Friday, January 5, 2024

John Randolph Marr - John Randolph Marr (1970 us, beautiful orchestrated folk psych)



This self titled album by Randolph Marr presents mellow pop sike sounds with loads of strings and horns. A hidden treasure of the 70’s.

Recording sessions began in 1969 with Nilsson at the helm. He produced backing tracks for two of the songs that would eventually appear on the record: a cover of his own “1941” and Marr’s haunting “Pity the Man.” But when trying to get vocal performances out of Marr, Nilsson became frustrated and gave Gary Osborn a shot. Pleased with the results, Nilsson passed the project on to Osborn who produced the remaining ten tracks with Hank Cicalo on board as engineer. The album was released on the Warner Brothers label in 1970 with album design by Dean Torrence (of Jan and Dean)”

Harry Nilsson was originally set up to produce this album but passed the baton to Gary Osbome to finish the job after being impressed with some of his results. Other than that the only thing about this record I can gather is that there was a promp single released (Hallelujah b/w 1 Wonder Who's Kissing Her Now) at an undisclosed date

The album itself is a mix of various styles most often accompanied by orchestral arrangements with occasional electric guitar and gospel backing vocals. Nicely produced. It really is one of those songs that wraps self around your senses and removes you from your surroundings if you have the ear for this type of thing Lush strings, distinct acoustic fingerpicking and prominent harpsichord provide a perfect backdrop to Marr's haunting and mysterious lyrics
Tracks
1. Hallelujah (Dave White, Johnny Caswell) - 2:40
2. 1941 (Harry Nilsson) - 2:42
3. I Wonder Who`s Kissing Her Now (Frank R. Adams, Joseph E. Howard, Will M. Hough) - 2:59
4. Hello L.A., Bye-Bye Birmingham (Delaney Bramlett, Mac Davis) - 2:42
5. Pity The Man (John Randolph Marr) - 3:51
6. We Had Something (Gary Osborne, John Randolph Marr) - 3:25
7. Sarah (John Randolph Marr) - 3:06
8. One Shot Lady (John Randolph Marr) - 2:36
9. Raggedy Ann (John Randolph Marr) - 2:24
10.Free (Chris Andrews) - 3:07

*John Randolph Marr - Vocals