Customer Reviews

Ariola Years

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

At last! Finally these LP's have been released on CD. They are great songs and a great bargain--3 LP's for $25 can't be beat.

Looking back at the mid-seventies, in hindsight it seems a sad inevitability that Bill Champlin would leave his namesake band of Marin County brothers. The thrust of the psychedelic era was waning but the Sons Of Champlin continued to scuffle, playing clubs up and down the west coast and making really good records. Their live performances throughout were great. As Mickey Hart said, "They were breathing fire!" Playing small clubs was (and is) a hard way to earn a living, promote LP's and make a mark in the recording industry. Even though they were known as great musicians and made great records, the Sons just never intersected with anything resembling a commercial success. It was just a matter of time before Champlin would leave the Bay Area for L.A. and ply his trade where he could earn the reputation that he deserved.

Thanks to Acadia this compilation finally completes the Sons' studio catalog on CD. This collection starts with the "Goldmine", a 1975 homegrown recording to which Ariola eventually picked up the rights, then 1976's "Circle Filled With Love" and "Loving Is Why" from 1977. Champlin eventually moved to LA and released two solo efforts, "Single" in 1978 and "Runaway" in 1981, before joining Chicago. His solo recordings tell the story of this "favorite son's" escape. But before all that, there were the Sons, a great band with great songs. Check out the latest version of them. You won't be disappointed.

Always been a fan of Bill C. in all of his combinations and I'm old enough to go back to the Loosen Up Naturally Days of the Sons (which I think is great, but epic? Hmmm.) I just wanted to get my two cents in about the production of the CD. I bought it at a place that warned me about other titles from Ariola that sounded less than fantastic. This remastering sounds great and I agree with the earlier performance reviews comparing to early Boz Scaggs and TOP. If you are a fan of the Sons don't worry about the sound of this CD. You will not be let down.

To be with some perspective , I am not a fan of rock musics, have my favourites.

I do not consider the Sons of Champlin a rock musics grupo, even if they were a Hippy band from the USA , and from São Francisco!

The recordings I heard before the wonderful Ariola record label releases were fun, creative, adventurous harmonically and FUNKY as 3 month old underwears, BUT...probably do to excessive narcotic refreshments, the Sons were ragged sounding to my ears, and the jazz-influenced guitar of Terry Haggerty most enjoyable AND irritating, same time. He comes from jazz guitar family , as I was told..Bill Champlin's voice, much like his "vanilla soul" fratello Lowell George, was sweet like honey or soulful to the stars!

BUT, to this recording of ALL THREE Ariola recordings have smooth out the edges, the compositions more cogent and chord progressions less sounding as forced, (obvious the influence of the jazz contingency in the band ~~later including , for one CD, MArk Isham!).
T Hagerty still plays his own way, but, check some songs, he plays a fluid jazz style, again, comparable to Denny Dias on early Steely Dan,a STRAIGHT UP jazzer!

Some hypnotic musical interludes, some polished ballads, and, what you have is less a pseudo-R& B influenced rock group, but a true jazz/funk/soul aggregation, although there are a few "throw back" tunes that have the "trademark" Sons of Champlin sound. These, MY least favourite .

The 2nd CD is the most innovative, the 1st CD (2 recordings) have a sound as reminding one of the EARLY Boz Scaggs (before he went "Hollywood") and not quite, but a bit as the other São Francisco(actually Oakland, no?) "horn bands" like Tower of Power , Cold Blood, etc.

The trademark Sons of Champlin composing style is also abundant, especially as CD #1 draws to the 10-21 tracks.

So, this CD a MUST for any fan , not only for the Sons, but of very well conceived soul/jazz sounds.

100 stars, and FINALLY this music was released, I first hear it in 1975-77!

The Sons are probably one of the Top Ten Most Underrated Bands of All Time. This collection more or less completes their non-bootlegged catalog (p.s. they are still creating their catalog - see "Hip L'il Dreams"). while some of the songs on this compilation border on 70's-overproduced, Bill Champlin's always-soulful vocals more than make up for it. This is a "must own" for aficionados of blue-eyed soul, horn bands and good music in general - beautiful ballads, gritty funk and everything in between.

