and re-released them under a new moniker that played up the BTO connection. Brave Belt had enjoyed some modest notoriety as a hard-working touring band, formed after the Guess Who had undergone a major personnel change after tensions had risen between Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings. The band had four mid-charting singles in Canada, but did not find success in America. The band's third album would be re-branded and retooled into the first Bachman-Turner Overdrive album. "Goodbye, Soul Shy" is another hard rocker, but with a little more heartland Canadian soul. Not as memorable as the Guess Who's or BTO's most well-known songs, it nonetheless contains all of the same elements.

    B6 –Deep Purple Stormbringer (4:09) Deep Purple Mk. III entered its final few months of existence with Stormbringer, released in November 1974, their ninth studio album. Eschewing some of the harder heavy metal aspects of their previous albums, this one played up a funkier, more soul-oriented edge (something Jon Lord had been exploring to more extreme effect with Ashton and Lord) "Stormbringer" is still metallic Purple, and is one of Mk. III's best songs. However, Ritchie Blackmore couldn't stand the finished product, referring to it as "shoeshine music". Blackmore quit the band in June 1975, joining forces with Ronnie James Dio of Elf to create Rainbow. Deep Purple, unwilling to throw in the towel after the departure of their founding guitarist, recruited American guitarist Tommy Bolin (formerly of Zephyr, whom we've met on Loss Leaders) to replace him. This lineup had one more 1975 album in them before falling apart too.

    C1 –The Marshall Tucker Band This Ol' Cowboy (6:37) Marshall Tucker Band's third album, on Capricorn of course, Where We All Belong was a double album. The band is given room to jam, and the songs run long with two clocking in at over ten minutes. Fiddler Charlie Daniels is back and is present throughout. The quality of the music is good. But Marshall Tucker Band was not the Allmans, and the record buying public balked. Peaking at #54, it was the band's lowest showing to date, and the first time it missed the top-40 albums. This may have had to do with fatigue on the part of the record buying public, which had become wary of double albums with stretched out, epic songs. The album sold very well in the South, but lacked a single to break it nationally. "This Ol' Cowboy" was the single chosen; as with the album, it did very well in the south and weak nationally, peaking at #78. It has a surprisingly jazzy flavor to it, with a brisk tempo and room to stretch. It doesn't really sound much like what was popular on the radio, or even much like the Allmans or Wet Willie. Still, "This Ol' Cowboy" was their highest charting single to date, and they'd eventually crack the top-40 twice.

    C2 –John Sebastian Wild About My Lovin' (2:59) John Sebastian is another artist we haven't seen since 1972. Sebastian had largely been a bust for Warner Brothers this far. Moderate sales for his debut album were offset by anemic sales for the dueling live albums MGM and Warners released in 1971, and his sophomore studio album, The Four Of Us. "Wild About My Lovin' had originally been a Lovin' Spoonful cover of a traditional song. Here, he retools it for his third solo studio album, The Tarzana Kid. It's exactly what you'd expect from Sebastian; a good-timey jugband-style song delivered with a smile. On The Tarzana Kid, Sebastian tried everything; a Jimmy Cliff reggae song, a cover of Little Feat's "Dixie Chicken" with Lowell George helping out, not one but two Lovin' Spoonful songs, and a large cast of session players. The album was a major flop, becoming the fist album Sebastian had been associated with to miss the charts entirely. Sebastian would turn out to have one last Reprise album left in him, and a fluke hit, in 1976. After that, he would not release a new studio album until 1992 (on indie/world label Shenachie), by which time he had lost what was left of any commercial clout.

    C3 –Debbie Dawn Hands (3:07) Here is the first of two mystery cuts. Debbie Dawn released all of two 45's in her entire career, for Warners in 1973-1974. "Hands" was written by prolific-but-oddball semi-obscure artist Ian Whitcomb, best known for his own British Invasion hit "You Turn Me On" from 1965, but who also had his hand in a lot of pies ever since. "Hands" is about a massage parlor, and garnered some controversy over its lyrics, not the least of which was with young Debbie's mother. It's a likable song, with a kind of Loretta Lynn sound. The single bubbled under the charts, but ultimately the FCC pulled the plug on it. Not for the massage parlor references, but because the song mentioned "Master Charge"; the FCC was cracking down on product placement in songs. The liner notes proudly proclaim that "Hands" kicks off the launch of a country music division at Warners, but fail to mention the 1973 song was already more than a year old when at appeared here. I can find nothing about Debbie Dawn herself, except that "Debbie Dawn" was a pseudonym, she was from a God-fearing Nashville family, and her father was a sheriff.

    C4 –Maria Muldaur It Ain't The Meat It's The Motion (2:59) Maria Muldaur's follow-up to her 1973 breakthrough Maria Muldaur was largely a repeat of the same formula, except that there was perhaps more of an attempt to update her sound. Waitress in a Donut Shop (1974) had the requisites: a few old blues songs, a few songs written in old-timey style by contemporary writers, a couple of modern-sounding songs, a Wendy Waldman tune, and a large cast of session superstars. The resulting album has some fine moments on it, but it really does feel like a retread. She did manage to score another hit; her version of Leiber/Stoller's "I'm a Woman" reached #12, and the album peaked at #23. "It Ain't The Meat It's The Motion" is a bawdy jump blues number from 1951 by the Swallows, and Muldaur tarts it up in front of a hot band.

