The Grass Roots.... any chance for a reissue series

from one of the “vault” labels? Real Gone did a nice job with the singles collection.

 

I'd love to have the mono mixes of their first two albums on CD.

 

It seems that the most of the huge artists who were on the Dunhill & ABC labels in the late 60s - early 70s have been either overlooked or virtually ignored for reissues. Steppenwolf (only their post-Dunhill albums were reissued), Three Dog Night (only their first two have been reissued with rather unexciting bonus tracks), Grass Roots (except for the ridiculously priced Japanese CDs), etc. The Joe Walsh James Gang's four albums were remastered almost 20 years ago with no bonus tracks - to be fair, their Best Of included the two Zachariah tracks. Actually, Rides Again was issued as an SACD last year, but even though it's in my top 5 albums of all time I'll never pay $50 for it. Also, A Group Called Smith's two albums & Gayle McCormick's first were issued in nice packages along with three of the Mamas & Papas albums, so why not the others? I have to assume that the powers that be don't feel there's enough market for them. A shame.

 

Bump

 

I would like it but most people my age and younger don’t seem to know who the Grass Roots are. They may know a few songs if you play them. 50.

 

I've gotten a lot of mileage out of the real gone singles collection. I had no idea how great these guys were.

 

Now Sounds would do a good job with these. I'd like mono but would be happy with stereo. They, Now Sounds, did fine work with the Association and others.

The Grass Roots may be almost unknown now but they sold a lot of records in the 60's and need to be re-released.

 

It would help if the surviving members - Warren Entner, Dennis Provisor, Terry Furlong & Creed Bratton would actually do something and contact a few record companies. I would think the first two would welcome some new songwriting royalties.

 

Every time I hear one of their hits on the radio, I wonder the same thing regarding a new compilation.
The only one I've ever owned is the vinyl Their 16 Greatest Hits.

 

The 2 CD Rhino comp is well done if you can find it as well as the Hip-o Leaving it All Behind. I saw them with the post Bachman Guess Who. It was a great show.

 

The 2CD Rhino set is a good place to start if you want to get some Grass Roots music. Not sure if it's hard to find or expensive. I'd still like to see Now Sounds release at least a couple CDs as I stated in a post earlier.

 

Reader said: Now Sounds would do a good job with these. I'd like mono but would be happy with stereo. They, Now Sounds, did fine work with the Association and others.

GREAT point! Steve Stanley's Now Sounds would be a AWESOME choice, assuming the masters didn't cost a million dollars to license, and i have a feeling they might be costly....the latest from Now Sounds of the Bobby Fuller Four's singles is a great release!!!!!

 

It would be nice to get the quadraphonic Greatest Hits out, too.

 

Definitely should be high on the list of reissue priorities for 2019. All of the reissue labels you listed would do a fine job, if nothing else even BGO Records could issue these as 2CD fourfers. They've done a terrific job with the back catalogs of so many other artists, although it's less common for them to include bonus content such as previously unreleased tracks, demos and live or alternate versions etc.

Here's a sample email for everyone to send to their favorite reissue label:

Hi (insert name of prospective reissue label here), this is @Rick Bartlett, please consider releasing the back catalog of The Grass Roots as most of their albums remain out of print in any format. Thanks for your time.

 

Do the multi-tracks even exist for The Grass Roots? Many ABC/Dunhill tapes were destroyed in the mid 70's. Three Dog Night and The Mamas and The Papas suffered the same fate.
The current available stereo mix of "Midnight Confessions" has the vocals so low in the mix. There is another stereo mix that is much better, so maybe some multi-tracks still exist.

 

Real Gone also did a very nice expanded reissue of the pre Rob Grill debut album, Where Were You When I Needed You.

 

Love the title track, though there's hardly any bass.

 

I think the full rights to the band are owned by Rob Grill's widow, with Rob's backing band given the right to continue touring as The Grass Roots.

Didn't Rob eventually buy the rights to the name off Adler and Sloan? No idea who actually controls the rights to the catalog, though.

 

Perusing Amazon it looks like every Steppenwolf Dunhill album ca be had on CD for normal prices, with the single exception of Early Steppenwolf for whatever reason.

Buy yikes, "Let's Live for Today" is a hundred dollar CD. I bought it new for $3.99.

 

the rhino box is good enough for me...Their lp compilation "Their 16 Greatest Hits" doesn't sound very good to these ears.

 

Lots of rerecordings on streaming sites for this band and only a couple of original releases, too bad.

 

Does anyone have a list of songs that were never released on one of their regular LPs? I know there are a few songs from "More Golden Grass" that only appeared on that compilation, but there were also a number of b-sides that I don't have. I have all of their original albums in near-mint condition and listen to them via CD-R all the time.

 

Checking 45cat and Discogs I find:

non-LP single sides:
"You're A Lonely Girl" (only on b-side of "Mr. Jones," included on Rhino Anthology)
"(These Are) Bad Times" (only on b-side of "Where Were You When I Needed You")
"Tip Of My Tongue" (a-side, included with rerecorded vocals on Let's Live For Today)
"Depressed Feeling" (only on b-side of "Let's Live For Today")

single sides included only on hits albums:
"Midnight Confessions" (a-side, included on Golden Grass/16 Greatest Hits)
"Bella Linda" (a-side, included on Golden Grass/16 Greatest Hits)
"Baby Hold On" (a-side, included on More Golden Grass/16 Greatest Hits)
"Get It Together" (b-side of "Baby Hold On," included on More Golden Grass)
"Come On And Say It" (a-side, included on More Golden Grass/16 Greatest Hits)
"Temptation Eyes" (a-side, included on More Golden Grass/16 Greatest Hits)
"Keepin' Me Down" (b-side of "Temptation Eyes," included on More Golden Grass)
"I Can Turn Off The Rain" (b-side of "Sooner Or Later," included on More Golden Grass/16 Greatest Hits)
"Let It Go" (b-side of "Two Divided By Love," included on More Golden Grass)
"Sooner Or Later" (a-side, included on 16 Greatest Hits)

Also of note is that several tracks that had been on albums were remixed for Golden Grass and More Golden Grass.

 

I just listened to the Let's Live For Today/Feelings 2-fer last night. Depressed Feeling is included along with Midnight Confessions and Bella Linda. I ordered one of the several 2-fer albums on Amazon which I assume are boots or at best gray market releases today - Lovin' Things/Leaving it all Behind. I made needle drops of my old albums years ago and I'm just hoping these are better quality than my CDRs. Maybe they used the Japanese CDs as a source but I doubt it. Anyway the CD should arrive tomorrow so I'll let you all know.

 

Very interesting, definitely keep us posted on the outcome. I recall buying all of the available twofers about 8 years ago which were nothing more than needledrops on CD-R with amateur artwork. The "Let's Live For Today/Feelings" twofer on Repertoire from the 90s sounded much better in comparison. It's a shame that Repertoire didn't reissue all of the Grass Roots albums as 1CD twofers with bonus tracks.

Each and every one of us need to flood the inboxes of BGO Records and Cherry Red UK requesting a reissue campaign of The Grass Roots albums on CD. BGO recently issued The Box Tops albums as a 2CD fourfer, so hopefully The Grass Roots would be in their scope as well.


BGO Records
https://www.cherryred.co.uk/