Yes,ECOLOGY.I 4ever thought that it was PERSH.BABBITT strikes again............thanks,RAY.Hope u enjoyed NY while u were here.sure it brings back lots of memory.i guess PETE was doin all that cymbal stuff on LOSIN YOU.
IT'S LIKE THE TWO JOHN RYAN ALBUMS. WHY DID HE USE ROBERT WILSON(GAP BAND),AND REGGIE MCBRIDE,ON SOME OF THE SONGS INSTEAD OF MIKE URSO? PRODUCERS CHOICE. NOT A BAND CHOICE!
Always great (and enlightening) to hear what Ray has to say.
I agree with Mark. It's a bit of a shock that John Persh was substituted. No offence to the late great Bob Babbit of course, but as a record buyer i tend to believe what it says on the record sleeve. In most other businesses that would fall foul of misrepresentation laws.
Did John and Mike put down original basslines but then they were wiped and re-recorded by session men? More to the point, how did they feel about it? I don't think I'd have been "celebrating" if it was me. Luckily we know JP's capabilities through the In Concert record. As for Mike, I would like to think that was his playing on Willie Remembers, because there's some great basslines there, particularly on Miami.
BABBITT WAS UNCREDITED ON "LOSING YOU", MUCH THE SAME AS HIM AND I,AND OTHERS WERE UNCREDITED ON FUNKADELICS FIRST ALBUM. ROBERT WILSON,AND REGGIE MCBRIDE WERE GIVEN CREDIT ON THE JOHN RYAN ALBUMS.
THESE KINDS OF THINGS HAPPENED ALL THE TIME WITH SELF CONTAINED BANDS DURING THOSE DAYS. PRODUCERS HAD THE FINAL SAY.
I DON'T KNOW HOW LOSING YOU WENT DOWN....I WASN'T THERE. BABBITT TOLD ME HE PLAYED BASS ON IT,AND IT'S LISTED IN HIS CREDITS ON HIS WEBSITE. BOBBABBITT.COM
ON THE JOHN RYAN ALBUMS,HE JUST BROUGHT IN THE OTHER PLAYERS. IT REALLY PISSED OFF THE WHOLE BAND.
WE SAW NO REASON FOR IT. MIKE'S A GREAT BASSMAN. "WILLIE" IS ALL HIM.
That discography on Bob's website is virtually a track by track duplication of my singles collection. I never released he played on all those Motown / Invictus / Hot Wax tracks of the early 70s. I thought a lot of the Motown ones were James Jamerson.
Rich
Couldn't Believe bassline is great too. The bass throughout WR is of the finest calibre, so It's good to know from Ray that it is "Urso Bass"
THAT'S WHEN JAMES WAS REALLY GOING DOWNHILL,AND BOB DID MANY OF THE SESSIONS AT MOTOWN,AND JUST ABOUT EVERY OTHER SESSION IN DETROIT. THAT'S ALSO WHEN HDH LEFT AND FORMED HOT WAX/INVICTUS. BOB AND I DID ALL THE HITS FOR THEM.
DAVE, MANY PEOPLE DON'T KNOW ALL THAT BOB DID. HIS DYSCOGRAPHY IS MIND BOGGLING! ALL THE WAY FROM THE 1950"S UNTILL HE PASSED.ONE OF THE ALLTIME GREATS.
RICH, THAT BASSLINE ON HUM ALONG WAS GIVEN TO MIKE BY NORMAN. IT BLEW US ALL AWAY! AND MIKE KILLED IT.
I HAVE NOTHING BUT GOOD MEMORIES FROM NY, ALL THE WAY BACK TO MADISON SQUARE AND UP TO THE PHIL COLLINS DATES.
OK.....ONE BAD MEMORY. THAT WAS MY BLACK BEAUTY LES PAUL THAT I USED ON "CELEBRATE".
AT THE TIME ITWAS A BUMMER,BUT IT LEAD TO ME BUYING MY FIRST STRAT. WHICH BECAME THE STANDARD FOR THE R.E. GUITAR SOUND. I STILL HAVE THAT ONE.....IT'S BEAT UP REALLY BAD.....WORSE THAN STEVIE RAY'S.