    C5 –Jan & Dean Laurel And Hardy (2:42) "Laurel and Hardy" dates back to 1968. It was a Warner Bros. possession; the duo had signed with Warners in 1968 to release the album Carnival of Sound, their requisite psychedelic album. After issuing two of the duo's singles in 1968 (and cancelling a third), Warners rejected the album. "Laurel and Hardy" wound up on the B-side of "I Know My Mind", which tanked like their other Warners single. It features a weird sound collage, sitar, weird sound effects, studio trickery, goofy vocals, and everything else you'd expect from a psychedelic single by an extremely non-psychedelic act. The album remained a rarity until Rhino Handmade rescued it from limbo in 2010 with its first proper issue. There doesn't seem to be a compelling commercial reason for its inclusion, as the duo was with United Artists in 1974 and was busy splitting up. Either Warners was contemplating doing something belatedly with their album, or Barry Hansen tossed it in as a personal favorite. Either way, it was a rarity for a long time.

    C6 –Mike McGear Norton (2:37) Mike McGear comes the closest to one of the Beatles appearing on Loss Leaders so far, and he's backed by the 1974 edition of Wings. Brother Paul McCartney co-wrote most of the material on McGear, McGear's second solo album and first for Warner Bros. Reportedly, part of the reason for this collaboration was so that McCartney could break guitarist Jimmy McCulloch into the band. "Norton" is a slightly fruity-sounding Gary Glitter-esque stomper, with some space for McCulloch to solo. The album was a poor seller, although the single "Leave It" managed a modest #36 in the UK. McGear had enjoyed some hits as a member of Scaffold in the 1960's, reaching the UK top-10 three times, but in America he was largely unknown. McGear mostly retired from music after the 1970's, and focused instead on photography. He has also reverted to using the family name.

    D1 –The Doobie Brothers Black Water (4:10) "Black Water" saved the Doobies. After making the top-10 with the Captain and Me in 1973, What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits had stiffed in 1974, and its first two singles had failed to crack the top-30. A third single was attempted, "Black Water", and the third time was the charm as it sailed all the way to #1, the first of two the band would have. This song ought to be familiar to everyone; it opens with a gospel/country acoustic section with harmonies and closes as a call-and-response rock and roll song. This single lit a fire under the album, which reached its peak position of #4 in early 1975, nearly a year after the album's release. The Doobies would undergo a profound personnel change in 1975; chief songwriter and primary singer Tom Johnston would take time off for health reasons and eventually quit. Michael McDonald, part of the touring group of Steely Dan, took his place in the middle of 1975.

    D2 –Ron Wood I Can Feel The Fire (4:44) Here we find Ron Wood, survivor of the Faces, which was busy imploding at this time. Needless to say, Wood was facing a turning point in his career and life; the Rolling Stones would soon tap him to replace the departed Mick Taylor, and Wood would hold that job to the present day. "I Can Feel the Fire" is taken from his first solo album, I've Got My Own Album to Do (1974), the title of which is at once a dig at Rod Stewart and also a line muttered by a cranky George Harrison or Mick Jagger (Hansen says the latter, other reports say the former) who wanted to leave a late-night session. Keith Richards, Willie Weeks, Ian McLagan, and Andy Newmark all contributed heavily to the album, which ultimately did not chart. "I Can Feel The Fire" is an interesting song; it's a clumsy-sounding reggae, but it does feature Jagger and Richards, and is kind of a test-run for Wood as a Rolling Stone.

    D3 –Tower Of Power Only So Much Oil In The Ground (2:58) It is hard to imagine a song like this being recorded now, but in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis, oil was on everybody's mind. "Only So Much Oil In The Ground" is the band's second Loss Leader, drawn from Urban Renewal (1975), the band's third straight top-30 album (peaking at #22). This album was the last to feature vocalist Lenny Williams, who embarked on a solo career that continues to this day. "Only So Much Oil in the Ground" was released as a single, making #85 on the r&b charts. Like most of their hits, this works up a fairly spare funky groove with an r&b vocal under a bed of horns. It's fun and funky, but the wordy lyrics are kind of a mismatch to the groove.

    D4 –Gregg Allman Double Cross (4:33) This is the second Loss Leader pick from The Greg Allman Tour, a 1974 release intended to recoup the costs of Allman's expensive 1974 shows, which featured fifteen musicians. The album had only peaked at #50, kind of a disappointment on the heels of the twin success of Brothers and Sisters and Laid Back, both of which were now approaching two years old. Allman would have an interesting year in 1975; he had hooked up with Cher for the first time in January 1975, and would eventually find his attention drawn far from the band, punctuated by his moving to Los Angeles. The Allmans would, for all intents and purposes, break up after their next album, Win Lose Or Draw (1975), inadvertently dooming Capricorn records in the process. "Double Cross" is a fine song though, with performers acquitting themselves well. It's a soulful, bluesy slow number with some fine slide guitar from Tommy Talton of Cowboy.

