BOB DARIN - COMMITMENT 1969. By 1969, Mr. Darin was done with pop stardom. Done, I say. He had released an album of mellow country rock the previous year, sprouted the moustache, and bought the god damn hat. With this LP though, he doubled down and remained, well, committed, though that last album was met with roaring indifference . He also brought in elements of, dare I say, funk?!?. There are grooves aplenty on this LP, as well as some biting social commentary tunes. The recent Country Funk series on the Light In The Attic imprint pulls “Me and Mr. Hohner” from this LP, and with good reason. For folks who care about this sort of thing, this particular copy of this LP is a Monarch pressing, and bears all the matrix marks of that exalted establishment. Think you never need to hear Bob(by) Darin again? Not so fast, buckaroo.
John G.
Bad Kitty Music #7: Todd Rundgren
Bad Kitty Music #6: The Rockets
Bad Kitty Music #5: Rush
Bad Kitty Music #4: Dr. John
Bad Kitty Music #3: Terry Reid
Bad Kitty Music #2: Roy Buchanan
Bad Kitty Music #1: Bobby "Blue"Bland
4 comments:
An echo of Marvin Gaye's "What's Goin On"?
I remember reading about the hip Darin albums, but never heard them. Or am I thinking of the latter day Dion albums? Time to hunt for clips of both of them.
I never knew my brother growing up. He was 10 years older than me. He was drafted in the late sixties and luckily he got stationed in Germany. When he came home in the early '70s is when I got to know him. He was still very much a stranger to me but he brought home all this cool duty-free stuff like stereo equipment and all the German pressings of Sgt. Pepper and Disraeli Gears which I sill have to this day. The reason I write this is that this is how I got to know him, through music. Luck be it is that we shared the same musical tastes that provided an opening into shared conversations. Back then my brother when in a good mood, would sing bits of Me and Mr. Hohner, and at some point, I believe I heard it on the radio at various times. He moved away a little later and that song always stuck in the back of my mind. I made it a mission to find this song.
As you know Sal, back then you found songs by scouring through endless LP's and reading tracklists on the back covers. Finally years later, in an old Ma and Pa record shop, I found this LP. He's been gone for almost a dozen years now but I still treasure this not only for the hunt but also the connection it gives me to my brother. I was certain that I was the only person on the planet that had this record. I'm sorry for being so long-winded, but you posting this brought back a lot of fond memories that seemed to spill out. Kevan A
Thanks for sharing, Kevan. I'm glad this post brought back some good memories for you.
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