For me, Hum Along and Big John were the high points of the Ma album. I felt a little let down after the Willie Remembers album, but even back then I realised that Norman Whitfield had for some reason been put in control. I seem to remember that there wasn't a big gap between the two releases in the UK, i.e. less than 12 months. There was absolutely nothing wrong with those self penned songs on WR. One song that rarely gets mentioned here is "Think of the Children" but it stands up as a great song lyrically and musically with ice solos from Gil and Mark.
Importantly, now I'm older, I am now much more appreciative of the full version of Ma (the song). Pete's vocal in particular.
Bob Babbitt on (I KNow I'm Losing You)? Interesting indeed. I was always under the impression that the album version was Pete, Gil, John, Eddie, Rod and Kenny...edited down from a 45 minute jam.
I could easily believe that Babbitt added bass to the 45 version, as that mix is different from the LP version. There's added drums, tambourine (sounds like Mr. Ashford) and keyboards on it, which Norman Whitfield was probably responsible for, so it's very likely Bob's bass playing is on the 45 version.
I always wondered if it was you RAY instead of Rod on guitar on much of "Ecology" since the playing style is so different form the "Get Ready" album - especially the Wah guitar sounds like much of what you did on "In Concert".
BTW Ray, "In Concert" was my first RE album - bought it new at Smittys grocery store (!) in Phoenix when it was first out - and your playing just blew me away. In fact, every time I listen to the "In Concert" CD I am still blown away by all the tight ensemble playing from everyone. One of the greatest live CDs ever.
I'm pretty proud of Live in Chicago. Not bad for saying I've only heard one song from it ; )
Oh well, maybe one day!! (Need to keep mentioning it at every opportunity)
Just finished reading Ralph's book on his brother Russ' days at Motown. An interesting account of studio life at Motown and one heck of a catalogue of material mixed by Russ. I know you played guitar on many of those songs too Ray!!
How about that In Concert LP. That was my very first LP purchase too. On sale for $2.99 at E J Korvettes. With Ray and Mark being fairly new to the band we didn't know what to expect when the band came into town to do the Garden shows with Sly and the Family Stone. Well there were no disappointments there. Rare Earth Killed it both the nights I was there and they were just as tight as a band or even tighter than many other bands who had already been together for years.
I'll always regret missing the third night but three bucks for a concert ticket was a lot of money for a sixteen year old in those days. The people sitting near us didn't have a clue as to the recent personal changes so we never even mentioned them. These were the legendary concerts that came to be known as the nights Rare Earth blew Sly off the stage. And please don't let any Sly fans tell you otherwise.
These shows were talked about for many years to come as were other legendary concerts where the supporting acts put on a much tighter show than the headler. Another show that comes to mind was the Doobies outdoing Chicago at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City in the Summer of 1974. Chicago may have still had Terry Kath with them but he was no match for Tom Johnston, Pat Simmons and Jeff Skunk Baxter that night. Tickets for this show were $3,50 so I guess we had to pay more for the extra guitar players.
Man those were the days that New York and every other major city on the planet rocked. Perhaps some time in the future an inventor will come up with a time machine so we can relive those golden days of rock. At least for now we have In Concert, LIC and so many other great live LP's to hold us over. While we're waiting can anybody say Atlanta Pop Festival?
A trip back in a time machine to 1971? Yeah, I'd vote for that. Seems looking back that the only care in my world was getting down to the records shop every Thursday to see the new record releases, listening to the new charts every Tuesday, flicking through the just released weekly music papers on Wednesday, looking forward to whatever band might be appearing at our local college and rock club on Friday and Saturday, then listening to a complete run down of the Top 40 on a Sunday. Mondays were so dull ; )
Hey Jocko, from a comment in one of your posts yesterday, I reckon you were born in June 1955 right? Me too. So there's a one in thirty chance we arrived on the same day...the 13th in my case.
A trip back in a time machine to 1971? Yeah, I'd vote for that. Seems looking back that the only care in my world was getting down to the records shop every Thursday to see the new record releases, listening to the new charts every Tuesday, flicking through the just released weekly music papers on Wednesday, looking forward to whatever band might be appearing at our local college and rock club on Friday and Saturday, then listening to a complete run down of the Top 40 on a Sunday. Mondays were so dull ; )
Hey Jocko, from a comment in one of your posts yesterday, I reckon you were born in June 1955 right? Me too. So there's a one in thirty chance we arrived on the same day...the 13th in my case.