    D5 –Van Morrison Comfort You (4:27) Van Morrison's seventh Loss Leaders appearance is "Comfort You", taken from Veedon Fleece, the second Morrison album to appear in 1974 (the first was the live It's Too Late to Stop Now) Morrison had just divorced his wife, was exhausted from his tour, and was going through a rather introspective period in his life. In a furry of activity, he wrote most of the album during a three-week vacation in Ireland. Veedon Fleece was panned by Rolling Stone and Melody Maker upon its release, the latter calling it "mood music for hippies". Sales were lackluster, with the album peaking at #53. This apparently troubled Morrison, who spent the next three years away from music, with the exception of a 1976 appearance at The Band's Last Waltz concert. Morrison would even nod to this with the title of his 1977 album, A Period of Transition. Despite the naysaying, Veedon Fleece's reputation had only strengthened since its initial release, and is now considered by most to be one of Morrison's best albums. "Comfort You" is a sad-but-stoic song with a deceptively simple arrangement, allowing Morrison room to deliver a touching vocal. It's a lovely song, and a haunting album closer.

    Additional Thoughts:

    The hard rock side was my favorite this time out. The weird songs were definitely worth a listen. Just about every song here was "good". However, the album's shorter length robs it of some of the epic mystique the more crowded albums had. Can't really find fault with it though; another worthy entry.

    Next Up: All Meat, which is more like the epic Loss Leaders of yesteryear.
     
    Last edited: Oct 15, 2015
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  4. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    From what I've heard of McGear and Scaffold, they had some Beatlesque songs combined with a large dose of the sort of humor Monty Python would eventually bring to America. I haven't heard the entire McGear album but at least one Beatle book describes it as among the most interesting projects involving Paul in this era.

    Trivia note: this features Novi Novog (of Chunky, Ernie and Novi, who had been on a previous Loss Leader and would later reform and appear again, and who was also briefly in Zappa's band) on viola.
     
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  5. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    Incidentally, there was an alternate, single-LP version of The Force that I think was sent to radio. It has a few songs in common with the Force and other Loss Leaders as well as some unique ones.

    http://wiki.killuglyradio.com/wiki/The_Force
     
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  6. Folknik

    Folknik Forum Resident

    The Force is a fine album. I especially like the Jan and Dean song which sounds nothing like the surf music that they're known for. As for its shorter than average length, it's actually a bit longer than Hot Platters.
     
  7. PhilBorder

    PhilBorder Senior Member

    Location:
    Sheboygan, WI
    And yet... they were for sale at the local record store. I had Volume 3, probably the only album that featured both Captain Beefheart and Dionne Warwick

    [​IMG]
     
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  8. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    While we wait for an All Meat writeup, here's a flashback to the beginning of the Loss Leader era. We had a discussion of the various versions of Randy Newman's "Last Night I Had A Dream" but I hadn't known until now about this heavy metal version from 1969. Co-produced by another Loss Leader perennial artist Van Dyke Parks.

     
  9. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    Interestingly, Rhino saw fit to revive this one on the collection "The World's Worst Records, Volume 2."
     
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  10. Seederman

    Seederman Forum Resident Thread Starter

    All Meat PRO604 (1975)
    [​IMG]

    The Force
    had been a good collection, but there was something sterile and perfunctory about it. Warner Bros.' 21st Loss Leaders offering, All Meat, feels more like the 1969-1972 Loss Leaders, with more selections, some reckless electicism, and a couple of weird and eccentric rarities. Even artist photos return to the liner notes, as inner sleeves are utilized to list track information.

    There are two covers to this one, so a maniacal Loss Leaders fan probably needs both. The rarer one featured bologna-colored vinyl with a see-thru plastic case (like real luncheon meat packaging), while the common one is an illustration. The rare one was not officially offered for sale, but was a special promotional item. The track listings are identical, so less ravenous completists can make do with one or the other.

    Notes:
    Track Listing:

    A1 –The Doobie Brothers Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me) 3:39
    A2 –James Taylor I Was A Fool To Care 3:19
    A3 –Faces / Rod Stewart You Can Make Me Dance, Sing Or Anything 3:29
    A4 –Wendy Waldman Wings 3:36
    A5 –Harry Nilsson / Cher A Love Like Yours 3:28
    A6 –Curtis Mayfield So In Love 5:10
    B1 –Elvin Bishop Juke Joint Jump 5:32
    B2 –John Hammond Can't Beat The Kid 2:19
    B3 –Emmylou Harris Bluebird Wine 3:18
    B4 –Grinderswitch Let The South Wind Blow 4:12
    B5 –Wet Willie Dixie Rock 5:07
    B6 –Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen That's What I Like About The South 2:33
    C1 –Allen Toussaint Country John/Filler 4:47
    C2 –Gary Wright Dream Weaver 4:17
    C3 –The Beau Brummels Singing Cowboy 3:18
    C4 –Peter Yarrow Brother, Can You Spare A Dime 2:46
    C5 –Geoff Muldaur Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You 3:49
    C6 –John Renton Monday Morning 2:42
    C7 –Martin Mull Show Me Yours (I'll Show You Mine) 3:05
    D1 –Jesse Colin Young Motorhome 2:50
    D2 –Hirth Martinez Comin' Round The Moon 3:30
    D3 –Todd Rundgren Eastern Intrigue 5:06
    D4 –Earth, Wind & Fire Moment Of Truth 2:59
    D5 –Labelle Won't Get Fooled Again 4:45
    D6 –Jimi Hendrix Captain Coconut 4:06


    Song Commentary:

    A1 –The Doobie Brothers Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me) 3:39 "Take Me In Your Arms" is from Stampede (1975) the final album to include Tom Johnston. The album is fairly ambitious by Doobie Brothers standards, with an eclectic approach to the songwriting, guest spots by Ry Cooder, Maria Muldaur, and Curtis Mayfield, and a vague Western theme to the songs. "Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me)" is an old Holland-Dozier-Holland Motown song, popularized in the version Kim Weston took to #4 on the r&b chart in 1965. The Isley Brothers also had a minor hit with it. Here, the band treats it as an uptempo soul-rock song, with a high energy performance. The Doobies' version made it to #11 (and was the band's only single to make the top-40 in France, incidentally), while Stampede peaked at #4, matching the performance of their previous album.

