DR HOOK – Bankrupt – (Capitol) – 1975 | WHAT FRANK IS LISTENING TO

We all owned a copy of Dr Hook’s Greatest Hits back in the early 80s.

Didn’t we?

Well, didn’t we?

Honestly.

Come on, tell the truth.

Didn’t we?

It may be an Australian thing though – the American release of Dr Hook’s “Greatest Hits” stalled at #142 in 1981. The Australian album is as common as Neil Diamond’s “Hot August Night”, and that’s saying something.

The Australian Greatest Hits as also padded out with all the hits and then some.

But, a desire to dig though the bands back catalogue is always there even though this is a dangerous process. With some bands, undiscovered gems lurk in non-single album tracks and entire albums are discovered and eventually stand alone, favoured over the greatest hits package.

For other bands the greatest hits package is, well, their greatest hits. There is nothing more. Sometimes, though, there is less ….when the greatest hits include hits that aren’t “great” or songs that were neither “hits” nor “great”.

Dr Hook were in some ways the epitome of the laid back, hirsute, slightly humorous country flavoured soft rock band. And they had hits…. 6 top 10 singles in the US and England over a 10 year period. Eight in Australia over the same period.

By way of early history: Wikipedia: The band was formed in Union City, NJ, in 1968, when a young singer/songwriter named Dennis Locorriere teamed up with Alabama-born country-rocker Ray Sawyer. Sawyer’s distinctive stage presence stemmed from his enormous cowboy hat and an eye patch that hid injuries from a serious car accident in 1967. Sharing the spotlight on guitar and lead vocals, the duo teamed up with Sawyer’s bandmates from a group called the Chocolate Papers: George Cummings (lead and steel guitars), Billy Francis (keyboards), and Popeye Phillips (drums). Phillips soon moved home to Alabama and was replaced by local drummer John "Jay" David. Sawyer’s eye patch inspired the nickname Dr. Hook, after the Captain Hook character in Peter Pan; with the rest of the band christened the Medicine Show (a possible drug reference), they began playing some of the roughest bars in the Union City area, concentrating mostly on country music out of sheer necessity.

The dual vocalists (Locorriere and Sawyer) come across as a cross between Cheech and Chong singing Jerry Reed and James Taylor. Not surprisingly, all of those acts, including Dr Hook, hit their high water marks in the 1970s because Dr Hook are firmly located in a 70s milieu in music and content..

Backing the vocalists is a band that could cut some passable country rock but concentrated on providing non-intrusive background to the (mainly) humorous narratives put forward by the vocalists. The band could write a tune or two but country music humourist Shel Silverstein found a perfect vehicle in them and wrote quite a few of their songs.

I quite like this music, albeit in small doses. Even the Greatest Hits doesn’t get played very often now (it did in 1981 when I was a kid). The biggest trouble is the music is slight, or at least it was by the time of this album. This album (their 4^th) is their first under the “Dr Hook” name. Up till this they were called “Dr Hook & the Medicine Show”. I haven’t heard any of those earlier albums (yet).

Tracks (best in italics)

Levitate – (Bill Francis / Dennis Locorriere) – stupid white funk with minimal country overtones ….
Let Me Be Your Lover – (Delbert McClinton) -a chug a lug beat – think Status Quo going country. Stupid but engaging, sort of.
Only Sixteen– (Sam Cooke)- a hit for Dr Hook and a hit for Sam Cooke – a good song
I Got Stoned and I Missed It- (Shel Silverstein)-maybe I have to be stoned to enjoy this. Silverstein has been wittier than this but …funny. Though some of the lyrics wouldn’t do well today.
Bubblin’ Up – (Shel Silverstein) – very Jerry Reed but without the magnificent guitar
Wups- (Bill Francis / Dennis Locorriere) –
The Millionaire – (D. Tracy) – witty – some good lyrics and reasonably perceptive and it mentions Elvis (I’m biased towards songs that mention Elvis).
Everybody’s Makin’ It Big But Me – (Shel Silverstein) – a humorous winner from Shel

Elvis he’s a hero he’s a superstar

And I hear that Paul McCartney drives a Rolls Royce car

And Dylan sings for millions

And I just sing for free

Oh everybody’s makin’ it big but me

Oh, everybody’s makin’ it big but me

Everybody’s makin’ it big but me

Neil Diamond sings for diamonds

And here’s ole rhinestone me

Oh everybody’s makin’ it big but me

Well I hear that Alice Cooper’s got a foxy chick

To wipe off his snake, and keep him rich

And Elton John’s got two fine ladies

And Doctor John’s got three

And I’m still seein’ them same old sleezoes, that I used to see

Oh, everybody’s makin’ it big but me

Yeah everybody’s makin’ it big but me

I’ve got charisma

And personality

Oh how come everybody’s makin’ it big but me?

(What’s wrong with that?)

(I don’t see nothing wrong with it Ray)

Well I paint my face with glitter

Just like Bowie does

And I wear the same mascara

That Mick Jagger does

And I even put some lipstick on

But that just hurt my dad and mom

And everybody’s makin’ it big but me

Oh, everybody’s makin’ it big but me

Yeah everybody’s makin’ it big but me

They got groupies for their bands

And all I got is my right hand

And everybody’s makin’ it big but me

Everybody’s makin’ it, makin’ it, makin’ it

Everybody’s makin’ it big……

Cooky and Lila – (David Hickey) – a twisted love song
Everybody Loves Me- (Rik Elswit / Dennis Locorriere)- filler. strained filler.
On the Way to the Bottom -(Shel Silverstein)- a country title though there are glam rock overtones.
Do Downs – (Arr Dr Hook) – some sort of a jam, perhaps staged?

And …

Uneven and slight …. The good tunes are entertaining though and I’m sure recreational drugs would improve the overall appreciation of the album. But, it’s not for me.

Chart Action

Singles

1976 Only Sixteen Country Singles #55

1976 Only Sixteen The Billboard Hot 100 #6

1975 The Millionaire The Billboard Hot 100 #95

Album

1976 #141

England

Singles

Album

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Sounds