Plain and Fancy: Gypsy - Unlock The Gates (1973 us, groovy funky rockin')

Sunday, November 9, 2025

Gypsy - Unlock The Gates (1973 us, groovy funky rockin')

Judging by the cover art, liner notes and some of the song titles I initially wondered if I’d purchase a secular album (of course I didn’t immediately notice the guy on the cover holding a copy of Rolling Stone). I owned a couple of the earlier Gypsy LPs and they weren’t religiously-themed, but people change all the time …

Co-produced by Jack Richardson and Jim Mason, 1973’s “Unlock the Gates” was easily the band’s most conventional set. Largely written by lead singer/guitarist Enrico Rosenbaum (singer/guitarist James Johnson and keyboardist James Walsh also contributing material), selections like ‘Is That News?’, the title track and 'Bad Whore (The Machine)’ would have sounded perfect slotted into mid-1970s top-40 radio (okay the latter title might have been a problem for commercial radio). Unfortunately while highly commercial, material like ‘One Step Away’ and ‘Need You Baby’ came at the expense of the band’s identity. Anyone expecting to hear more of the pseudo-progressive moves found on earlier sets was going to be thoroughly disappointed. To be honest, much of the set could have easily been mistaken for Ambrosia (‘Make Peace with Jesus’), The Doobie Brothers, etc. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially if you were into commercial 1970s rock. ‘Bad Whore (The Machine)’ and the funky (yes, funky) ‘Don’t Get Mad (Get Even)’ were particularly impressive. Perhaps not good news to some folks, but the core of Chicago’s horn section (Lee Loughname, James Pankow, and Walter Pazaider) provided supported on a number of tracks.

An odd mixture of progressive and yacht rock moves, 'Make Peace with Jesus' sounded like David Pack and Ambrosia tune, No idea if they were being sincere with the song's non-secular lyrics, but it gets a nod as one of the LP's standout performances which probably explains why it was released as a single. Penned by James Walsh, 'One Step Away' was a smooth AOR ballad that sounded like it had been stolen out of the Ambrosia songbook. Very commercial, this one sounded like it had been written specifically for radio airplay. It sounded strange, but the band's white-boys funk-meets-jazz-rock mash-up 'Bad Whore (The Machine)' somehow worked. Yeah, the discordant horn section at the end of the song was a waste of time, but the rest of the sound actually had a decent groove. Bless 'Don’t Get Mad (Get Even)' for at least giving drummer Bill Lordan five seconds of spotlight time ... The album's best performance, this one had everything going for it - catchy, funky melody, more of those silky smooth group harmonies, and even a short taste of James Walsh's keyboards

by Scott R.Blackerby, March, 2024