    A2 –James Taylor I Was A Fool To Care 3:19 Taylor's 1974 album, Walking Man, had been an ill-conceived "rock" album that became his least successful album at Warner Bros. Wasting no time, Taylor returned to the studio with an all-star cast of session players to record Gorilla, which would be a comeback, peaking at #6 and returning him to the top-5 with a cover of Marvin Gaye's "How Sweet It Is". Unhappy with David Spinozza's production, Taylor turned to two trusty Warner hitmakers, Russ Titelman and Lenny Waronker to produce. David Crosby, Graham Nash, Lowell George, Randy Newman, Carly Simon, and Danny Kortchmar are just a sampling of the friends helping out. "I Was a Fool to Care" sounds like a return to his 1970-1973 output, with a spare, moody production and an introspective vocal from Taylor.

    A3 –Faces / Rod Stewart You Can Make Me Dance, Sing Or Anything 3:29 This marks the fairly ignoble end of the Faces. Ronnie Lane had already quit, replaced by Testu Yamauchi. Rod Stewart had just signed an enormous deal with Warner Brothers, and represented a brighter future than anyone could have hoped for the Faces at this point. Ron Wood had received an offer he couldn't refuse: the Rolling Stones gig was his for the taking. This didn't sit well with Stewart, whose disloyal put downs of Ooh La La didn't sit well with the band. "You Can Make Me Dance, Sing Or Anything" was the band's final single, released at the end of 1974, and peaked at #12 in the UK. Incidentally, the song holds the longest title of any charting single; it's full title is "You Can Make Me Dance, Sing or Anything (Even Take the Dog for a Walk, Mend a Fuse, Fold Away the Ironing Board, or Any Other Domestic Shortcomings)". It does kind of sound like a leftover or throwaway, with a lackluster Stewart vocal and competent but passionless playing. After the split, Stewart focused on his solo career, which was already hugely successful. The other Faces, having lost both of Steve Marriott's replacements, managed to lure Marriott back again and resumed their career as the Small Faces. Ronnie Lane, who was beginning to show signs of multiple sclerosis, left after a quarrel with the band; Rick Willis of Roxy Music replaced him. The new Small Faces failed to find an audience and disbanded again in 1978.

    A4 –Wendy Waldman Wings 3:36 Wendy Waldman makes her third Loss Leader appearance with a track from her third album, Wendy Waldman. Waldman had enjoyed some minor success as a songwriter via Maria Muldaur, who had covered three of her songs. However, her own albums were selling in microscopic amounts. She wasn't quite your average run-of-the-mill singer/songwriter; she did her own arrangements, and had a bit of an experimental flair, drawing inspiration from her classically-trained parents (her father was Hungarian-American composer Fred Steiner). This one is more of an average run-of-the-mill singer/songwriter tune, a slow tempo number with some soul in the vocals. However, even here, she adds some idiosyncrasy to the vocals and arrangement to keep it moderately interesting. However, it does plod a bit.

    A5 –Harry Nilsson / Cher A Love Like Yours 3:28 This came about indirectly as a result of the John Lennon sessions for Rock 'n' Roll in 1974. Phil Spector produces, and it sounds like it could have been recorded by a girl-group in 1963. It's hard to tell if Nilsson is trying to sound like Sonny Bono or Cher herself here, but it gets hard to tell the two singers voices apart. A little slower and blusier than typical Spector girl-group fare, it is a pleasant novelty but utterly out of step with the times in 1975. It was released as a single, but left no trace. This has to be one of the stranger items we've seen so far.

    A6 –Curtis Mayfield So In Love 5:10 Mayfield came to Warners via his own Curtom label, which had switched briefly to Warner Brothers as its distributor. "So in Love" is from his seventh solo album, There's No Place Like America Today (1975), considered by many to be one of his best. "So in Love" was chosen as a single. Both album and single did well on the r&b charts, peaking at #13 and #9 respectively, but neither sold enough to do much better than #140 and #65 on the pop charts. This is one of his more satisfying romantic ballads, given a big production with horns. Mayfield is in good voice, singing in a high register, almost Smokey Robinson style.

    B1 –Elvin Bishop Juke Joint Jump 5:32 Elvin Bishop had managed to get some FM airplay with "Travelin' Shoes" from Let It Flow (1974). Juke Joint Jump (1975) was an attempt to solidify the success and consolidate it into something bigger. The attempt was successful; the new album peaked at #46, a new high for Bishop, and it had a charting single, "Sure Feels Good" at #83. "Juke Joint Jump" lives up to its title; it's a jumping, funky bit of soul-rock about music, drinking, chicks, dancing, and good times. Bass and keyboards dominate.

    B2 –John Hammond Can't Beat The Kid 2:19 John Paul Hammond is a New York City born white blues singer/guitarist and son of record producer John Hammond. He had recorded prolifically for Vanguard, Atlantic, and Columbia since 1963, and Can't Beat the Kid (1975) was his first and only record for Capricorn and his twelfth overall. He has recorded 34 albums in his prolific career, which isn't over yet. He also is friends with Tom Waits and frequently covers his songs. This song is like a bluesier John Sebastian with some Randy Newman touches. The lyrics are funny, but the overall song is a little slight. Still, it fits into its side well here.

