This album was Brewer and Shipley’s sixth and their second last (the last was in 1975) before retiring from recording for twenty years.
Their first album, “Down in L.A” had been released on A&M records in 1968. The next four were on Kama Sutra and they set the musical style of Brewer & Shipley … folk rock, with associated harmonies sprouting socially conscious, occasionally barbed, lyrics all wrapped up in a rural slightly beatnik hippy vibe.
And, it was a good vibe.
Though not good enough for the public.
The times were a changin’ (sic) or, rather, had changed as this sound moved more and more into “soft rock” and “yacht rock” territory but there was a market for the organic folk of Brewer and Shipley, though an increasingly small one.
Brewer and Shipley, never big on the charts hadn’t had a chart position since 1972 (a #f98 for the fine “Shake of the Demon”). Their highpoint was the magnificent “One Toke over the Line” #10, 1971 and “Tarkio Road” #55, 1971 (both off the “Tarkio” album from 1970).
There had been two albums since then which didn’t do well, so, with this album they signed a deal with Capitol records which lasted until the next album, neither of which sold.
A new deal doesn’t mean a new sound, though the label, no doubt, wanted returns.
And, I suspect, a new sound wasn’t wanted. What was wanted, I think, was a tweaking of their old rootsy sound to bring them into line with the soft rockers, all who had come from a similar field (sic).
Their sound vibe was the same as Loggins and Messina, Seals and Crofts, Bread, England Dan & John Ford Coley and Crosby & Nash who were all over the charts. The only difference, apart from chart success, was that, with the exception of Crosby & Nash (who I don’t think are as good), Brewer and Shipley were more interesting, darker, nuanced and well thought out. The songs have, not so much a sadness, but a melancholia with a resigned regret feel to them. The 70s wasn’t all disco, dancing and good times.
The music, here, is given a sheen and gloss that a bigger label can do easily, with slicker production and more money spent on ace session musicians, but perhaps, because Brewer and Shipley were mid-westerners, they were unable to convincingly ditch the grassroots and adopt pure soft rock.
And, that’s not a bad thing though that didn’t pay the bills at the time.
This is fine music, but the public were just looking for good time vibes and some undemanding surface introspection.
Check out my other posts on Brewer and Shipley for biographical detail.
Produced by John Boylan. All songs Brewer & Shipley except where marked.
Tracks (best in italics)
Side A
- Fair Play – (Steve Canaday) – Steve Canaday was co-owner of the New Bijou Theatre and sometimes member of The Ozark Mountain Daredevils. An acceptable piece of country rock.
- It Did Me In – (Mark Baysinger) – a gentle ballad with beautiful harmonizing. With a gentle pedal steel and a “happier days over yon’ horizon” message this is ethereal. Wonderful.
- Look Up, Look Out – waiting for and watching out for the four horsemen. Bad stuff was happening in 1974, and it is now.
- Shine So Strong – (Mike Brewer) – a gentle love song.
- How Are You – a melancholic question of a song which is a statement on the times.
Side B
- Eco-Catastrophe Blues – a great song summed up by the title and just as relevant today.
- Keeper Of The Keys – Written by Brewer & Shipley while staff writers for A&M Records. “Keeper Of The Keys” was released in 1968 by H.P. Lovecraft asa single and included on the ‘H.P. Lovecraft II’ album. It was originally on their ‘Down In L.A.” album from 1968 this is given a nice update here. There is a lot of drama in the song but it is retrained.
- Bound To Fall – (Mike Brewer, Tom Mastin [uncredited]) – Stephen Stills’s band Manassas recorded this for their 1972 debut album. Tom Mastin was a folk rock songwriter. The song was written in 1966 as a demo for the short-lived “Mastin & Brewer”. Not unlike Shawn Phillips. Catchy.
- Oh So Long – another slightly dreamy love song.
- Ballad of a Country Dog – (Mike Brewer) – a funky country rock strut. Great harmonica and catchy lyrics.
And …
As good as anything coming out of the gentler side of music circa 1974. Why this didn’t do better is a mystery … I’m keeping it.
Chart Action
Nothing nowhere
Sounds
Fair Play
on television
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KxvwivOr9o
It Did Me In
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4XpnEkUWbM
How Are You
mp 3 attached
Keeper Of The Keys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2NHxfyTuNE
Bound To Fall
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTP3RRTvjZc
Ballad of a Country Dog
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mqNw_j_BTI
Others
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNKL9onYB_8
Tom Shipley recently
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icYNR5VAGuk
Michael Brewer not so long ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REJdrDbRYUw
Review
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ST11261
Bio
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brewer_%26_Shipley
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/tom-mastin-mn0001774142
http://www.brewerandshipley.com/Misc/SteveCanaday.htm
http://www.brewerandshipley.com/Misc/MarkBaysinger.htm
Website
http://www.brewerandshipley.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Brewer-Shipley-185181440142/
Trivia
- Personnel:
- Mike Brewer, Tom Shipley – Vocals & Guitars
- Gary Mallaber – Drums (sessionman for Steve Miller Band, Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Frampton, Poco, Paul Williams, Kermit the Frog (and why not) and others
- Russ Kunkel – Drums (session musician for Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Jimmy Buffett, Dan Fogelberg, Stephen Stills, Harry Chapin, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Stevie Nicks, Carole King, Jackson Browne, Joe Walsh, Neil Diamond, Glenn Frey, and Carly Simon and others).
- Jesse Ed Davis – Electric Guitars (session man for Taj Mahal, Gene Clark, John Lennon, Leonard Cohen, George Harrison, Jackson Browne, John Lee Hooker and others)
- John Boylan – Keyboards (future country rock producer)
- Doug Haywood – Bass (sideman for Jackson Browne, Warren Zevon, Linda Ronstadt and others, later)
- Sneaky Pete Kleinow – Pedal Steel Guitar (member of The Flying Burrito Brothers and as a session musician)
- “The album’s title refers to its Capitol Records catalog number, a device previously used by Peter, Paul & Mary (Album 1700, 1967), and which would later be used for albums released by Dave Davies (AFL1-3603, 1980) and Yes (90125, 1983)”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ST11261
