First, thank you for the shout! You've got me in incredible company here! "Abandoned Luncheonette" always seems to get lost in the shuffle, so I try and shine a light on it whenever I can.
Of the list here, Head East's Flat As a Pancake" might be my fave-- if only because I picked it up at a street fair, and the guy across the crates from me was almost evangelical in his praise for the record.
Thanks as always for reading Kevin! Abandoned Luncheonette is really such a beautiful album, so different from what I’d come to expect from them in their later years. So glad you profiled it.
So cool that you got evangelized into buying Flat As a Pancake (or maybe you were gonna buy it anyway). Such a fantastic album
Head East live! I grew up in Champaign, Il and there was a bar/live venue called The Red Lion Inn Cramped, low ceiling, sticky floors, drugs and a real good place to get in a fight. It wasn't on the U of I campus but very close. As a teenager and into my early 20's, I saw an amazing array of up-and-coming local bands. Head East was one of them. REO was another. National touring groups also, including Cheap Trick, Iron Butterfly and even Dan Fogelberg.
Cool story, Jim! While you were "boots-on-the-ground" living that bitchin' midwest/heartland exposure these bands had to go through (endure?), I was 20 (in '75, when "Flat" was released on A&M), and a voracious reader of all the rock mags, and they described exactly what you're describing from your experiences! That's amazing!
The Michael Stanley Band strikes me as another of those (if memory serves!), as well as Starcastle! Both were on Epic Records.....it seems (judging, too, by your list above) that CBS had a particular laser-focus on this dynamic, and seemed to be all over following, assessing, and signing these bands!! And, therefore, matching 'em up for tandem label-signee tours!
Hey, thanks for the reply, Brad. Just as a couple of sidenotes, REO was considered a ‘house band’ at the Red Lion for a while. They would practice there during the day and then play nights. Chances R was another Champaign bar that was had outstanding bands live. The One-Eyed Jacks was another very popular local band, but they never quite hit the big time. The Red Lion history, as a venue, is extremely interesting and there are a few websites easily found with a search.
If I recall correctly, Red Lion was a chain of hotels with bars that booked live entertainment. From the early '60s thru about 2010, my mom was an entertainment booking agent, booking clubs and conventions nationwide (Houstonians as we were, she booked a pre-First Edition, Houstonian, Kenny Rogers around town in the '60s, as well as Billy Gibbons' Moving Sidewalks).
All of THAT to say that many of whom she booked, those decades, were cover bands, which leads me to wonder if REO, to use your "house band" example, would this have been a pre-originals/cover era for them (and any of these other regional bands before they got signed)? I'm assuming 2 things....1. Bands didn't/wouldn't, in my experience, play or dare to play originals for a club date, and 2. Bands couldn't get a recording deal unless and until they played originals.
So, at some point, I think, bands had to live 2 different lives, if they really wanted to break. Write, rehearse and record demos during the day, and play covers at night for the club date! Is that what you were seeing at the time?
There ya go....now I get it! So, this would've been a perfect place (not unlike L.A.'s Whisky, Starwood, Troub, Roxy) for bands to work out their originals, and even stage showcases for label execs! Thanks, Jim! This has been a fun and stimulating memory blast!! I'll check out that link!
growing up in Central Nebraska, in the 70's and early 80's every record crate had Flat as a Pancake in it -if the party was losing steam, throw it on the turntable, and it lights up again. When you meet a music fan from my part of the country and mention Head East, they get this look in their eyes, and you know within the hour, they're going to be on Spotify looking it up.
Thanks for reading Jim. Great story about the album that would wake up the dying party. I guess so many places and eras would have had their albums like that. By the time I started going to parties in the mid to late 80s we’d moved away from albums and more into mixtapes. But depending on whether I was home (Bermuda) or at College (Canada), there were always certain songs guaranteed to get the party started again.
Thanks for the link-drop, Mark! I'm glad you discovered Head East, and I'm certainly impressed by your going beyond "Never Been Any Reason"....'cause, in the day, I never did!! I'm sure I gave the whole album the obligatory spin, but, so jaw-dropped was I by the hit (that, of course, was the lead track on the album!), I never spent nearly as much time with the rest...so, I'm glad you did!
I will say that, at the time ('75...I was 20), I was newly-hired to Houston's commercial FM-rocker, KLOL, and we, of course had "Flat as a Pancake" available in the control room, so I was playing the hit (that rare track that had the "serious" gravitas for FM, but was also VERY AM-radio friendly!) every time I pulled out the album! I was just a part-time, substitute jock (like teachers, DJs got sick, too!), and I felt a sort of "pull" to show everyone (audience, program director, music director, and the jocks for whom I subbed!) I knew the latest "pick hits to click"!!
Thanks again, Mark! Not unlike Head East, you rock!!🎸✊😄
Thanks Brad. The lead single was so good for me when you profiled it that I just had to go check out the album. And it rocked! So glad you covered the single because I never would’ve heard of them otherwise.
First, thank you for the shout! You've got me in incredible company here! "Abandoned Luncheonette" always seems to get lost in the shuffle, so I try and shine a light on it whenever I can.
Of the list here, Head East's Flat As a Pancake" might be my fave-- if only because I picked it up at a street fair, and the guy across the crates from me was almost evangelical in his praise for the record.