    B3 –Emmylou Harris Bluebird Wine 3:18 Pieces of the Sky marked Emmylou Harris' first album since the death of her singing partner Gram Parsons in late 1973. His final album, featuring Harris, Grievous Angel, had appeared in 1974. Parsons is one of the few Reprise artists who never got a Loss Leaders slot of his own. Despite the considerable amount of rock and roll lore associated with Parsons, his albums were poor sellers; Grievous Angel had only managed to reach #195. Pieces of the Sky was a bright spot for Warner Brothers, reaching #7 on the country charts on the strength of "If I Could Only Win Your Love" which made #4 on the country charts. Pieces of the Sky also reached #45 in the Billboard 200 and went gold. Harris has been a fixture on the country album charts ever since, making the country top-10 with twenty-one albums, most recently in 2015. "Bluebird Wine" is as good a place as any to see why; the girl sure had a set of pipes on her, and a way with a tune.

    B4 –Grinderswitch Let The South Wind Blow 4:12 Grinderswitch return for their second appearance, this time from Macon Tracks (1975), the title a pun on their (and Capricorn's) home town. Again, the band failed to chart, despite a fervent home town fanbase. "Pickin' the Blues", the album closer, would by adopted by disc jockey John Peel as the theme song for his BBC show, which ultimately may be the most well-known thing the band ever did. This is a fairly loose song, with a likable vocal and busy arrangement. The band can play, and the song recalls a softer-edged Allmans in its instrumentation. However, there isn't much of a hook to this one, and is passes by pleasantly enough and is gone.

    B5 –Wet Willie Dixie Rock 5:07 Capricorn's Wet Willie had finally scored big with their classic hit "Keep On' Smilin'" in 1974. Unfortunately, the momentum was lost with their fourth studio album, Dixie Rock, which stalled at #114. This was a bad omen for Capricorn records, whose fortunes were already starting to turn. There's nothing really wrong with Dixie Rock, and the band is probably even sharper than ever on it. Perhaps the issue was over-saturation; there was a limit as to how many Southern rock bands the mainstream market could absorb, particularly as the disco era approached. "Dixie Rock" is harder rock than we've seen from this band so far, and it has a catchy beat to it. It manages to incorporate both soul and heavy metal elements. What it lacks is some of the irresistible, offhand charm of "Keep On Smilin'", but such moments often happen only once to a band.

    B6 –Commander Cody And His Lost Planet Airmen That's What I Like About The South 2:33 Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen was a new signee at Warners in 1975. The band dates all the way back to its 1967 formation in Ann Arbor, and they drifted to San Francisco, where they were among the last bands of the post-Summer of Love Haight/Ashbury scene to land a contract. The band played a blend of country rock and 50's style greaser rock, with a stoned, doper sentiment; they were like a more rock-oriented post-Garcia New Riders of the Purple Sage. Their big hit was "Hot Rod Lincoln", which made the top-10 for Paramount in early 1972. The band was not a big seller for Paramount, but their albums did reliably make the middle of the Billboard 200. Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen was the first of three Warner Brothers albums and it proved to be the highest-charting of the band's career, reaching #58, while the single "Don't Let Go" made #56. It is one of the band's best, most self-assured albums. "That's What I Like About The South" is a guitar-and-fiddle driven little slice of country rock that sounds like a bizarre parody but is actually a warm tip of the hat to the South. The band was disbanded in 1976, but Commander Cody has never stopped releasing albums in a similar vein ever since; his twenty-first was released in 2009.

    C1 –Allen Toussaint Country John/Filler 4:47 Toussaint had been indispensable to Warner Bros. in 1973-1975, both for his producing and his songwriting. By 1975, he was near the height of his fame. Southern Nights was his first album since 1972, and is generally considered to be a benchmark album for New Orleans funk. "Country John" was one of two singles lifted from the album; the other was "Southern Nights", which became a big hit for Glen Campbell in 1977. "Country John" is a very soulful, funky number with unusually complex production. There are so many delights here, it is hard to single them out; the bass is as funky as it can get, the horns are exciting, the vocal is a confidently delivered, soulful one. A considerable amount of talent was assembled for the album, and the album is a showcase of Toussaint's considerable styles and talents. However, as a solo artist, Toussaint simply didn't sell many records, and this was no exception.

    C2 –Gary Wright Dream Weaver 4:17 Gary Wright, a New Jersey native, was best known as a member of the British heavy rock band Spooky Tooth in the late 1960's. Beatles fans might be amused to learn he was also in Coachmen V, whose album was hijacked by their label and released as The Beetle Beat by the Buggs in 1964. This experience convinced Wright to stay in school, and he became a doctor before joining Spooky Tooth. By the time "Dream Weaver" came out, he was a 31-year-old music veteran, with two stints in Spooky Tooth, a pair of solo albums, and a movie soundtrack under his belt. He signed with Warner Brothers in 1975 because he noted a lack of keyboard virtuosos at the label. At the time of All Meat's release, his first Warner Bros. album The Dream Weaver had not yet been released. Both the single and the album were slow-starters; the single did not peak until it reached #2 in 1976, taking the album to #7. "Dream Weaver" stood out in 1976 because of its futuristic sound, and remains a familiar hit to this day. The album is noteworthy for being among the first pop records to feature only synths and drums, with no guitar (except one guest appearance by Ronnie Montrose). The Dream Weaver would also yield an additional #2 hit in 1976, "Love Is Alive", propelling Wright into the major leagues. Unfortunately, Wright never came remotely close to such success again, although he had one more top-40 single in 1981.

