Saturday, April 8, 2017

James Rutledge [of Bloodrock] - Hooray For Good Times [1976 Hard Rock Texas]

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Here's a really good LP from one-time drummer/singer of Texas hard rock band, Bloodrock. There's plenty of upbeat, melodic good-time tracks and heavy rockin' tracks too. Jim Rutledge should have made some more solo records! His departure from Bloodrock before album "Passage" marked what many people view as a decline in Bloodrock's quality, and Lee Pickens who plays on this record, left around the same time. Rumour has it that Rutledge originally left to strike out with a solo record collaboration with John Nitzinger, which was made but never released.



The title track is an especially nice track, a thoughful one almost sounding like Here I Go Again by Whitesnake in the first part, and the harder tracks like Soul Survivor, Drivin' You Insane and On My Way Up are some of the best, funkiest hard southern rock you may ever hear. Other players on this record include touring / session guitarist Doug Rhone (Gladstone / Neil Diamond), Michael Rabon (The Five Americans / Choctaw / solo), Jim Grant (Michael Rabon, The Five Americans), Thom Caccetta (Michael Rabon, Doc Severinsen), Dahrell Norris (Sonny & Cher, Freddy Fender, Dr. John) and Kenneth Whitfield (Texas Muzic Machine - With Jim Rutledge).

UPDATE FOR AUGUST 2022:
Quietus February 6, 2019

"The unreleased album by Jim Rutledge and John Nitzinger was tentatively titled "Blue", featuring songs written by Nitzinger and sung by Rutledge. I was privileged to receive a copy of it through a brief association with someone working on a Bloodrock biography which was published online many years ago. As for the album, it is a departure from anything we might have expected, featuring the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and a selection of tunes that were beautiful, touching, and more suited to crooners of the time than a couple of rockers like these two. Nonetheless it was well produced and displayed amazing versatility that couldn't have been imagined by Bloodrock or Nitzinger fans. Understandably, Capitol didn't see a percentage and chose to leave it in the vault."

Credits
Guitars - Michael Rabon, Doug Rhone, Lee Pickens, Tommy Savanna
Bass - Jim Grant, Thom Caccetta
Drums - Dahrell Norris
Keyboards - Kenneth Whitfield

Produced by Rutledge, Rabon And Smith
Engineered by Don Smith, Thom Caccetta

Tracklist
A1    Brown Paper Bag
A2    Laughin' And Cryin'
A3    One Step Ahead Of The Law
A4    Drivin' You Insane
A5    Sole Survivor
B1    Hooray For Good Times
B2    Star Trackin'
B3    On My Way Up
B4    I Can Fly
B5    New York City

Release infos
RYM
Discogs

4 comments:

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  2. From the first solo guitar notes on "Drivin' You Insane" you know it's Lee Pickens! Lee had such a beautiful tone and style. Jim on Vox and Lee on guitar, sad that it all came to and end after this.

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  3. The unreleased album by Jim Rutledge and John Nitzinger was tentatively titled "Blue", featuring songs written by Nitzinger and sung by Rutledge. I was privileged to receive a copy of it through a brief association with someone working on a Bloodrock biography which was published online many years ago. As for the album, it is a departure from anything we might have expected, featuring the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra and a selection of tunes that were beautiful, touching, and more suited to crooners of the time than a couple of rockers like these two. Nonetheless it was well produced and displayed amazing versatility that couldn't have been imagined by Bloodrock or Nitzinger fans. Understandably, Capitol didn't see a percentage and chose to leave it in the vault.

    ReplyDelete