Everything recorded by the Sons was the answer to that question, as TOP well knew. We are very lucky, people. Buy whatever you can that was laid down by the Sons and go hear them play when ever you've got the chance.
The 3 album compilation as "The Ariola Years" is so good it makes me want to cry. I cannot wait to hear them play again next month up in the Bay Area. Thanks, BlindDog.

Spend your money on "Loosen Up Naturally". That is one of the finest rock and roll albums of all time. Just as I remember them in concert as the lead act for "Buddy Guy", "Country Joe and the Fish", and "Steve Miller" in 1969. This collection is more "Tower of Power" or even "George Benson". Fine if that's what you're looking for but this album only hints at rock and roll in the live version of "Goldmine". That's O K. "Loosen Up" is enough album for one group to have created, even if it were their only one. I will listen to it forever.

Chances are you are a Sons fan if you are reading this and, therefore, you know how hard it is to find good cds of their stuff. This CD has three great albums into two CDs. Great quality. Came out just in time as I was in the process of saving my vinyl copy of Loving Is Why to my computer via a turntable pre-amp when I found a mysterious crack in my album. All is well now!

San Francisco, Northern California Bay Area is historically celebrated for the mid late '60's psychedelic period. Bands like Jefferson Airplane,Country Joe and the Fish, Grateful Dead, Big Brother, Quicksilver Messenger Service, etc.. were considered the foremost of new sound for those hipper than anyone else. But, really none sold much of anything significance and the so-called Hippie movement was/is a '60's History Channel edit of life lived then.

The true legacy of SF/ Nor. CA music is what happened 10 years later.

By the mid '70's, SF bands forged a new sound POP sound, a well-written song with hooks, horns, a guitar solo that stayed close to the melody, crisp clear 45 radio sound. Mid/late '70's meant Jefferson Starship lead to Pablo Cruise/Journey/ Santana/ easy on the ears radio hits. San Francisco ruled the airwaves.

Sons of Champlin are a Bay Area legacy of early/mid/late 60's. They were signed late in the era by Capitol and recorded a classic horn dominated double LP "Loosen Up Naturally" There are plenty of CDs that encompass that history.

This two disc CD has 3 Sons mid '70's LPs. It is an example of what pop music would come to be.It has layered vocals, background horns, and a pure, if dumbed down natural sound. By 1980, Bill Champlin left his band to become the lead singer and writer for Chicago. Hits and hits followed for Champlin. Not so much for the Sons.

Nevertheless, this 2 CD set is California pop/soul at its beginning. It is the good son, determined to make Dad proud.

While the Sons Of Champlin were one of the first of the San Francisco ballroom bands, they were one of the last to be signed. When they finally did relese an album it was a masterpiece that unfortunatly wasn't a big seller. To compound matters before it's release somebody noticed that hidden in the very psychedellic cover was the phrase "big f**king deal" which they insised on having cut with a razor blade to obscure the phrase before it could ship to the stores delaying it till after the promotional push had passed. This was typical of their luck that kept them from larger acceptance. The album at hand is from the three later albums after they were dropped by Capitol & Columbia & before they broke up (they later reformed). All three were great albums that have held up very well indeed & it's very nice to have this music on CD. My cherrished vinyl copies have just about had it. Not a bad song on the set! All I can say is "Surrender, you just might fall in love". Alfter all this time it's great that they are still performing. Don't miss them if you get the chance & don't miss this CD.

I've had these albums on my CD want list for years and it's great they are finally here. The first album is the best in my opinion. When I first got it (on the original Gold Mine label before its reissuance on Ariola) I was blown away by the tight musicianship of this band. They reflect some touches of Chicago, Sanford-Townsend Band, Ambrosia and Tower of Power, among others. The sequence of the first seven tracks is one of the best ever for a rock album, especially the soulful "Here is Where Your Love 'Be-lao-wongs'" and "Imagination's Sake." Grab a copy while it's still available.