    C3 –The Beau Brummels Singing Cowboy 3:18 The Beau Brummels have had a relationship with Loss Leaders going all the way back to 1969 and Sal Valentino's appearance. Valentino eventually joined Stoneground, another Loss Leader band, but the first incarnation of that band had broken up in 1973. So, here in 1975, the Beau Brummels attempt an unlikely revival. "Singing Cowboy" sounds like a Roger McGuinn song; it's a pleasant bit of country-pop-rock. All five original members are present, and the band has an updated sound (even Ronnie Montrose guests on one cut), but the release was just too anachronistic to make sense in 1975, and the album stalled at #180. The band broke up again shortly thereafter and partially reunited sporadically through the 00's; they never again made any commercial waves.

    C4 –Peter Yarrow Brother, Can You Spare A Dime 2:46 60's relic Peter Yarrow returns for his third Loss Leaders appearance as a solo act with "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime", from his Depression-themed Hard Times (1975) The song is a cover of the 1932 song for the musical Americana by Jay Gorney and Yip Harburg. Yarrow gives it a somber, wistful vocal, helped by moody production. By this time, the solo careers of Peter, Paul, and Mary had pretty much run their courses (except for Paul Stookey's Christian work for another label); the albums weren't selling or even getting reviewed. Yarrow would release one more album in 1975, Love Songs, and then defied expectations by striking gold with the contemporary-sounding 1976 #1 hit "Torn Between Two Lovers", which he wrote for Mary MacGregor. This gave both him and Stookey a post-PPM hit, and helped stir up some interest in a Peter, Paul, and Mary reunion, which would take place in 1978 on Warner Brothers, where the band remained until Mary Travers' death in 2008. This earns the group and its solo members the distinction of having the longest relationship with Warner Bros. of anyone we've met on Loss Leaders. Fleetwood Mac had the second longest.

    C5 –Geoff Muldaur Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You 3:49 When we last saw Geoff, he was hurling insults at his ex-wife Maria in 1972. Since then, Maria has been living the high life, coming up with two hit solo albums and rubbing shoulders with Jerry Garcia. Geoff continued to labor in relative obscurity, adding tasteful licks to other people's albums (including on a song of Maria's) and sometimes to his own. "Gee Baby, Ain't I Good To You" is a regret-laden blues ballad, sounding like Geoff is still pining away for his wife. The song is taken from the first of two solo albums he would record for Reprise, Geoff Muldaur Is Having a Wonderful Time (1975). As a solo act, Muldaur never managed to chart, except for a token appearance on the blues charts in 2009. In 1977, he teamed up with Amos Garrett for a couple of albums.

    C6 –John Renton Monday Morning 2:42 Indian-born, British-raised Canadian John Renton released one single album in his career, Half In, Half Out on Reprise in 1975. Renton was evidently more of a TV personality in Canada than a musician. However, beyond the All Meat liner notes, there is absolutely zero about him on the internet. "When I Talk" from this album made it to #67 on the Canadian charts, but apparently nobody bought the record in America. "Monday Morning" is a catchy little trifle of pop song, with all of the elements in place for a potential hit, somewhat reminiscent of Harry Nilsson's more commercial fare. However, it was not to be.

    C7 –Martin Mull Show Me Yours (I'll Show You Mine) 3:05 Martin Mull makes his third appearance with a track from Days of Wine and Neuroses (1975), his final Capricorn album. Mull had enjoyed some success as a musician, but comedy was where his particular talent really lay. In 1976, he would land a role on the late-night soap opera spoof Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman and its spinoff Fernwood 2 Night. He would continue to release albums through the 1970's, for MCA and Elektra, but by 1980 he had finished his recording career. This is another goofy piano-based song, in which the joke pretty much hangs on the title of the song.

    D1 –Jesse Colin Young Motorhome 2:50 With Jesse Colin Young, it's hard to come up with blurbs. There's nothing especially wrong with him as a recording artist, but nothing especially interesting or noteworthy, either. His albums were steady if unspectacular sellers; Songbird, from which "Motorhome" was taken, was his best selling album of his career, peaking at #26. In 1975, he was enjoying a boost from opening for Crosby, Stills, and Nash during their 1974 tour. The album was a typical, tuneful mix of songs about love and breaking up, a couple of mild political numbers (one on behalf of Native Americans), a couple of Youngbloods retreads, sweetened up for the 1970's, and a swipe at the critics called "Slick City". None of it is offensive, but very little of it is memorable and some of it sounds a little callow from a guy his age. "Motorhome" is what the Youngbloods might have sounded like if they had had a better budget. The song is a slightly smug poke at motor homes and their owners.