Thanks as always for reading Kevin! Abandoned Luncheonette is really such a beautiful album, so different from what I’d come to expect from them in their later years. So glad you profiled it.
So cool that you got evangelized into buying Flat As a Pancake (or maybe you were gonna buy it anyway). Such a fantastic album
Head East live! I grew up in Champaign, Il and there was a bar/live venue called The Red Lion Inn Cramped, low ceiling, sticky floors, drugs and a real good place to get in a fight. It wasn't on the U of I campus but very close. As a teenager and into my early 20's, I saw an amazing array of up-and-coming local bands. Head East was one of them. REO was another. National touring groups also, including Cheap Trick, Iron Butterfly and even Dan Fogelberg.
Cool story, Jim! While you were "boots-on-the-ground" living that bitchin' midwest/heartland exposure these bands had to go through (endure?), I was 20 (in '75, when "Flat" was released on A&M), and a voracious reader of all the rock mags, and they described exactly what you're describing from your experiences! That's amazing!
The Michael Stanley Band strikes me as another of those (if memory serves!), as well as Starcastle! Both were on Epic Records.....it seems (judging, too, by your list above) that CBS had a particular laser-focus on this dynamic, and seemed to be all over following, assessing, and signing these bands!! And, therefore, matching 'em up for tandem label-signee tours!
Hey, thanks for the reply, Brad. Just as a couple of sidenotes, REO was considered a ‘house band’ at the Red Lion for a while. They would practice there during the day and then play nights. Chances R was another Champaign bar that was had outstanding bands live. The One-Eyed Jacks was another very popular local band, but they never quite hit the big time. The Red Lion history, as a venue, is extremely interesting and there are a few websites easily found with a search.
If I recall correctly, Red Lion was a chain of hotels with bars that booked live entertainment. From the early '60s thru about 2010, my mom was an entertainment booking agent, booking clubs and conventions nationwide (Houstonians as we were, she booked a pre-First Edition, Houstonian, Kenny Rogers around town in the '60s, as well as Billy Gibbons' Moving Sidewalks).
All of THAT to say that many of whom she booked, those decades, were cover bands, which leads me to wonder if REO, to use your "house band" example, would this have been a pre-originals/cover era for them (and any of these other regional bands before they got signed)? I'm assuming 2 things....1. Bands didn't/wouldn't, in my experience, play or dare to play originals for a club date, and 2. Bands couldn't get a recording deal unless and until they played originals.
So, at some point, I think, bands had to live 2 different lives, if they really wanted to break. Write, rehearse and record demos during the day, and play covers at night for the club date! Is that what you were seeing at the time?
I know of the hotel chain you speak of but no, this had absolutely nothing to do with that. This was a standalone, one location, original. Here is a link. It’s a pretty amazing story and a legendary bar/club in its own right. https://www.smilepolitely.com/music/the_red_lion_inn_50_years_of_a_campustown_rock_icon/
There ya go....now I get it! So, this would've been a perfect place (not unlike L.A.'s Whisky, Starwood, Troub, Roxy) for bands to work out their originals, and even stage showcases for label execs! Thanks, Jim! This has been a fun and stimulating memory blast!! I'll check out that link!
Thanks for reading Jim! Sounds like an amazing venue and you certainly saw some inedible acts there
growing up in Central Nebraska, in the 70's and early 80's every record crate had Flat as a Pancake in it -if the party was losing steam, throw it on the turntable, and it lights up again. When you meet a music fan from my part of the country and mention Head East, they get this look in their eyes, and you know within the hour, they're going to be on Spotify looking it up.
Thanks for reading Jim. Great story about the album that would wake up the dying party. I guess so many places and eras would have had their albums like that. By the time I started going to parties in the mid to late 80s we’d moved away from albums and more into mixtapes. But depending on whether I was home (Bermuda) or at College (Canada), there were always certain songs guaranteed to get the party started again.
Thanks for the link-drop, Mark! I'm glad you discovered Head East, and I'm certainly impressed by your going beyond "Never Been Any Reason"....'cause, in the day, I never did!! I'm sure I gave the whole album the obligatory spin, but, so jaw-dropped was I by the hit (that, of course, was the lead track on the album!), I never spent nearly as much time with the rest...so, I'm glad you did!
I will say that, at the time ('75...I was 20), I was newly-hired to Houston's commercial FM-rocker, KLOL, and we, of course had "Flat as a Pancake" available in the control room, so I was playing the hit (that rare track that had the "serious" gravitas for FM, but was also VERY AM-radio friendly!) every time I pulled out the album! I was just a part-time, substitute jock (like teachers, DJs got sick, too!), and I felt a sort of "pull" to show everyone (audience, program director, music director, and the jocks for whom I subbed!) I knew the latest "pick hits to click"!!
Thanks again, Mark! Not unlike Head East, you rock!!🎸✊😄
Thanks Brad. The lead single was so good for me when you profiled it that I just had to go check out the album. And it rocked! So glad you covered the single because I never would’ve heard of them otherwise.
🎼🎸🎙😁👍
Thanks for the shout-out here and glad you really like 'Night Life' - it knocked me out when I first heard it - a classic.
Thanks Robert. Night Life was also an instant classic for me. I’m so glad you profiled the album as I doubt I’d ever have heard of it otherwise