Plain and Fancy: 10/08/23

The Blue Rose LP is worth looking for. The album. It’s a pretty good piece of work. The opener, “My Impersonal Life” – which was edited down and altered for the single, is probably the best song on the record, but not by much. I also really like a couple other tracks: “Debt of Fools,” a bluesy track that reminds me a little bit of the Eagles, and “Sweet Thing,” a great ballad with some nice horns pulling it along.

Some notes about a few of the other tracks: “Takin’ Love And Run” reminds Badfinger with its crunchy power chords; “I’ll Never Be In Love Again” is a nice country-rock piece; “Chasing The Glow Of A Candle” is over-orchestrated and has its vocals over-stacked, and the metronome sound is really odd.

The rest of the album is good. The vocals are well done with harmonies and stacks that generally work but sometimes seem to be a little too much. Terry Furlong (from Grass Roots fame) and Dave Thomson on guitars, with great Harvey Mandell on guitar in one song “I’ll Never Be In Love Again”; Dave Thomson on bass, with John Uribe (taking bass on “Takin’ Love and Run” and “Home”; Stu Perry (ex Jellyroll, Frankie Miller Band) on drums, with Don Poncher (Blue Mountain Eagle, Arthur Lee and The Band Aid, Bobby Whitlock) taking drums on “Takin’ Love and Run” and “Home”; horns by the Elijah Band Horn Section; conga by King Errison; and arrangements and piano by Michael Omartian. Terry Furlong produced the record.