    D2 –Hirth Martinez Comin' Round The Moon 3:30 Eccentric singer/guitarist Hirth Martinez was part of the Bob Dylan/The Band orbit, and his debut album, Hirth from Earth (1975) was produced by Robbie Robertson, with Garth Hudson helping out on organ. Martinez was something of an outsider-type, with a hoard of 300 songs, many dealing with UFO's as well as songs about doubt and loneliness. Robertson sifted through the songs and came up with an album's worth of the "best" ones, which Warners duly released. His core sound could be described as a cross between Dr. John and Van Dyke Parks, but his music ran a gamut of genres, from rock to blues to folk to samba to funk to sunshine pop to 'experimental' strangeness. "Comin' Round The Moon" could pass for Captain Beefheart on an off day, with a growling vocal and jagged rhythm, and somewhat incongruous pop flourishes. Naturally, the album did not sell; nor did a 1977 follow-up. That was all the world heard from Martinez until an independently released album in 1998. Martinez remains active; he has a website and plays a regular biweekly gig in Santa Ana, CA.

    D3 –Todd Rundgren Eastern Intrigue 5:06 "Eastern Intrigue" comes from Rundgren's sixth solo album, Initiation (1975). This album is a continuation of the synth and electronic based prog rock he had been exploring on Todd Rundgren's Utopia (1974) The album was split into two sides: the genre-hopping first side, and the heavily synth-based instrumental second side. "Eastern Intrigue" makes use of synths and sound effects (as well as gargantuan drum effects), and Rundgren delivers a wandering vocal that sounds a little like Bryan Ferry leading CSN. Rundgren, who had pushed the limitations of how much audio a vinyl disc could hold before, outdoes himself on this one by squeezing 68 minutes on a single disc. This meant speeding up the master tapes and reducing the dynamic range. The inner jacket bore a warning: "Due to the amount of music on this disc (over one hour), two points must be emphasized. Firstly, if your needle is worn or damaged, it will ruin the disc immediately. Secondly, if the sound does seem not loud enough on your system, try re-recording the music onto tape" The album fared a little worse than most of Rundgren's 70's albums, peaking at #86. However, Rundgren would continue making the charts on a routine basis until the 1990's.

    D4 –Earth, Wind & Fire Moment Of Truth 2:59 Warners has never been shy about trucking out old product from artists who have left the label to find fame at another label; David Bowie, John Denver, and BTO have all been given this treatment. Earth Wind & Fire had released their first three albums on Warner Brothers, but found only limited success. Warners at the time suffered from a real dearth of r&b and funk artists at the time, and were not particularly adept in promoting or supporting them. The band departed for Columbia records, where they blossomed into one of the biggest selling acts in America, hitting #1 on both the album and singles charts in 1975. Seeing their rise at rival Columbia, Warners had hastily compiled a "best of" from their first three albums in 1974 as Another Time, from which "Moment of Truth" is taken. This is one of the tightest, most hardcore funk moments of all three albums, and nearly crosses into P-Funk territory. It is also proof for doubters that the band wasn't just about horn arrangements, although the horns are great on this too.

    D5 –Labelle Won't Get Fooled Again 4:45 We've met LaBelle twice before, and they're back with their cover of the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again". There are two differences this time. For one thing, the group was burning up the charts with "Lady Marmalade", which would peak at #1 in March 1975. Their 1974 album, Nightbirds, was on its way to #7 and a million sales. The other difference is that Labelle was no longer a Warner Bros. artist; the group had signed with Epic in early 1974. So, as with Earth Wind & Fire, Warners turned to their second album, Moon Shadow (1972) for a loss leader to include. A soul/r&b group covering the Who might seem unlikely, but Labelle had opened for the Who in 1970 and signed with Track records, the Who's label. They also were fairly rocking for a soul group. "Won't Get Fooled Again" gains a whole new context here, done as a hard soul-rock number here. It might not be the best cover of a Who song, but it is definitely one of the more interesting ones.

    D6 –Jimi Hendrix Captain Coconut 4:06 It is fairly remarkable how one man with a guitar, whose career spanned a mere four years, could be the engine of a successful cottage industry that has changed stewardship but still continues to this day. Dead since 1970, Jimi Hendrix remained one of the better selling artists at Warner Brothers through the mid-1970's, and Crash Landing became his fourth posthumous Reprise album, in 1975. The previous ones included the pieced-together Cry of Love, Jimi's half-finished album at the time of his death. Two live albums followed. Crash Landing would be the first controversial one, as it would feature unfinished songs completed by session musicians. Bits of songs were erased, or changed around, in order to present the album as a contemporary-sounding release. It also gave curator Alan Douglas a chance to claim five co-writing credits. Thus, the album is looked upon as a monstrosity by Hendrix purists, although the novelty of it sent it roaring up the charts to #5 in the US. The more skeptical British took it only to #35. From a non-purist's point of view, it's an electronically distorted guitar workout on top of new bass and drums tracks; unfocused but still kinda awesome and fun.

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    Additional Thoughts:

    This is a strong collection. Bringing back the artist photos was a good idea, as it makes the songs less anonymous. Putting track data on the inner sleeves to make room was not an ideal choice, but future editions would experiment with alternative ways to fit all the info in.

    It's worth noting how far we've come from the first two editions in 1969. The label has become fairly well-rounded, with ample amounts of credible soul and funk to balance out the Burbank sound.

    Next up: Peaches, Vol. 2, the second and final Capricorn records showcase.
     
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2015
  11. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA

    And the longest title of a non-charting single came from Fairport Convention: " Sir B. McKenzie's Daughter's Lament For The 77th Mounted Lancers Retreat From The Straits Of Loch Knombe, In The Year Of Our Lord 1727, On The Occasion Of The Announcement Of Her Marriage To The Laird Of Kinleakie".
     
