Leavin It All Behind [Original recording remastered]

Grass Roots | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (December 1, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 1969
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Hip-O Select
• ASIN: B000BQL1XS
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #133,732 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

For a brief period of time between (about 1966 and 1972, give or take), the Grass Roots were a hit machine: fourteen Top 40 hits, a handful of gold singles, including one tune ("Let's Live For Today") that iconically captures its time as clearly as Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" or Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit." In the hands of producer Steve Barri, the Grass Roots had grown from a hastily assembled cover band to a full-fledged writing and performing force. Despite having lost lead guitarist Creed Bratton earlier in the year, the band gained keyboardist Dennis Provisor, who turned out to be a valuable addition to the lineup. The first single for the album came out before the rest of the album had been finished, and it was a smash: I'd Wait A Million Years." When the record was finally finished, there was another Top 25 track lurking in the grooves: "Heaven Knows." But don't overlook such underrated pop gems as "Out Of This World" and "Melinda Love." The latter proves, if you'll pardon the double negative, that there's no song that can't be improved with hand claps.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The GRASS ROOTS Pop Sound Kicks into High Gear!, December 7, 2005

By 

DL Masters (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Leavin It All Behind (Audio CD)

First time on CD! And it's a very limited run so obtain while you can.
We've been waiting forever for the non-compilation Grass Roots CD's to see the light of digital day (only 3 others so far) and Hip-O Select has done a great job with this one.
It was here on this album that the formerly folkie/pop group completed the transition to punchy pop. Given the full Jimmie Haskell horn treatment and radio friendly pop production fourishes, Steve Barri turns The Grass Roots into an irresistable hit making machine. And it's not just the 3 Top 40 hits that shine here.
(1. I'd Wait a Million Years 2. Heaven Knows 3. Walkin' Thru The Country)
There are other delights that could easily have been hits, like "Out Of This World" and "Back To Dreamin' Again." New keyboardist Dennis Provisor makes his debut and his contributions are noteworthy, although he would become more of a presence later. He's got 2 songs here but on the next project "More Golden Grass" he would write or co-write about half the album. Provisor's soulful pipes added a new dimension to the group on both lead and shadow vocals.

This group had 14 Top 40 hits and their Best Of compilations always sold well but their regular album releases were marginal sellers at best. And that's a shame because there is lots more to enjoy BEYOND THE HITS if you like 60s/70s feel good pop as "Leaving It All Behind" proves. This is a very satisfying listen from start to finish and there are 2 or 3 essentials here that didn't make the cut for the excellent Grass Roots "Anthology" on Rhino (now out of print).

Here's hoping that more of the Grass Roots catalog will come to CD. There are still several titles that are begging for release. Especially:
"Move Along" (probably their best album)
"More Golden Grass"
"Lovin' Things"

It would be nice to have the other two obscure albums as well,
("Alotta Mileage" and "Grass Roots") but don't hold your breath on that.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars GREAT POP CD--BUT THE AUDIO HERE IS LACKING!!, August 5, 2007

By 

charlie bear "Music Maven" (Big Sky Country) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Leavin It All Behind (Audio CD)

The Good News:
One of the better Grass Roots releases with plenty of satisfying songs beyond the hits. First time to CD for top drawer songs like Melinda Love, I'm Living For You Girl, Out Of This World and Back To Dreaming Again. Any one of which could have been another hit. This is feel good sunshine pop at it's best.

The Not as Good News:
This is a limited run release with 5,000 marked copies. As of July 07 mine is 3600. The pricetag is high for Hip-O Select releases and for the money you expect optimum results. However HOS spent all their money on the packaging and little on the sound. If the budget was tight, why not get the audio right. For most of us, if forced to choose one or the other we'd rather have it re-mastered.
As is, the entire CD is very muddy. Quite heavy handed on the bass and the high end just isn't there.
However it CAN be remedied by simply cranking up your EQ. Way Up. First drop the bass at 32, 16 & 8 khz a bit, leave most of the mid-range alone and start boosting at about 4 khz. Some serious boost is needed at both 8 and 16 khz. If you'll do that this actually sounds pretty good.
But the typical person probably won't have the time or savvy to mess with it, and if you're listening on a portable player you don't even have your own EQ anymore thanks to those geniuses who think they know more than we do.
'Tis a shame. Hip-O could have done better. How hard would it have been to just run the final dub thru an equalizer with the aforementioned specs? And that wouldn't have added much to the cost.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Grass Roots at their best..., September 2, 2009

By 

dwieselq (RI, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Leavin It All Behind (Audio CD)

As far as I'm concerned this is the best album ever released by the band as they were at the peak of their sound. There are some truly great songs on this release that never became popular, the best being --and probably the best song by the band-- is "Out Of This World", I can't believe it was never a hit.

As for the quality of this release, it's pretty much excellent, but I have to agree with another reviewer in that it is a little muddy (not much though) in that it could have used more high end and less bass.., I lowered the low end starting at 80 Hz to the bottom (levels 0 dB to -1.5 dB) and raised the high end starting at 4 Hz to the top (0 dB to 2.5 dB). Any more then that and it starts sounding tinny and unnatural. Of course EQ is subjective so some purists could argue that the remastering of this CD is very faithful to the EQ levels of the original recording.

In terms of other quality "Grass Roots" CD's, there aren't many...I have about a dozen and, after comparing all of them through Sennheiser headphones, found the following to be the only ones worth having:

- the remastered "Leavin' It All Behind" CD (this review)
- Rhino's "Anthology" CD's 1 & 2
- the "Feelings/Let's Live For Today" 2-on-1 Repertoire CD
- the "Let's Live For Today" Rev-ola CD
- and finally, and surprisingly, MCA's "All Time Greatest Hits" CD, which I think sounds better (fuller, better EQ) than the revered Rhino "Anthology" (which, though it does sound very good, has a little too much high end for my taste, and, sounds somewhat flat and lacks midrange).