Post by TheWallsScreamedPoetry on May 25, 2024 10:52:53 GMT
This was Robby's first LP back in 1977 after the Butts Band had failed he began a long career of instrumental albums.
This was slightly different because he brought in some singers for 3 tracks and even sang himself on two of them.
The vocals were not actually songs but more a chorus to the instrumental.
Side one was actually interesting but once side two started that interest drained away and would become the template for all future Krieger albums.
Side two sounds like a long ELP solo and to be honest I got tired of it and turned it off.
He kept away from Doors covers and John appears on one track on percussion.
Side 1:
"Gumpopper" (Sal Marquez - Robbie Krieger)
"Uptown" (Robbie Krieger) - 3:54
"Every Day" (Robbie Krieger) - 5:04
"Marylin Monroe" (Robbie Krieger) - 4:55
Side 2:
"The Ally" (Sal Marquez - Robbie Krieger) - 6:28
"Low Bottomy" (Robbie Krieger) - 2:58
"Spare Changes" (Robbie Krieger) - 3:38
"Big Oak Basin" (G. Barone) - 4:55
"Krieger's first solo album, released in 1977, was called Robby Krieger & Friends, the "friends" being about a dozen prominent session musicians. Krieger makes no apparent attempt to relive the past on this album.
Five of the eight tracks are good rock instrumentals, showing Krieger doing his own jazz-fusion thing with style.
The other three show Krieger's continuing interest in funk rock. "Uptown" almost sounds like a blaxploitation movie theme, with a pair of female singers repeating the title several times.
"Every Day" is a George Clinton-esque funk tune, in which Robby sings in a robotic voice. Krieger's other vocal turn comes on the reggae-flavoured "Marilyn Monroe", which doesn't have the most original subject, but it does feature Densmore playing the "reggae drum", as well as veteran jazz organist Jimmy Smith.
A really unusual later chapter in the career of guitarist Robby Krieger – a post-Doors album done for Blue Note Records – and a set that's got more than enough jazzy touches to live up to its placement on the label! Krieger's guitar gets plenty of workout on the album's fusion-styled grooves – often a lot more jazz than the rock you'd expect, with some especially great keyboards from Stu Goldberg and Sal Marquez – the latter of whom handled most of the soulful arrangements on the set.
There's a bit of vocals – sometimes by a chorus, sometimes processed in a way that's almost vocoder – and the whole thing owes a lot more to mid 70s funky fusion than any of Robby's work with the Doors. Titles include "The Ally", "Low Bottomy", "Big Oak Basin", "Spare Changes", "Uptown", and "Gumpopper". Dusty Groove, Inc.