  12. Seederman

    Seederman Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Sorry for the double post; I removed the extra one, but if anyone was trying to quote it, it might have resulted in an error.
     
  13. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    FWIW, I don't agree that Walking Man was an ill-conceived "rock" album. It did mark the beginning of a firm backbeat and electric guitars appearing on most tracks of Taylor's albums, which he has continued to use for his albums since then. For Gorilla he came up with a more inspired set of songs, but probably the key to its success was having a Motown cover as the single instead of Taylor's originals, since he didn't write much radio fare anymore.
    This album was the topic of the Star-Making Machinery book I mentioned a bit earlier. Intriguingly, it didn't even start as a Warners album, but ended up there after they decided to leave their previous label. Their relations with Warners would end unhappily as this album didn't meet sales expectations, the label disliked the followup album and didn't promote it (according to the band) and they finished out the contract with a live album and broke up.

    As Seederman mentioned, the "Warners' Revenge" tracks had become a frequent element of the Loss Leaders. Here they try it twice, and these would not be the last examples.
     
    Seederman likes this.
  14. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    Particular this track, in which Douglas' rhythm-section overdubs create a "song" out of various Hendrix instrumental scraps. It never really existed as a Hendrix track.
     
  15. Trace

    Trace Senior Member

    Location:
    Washington State
    I had no idea! Very interesting.
     
    phillyal1 and McLover like this.
  16. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    And it turned out Gary Wright became a friend and frequent sideman of George Harrison in the 70's.
     
    Slokes likes this.
  17. 99thfloor

    99thfloor Senior Member

    Location:
    Sweden
    I'm not sure how you are counting here, if you only take Reprise releases into acount or all posthumous Hendrix albums, but either way it's not quite right. Crash Landing was the fourth posthumous studio album on Reprise, after The Cry of Love, Rainbow Bridge and War Heroes (there was also one, Loose Ends, that was never released in the US), but you also mention live albums, of which there actually was only one on Reprise between Cry of Love and this, namely Hendrix in the West (you may also have been thinking about Isle of Wight, which came out earlier, but was not released in the US). It's a bit messy, I know... :)
     
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2015
  18. Seederman

    Seederman Forum Resident Thread Starter

    I misread his wikipedia discography. You're right, I'll fix it up when I redo it. I get pretty confused by his releases.
     
  19. 99thfloor

    99thfloor Senior Member

    Location:
    Sweden
    So do I, even though I have been collecting them for 30 years, so don't worry. ;)
     
  20. 99thfloor

    99thfloor Senior Member

    Location:
    Sweden
    This is one of the most problematic tracks, but that isn't entirely Douglas' fault in this particular case. I will take the liberty to copy a piece from forum member Purple Jim's Hendrix site(*) about this song:

    In 1971 John Jansen was searching through the left over tapes for tracks to use on the "Rainbow Bridge" film soundtrack (not for the album of that name). He got carried away and created this collage of three interesting but unrelated guitar explorations. One passage he found had "MLK" written by a sound engineer on the tape box (uncomfirmed that it had anything to do with Martin Luther King), he then added a bit of a jam with Buddy Miles plus a passage that Jimi had recorded at Electric Lady. Eddie Kramer caught Jansen at it and told him to pack it in. Later, Alan Douglas found it, presumed it was authentic and put it on "Crash Landing" !

    * http://hendrix.guide.pagesperso-orange.fr/song_index.htm
     
    bRETT and Seederman like this.
  21. I'm not sure that Fleetwood Mac's "Oh Well Pt. 1 & 2" wasn't included on the first pressing, never heard that one before. I was at Warner Bros. Records the day that they released it and was handed a copy, which I still have. "Oh Well" was included in it and as noted in the body of the liner notes, this recording they received was "miked" in mono and if they received a stereo version that they would update the album.

    As to Ed Saunder's "The Illiad", one of the funniest comedy/music recordings I've ever heard. It was perfect for parties and had people rolling on the floor. Try to find and buy a copy of Ed Saunder's "Truckstop" LP. Prices have been through the roof. Playboy's Collector's Choice re-issued it on CD, and that one sold out very quickly. "The Illiad" could have even been considered the father of Charlie Daniel's 1973 hit "Uneasy Rider". I miss the days before having to be "politically correct".
     
    Mechanical Man likes this.
  22. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    I think he meant "Oh Well" was not on the first pressing of Then Play On.
     
  23. 99thfloor

    99thfloor Senior Member

    Location:
    Sweden
    This is the first pressing of Then Play On, from 1969:
    http://www.discogs.com/Fleetwood-Mac-Then-Play-On/release/3063722

    "Oh Well" was added, and "When You Say" and "My Dream" removed, in 1970:
    http://www.discogs.com/Fleetwood-Mac-Then-Play-On/release/6393259

    Edit: Oh, didn't pick up that it could have been misunderstood as "Oh Well" was missing from the first pressing of The Big Ball - no, it refers to Fleetwood Mac's Then Play On.
     
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2015
    Seederman likes this.
  24. Folknik

    Folknik Forum Resident

    All Meat is another great one. One of my more recent acquisitions. Nilsson and Cher. Who knew?
     
  25. Now, that sounds about right. I remember the stickers on the "Then Play On" indicating that it included "Oh Well". I bought a boxed set of FM's early albums almost 2 years ago and as a bonus included a stereo 7" single of "Oh Well". I thought it strange that "Then Play On" didn't have "Oh Well" on it like I remembered.
     

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