We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago….
There is something to be said for pop-rock music that sounds good on the radio. In fact, producers back in the 60’s and 70’s would go out of their way to produce records that sounded good on AM radios. With the growing popularity of FM radio and better speakers to hear the music, many bands opted for spacy instrumentation and a more ‘far out’ production styles. Case in point….the band Spirit, who moved from catchy little dittys like “I Gotta Line On You” to more psycheldic fare.
Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes left Spirit in 1971 and, with Mark’s brother Matt on guitar and drummer Curly Smith, formed the band Jo Jo Gunne. Their debut LP, filled with tight, clean, good sounding pop-rock songs came out in 1972.
The single, of course, was “Run Run Run” and it sounded great. But there were other, hook-laden gems on this record including “Shake That Fat”, “Babylon” and “Academy Award” and others.
It was the only album with this lineup. Mark Andes would leave and play later in the decade with both Heart and Firefall. Ferguson would have some solo success later with hits like “Shakedown Cruise” and “Thunder Island”. But for a moment, they melded some good songs into a solid rock LP. Enjoy.
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