In the 1970s Rivers continued to record more songs and albums that were successes with music critics, but did not sell well. L.A. Reggae (1972) reached the LP chart as a result of the #6 hit "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu," a cover version of the Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clowns song.
The track became Rivers' third million seller, which was acknowledged with the presentation of a gold disc by the Recording Industry Association of America (R.I.A.A.) on January 29, 1973.
Johnny Rivers' early-'70s album L.A. Reggae was an all-star affair, including Jimmy Webb on keyboards and Crickets co-founder Jerry Allison on drums. It was somewhat of a big-band affair as well, with more than a dozen hands, yet it never sounds overblown or over-produced, and it did return Rivers to the charts after a disappointing start to the decade.
The album mixed covers of vintage rock & roll and '60s standards (including Van Morrison's "Brown Eyed Girl") with some newer songs and in tandem with a handful of originals, which left it straddling two different cultural eras -- and it pulled it off, mostly thanks to the consistency of Rivers' singing and the passion he brought to all of the material, whether a standard from 1950s New Orleans or something he'd written that year.
It opened with an acknowledgement of Rivers' Louisiana roots, a rippling version of Huey "Piano" Smith's "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu," and there were other plunges into the past, but the original ballads that comprise the middle of the album -- "On the Borderline," "Come Home America," "Stories to a Child" -- take the record firmly into contemporary times, and offer a glimpse of Rivers as a singer/songwriter rather than a rock & roller.
These pieces hold their own, as does Rivers' version of Paul Simon's "Mother and Child Reunion," mostly thanks to his soulful vocals throughout.
He doesn't just "cover" the songs he does, but throws himself into them, so that they're as personal as the contemporary originals; as for the latter, they are a little more introspective in their writing than the classics that surround them, but exude the same strong passion and energy, just redirected slightly.
Tracklist
A1. Rockin' Pneumonia - Boogie Woogie Flu - 3:30
A2. Knock On Wood - 3:07
A3. Brown-Eyed Girl - 4:12
A4. Memphis '72 - 3:23
A5. On The Borderline - 4:40
A6. Come Home America - 2:30
B1. Stories To A Child - 4:15
B2. Mother And Child Reunion - 3:09
B3. Crazy Mama - 3:03
B4. New York City Dues - 5:15
B5. Life Is A Game - 3:20
B6. Use The Power - 1:52
Companies, etc.
- Record Company – Transamerica Corporation
- Record Company – Liberty/UA GmbH
- Printed By – Druckhaus Maack KG
Credits
- Backing Vocals [Harmonies] – Herb Pedersen, Michael Georgiades
- Bass – Joe Osborn
- Congas, Bongos – Miss Bobbye Hall
- Drums – Jim Gordon
- Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar – Dean Parks, Larry Carlton
- Engineer, Mixed By – Joe Sidore
- Percussion – Gary Coleman
- Piano – Larry Knetchel
- Piano, Organ – Jim Webb, Michael O'Martian
- Producer – Johnny Rivers
- Saxophone – Jackie Kelso, Jim Horn
- Trumpet – Chuck Finley
- Vocals, Rhythm Guitar – Johnny Rivers
Notes
Release: 1972
Format: LP
Genre: Folk Rock
Label: United Artists
Catalog# UAS 29 410 I
Prijs: €7,99
Vinyl: VG
Cover: VG
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