Customer Reviews

Motherlode

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

My favorite Loggins and Messina album. This is not the sort of breezy pop music this duo is known for. Rather, "Mother Lode" features some complex, intricate instrumental passages that primarily showcase country instruments (fiddle, mandolin), but with an effect that is closer to world music, sometimes with a vaguely middle-eastern feel. I initially owned this album on vinyl, and it is the first 4 songs, that originally constituted side 1, that enthralled me then and that continue to motivate me to pull the CD out and play it again.

I'm not the be-all, end-all expert on this comparatively short-lived collaboration. Hell, I only have one other L&M album. But I can tell you this: This album, compared to almost any other - from ANY artist - deserves a place in the coveted "disc 1" position of the old CD player. From the opening strains of "Growin'" to the haunting harmonica ending of "Fever Dream", this album, more than any other, defined my appreciation of music, and made me understand why some people are destined to be bricklayers or accountants, while others are destined to be songwriters and performers. There're too many albums out there written and performed by folks who should have been laying brick or crunching month-end numbers. Not here; this album gives a rare glimpse of a duo who were made for what they're doing.

Fine songwriting, produced with perfection, and timelessly listenable.

When this recording was released Loggins and Messina would soon break up. You'd never know it.

Many excellent recordings suffer from not having enough drama; an all-over sameness of sound, tension without release, bad pacing. I could describe many qualities that make recordings with wonderful parts not wonderful as a whole. In contrast, Mother Lode is the complete package, enjoyable in its full presentation as it is in its individual parts. A real gem.

I loved the L.A. country-rock style of the early albums. The fine crafting of songs. This effort, while not as commercially viable as its predecessors, still resonates today in a way that the more popular Loggins and Messina recordings do not. I urge you to give it a place in your CD collection.

I had the honor of working on this album. It was the first L&M album recorded at Jimmy's ranch in Ojai, CA with the Haji remote truck and the first of their albums for which I was the technical adviser.

From the very beginning you could tell this was going to be a special project. The first vocal we recorded was "Brighter Days" which we started recording about midnight. It was an amazing evening and when I listen to this album today I am still taken with the superb audio quality we achieved recording in Jimmy's house and the incredible quality of the music we captured.

Working with Jimmy and Kenny will always be one of the highlights of my life.

Back in 1975 my music was CSN&Y, JAMES TAYLOR, DOOBIES, stuff like that... MOTHER LODE was introduced to me by a friend and never left me since. The clear voices as well as the instruments move into your ears and kling inside your brains long after the music has stopped.
BE FREE to move your feet listening to (in my ears) Irish and Greek sounds covered within clean American Rock. I find myself in the song KEEP ME IN MIND. You might find yourself in there, too.
If you like your job you do it right. Here are some people who loved their job very much. This is Country Rock as its best.

If but one album could have been placed in a time capsule from the mid 70's; this should've been it. Lyrically, it spoke of friendship, freedom, lifework, disillusion, death, unrequited love (and what did it leave out?) with a depth and magic that few albums ever possessed. Musically, it was Messina's most intricate writing & production; Loggins' brightest shower of sparks of all his musical alchemy. And this is the greatest "autumn" album of all. It stands up yet and the mystery of it binds me still.

What Hotel California was to the Eagles or Dark Side of the Moon was to Pink Floyd or Tapestry to Carole King - Mother Lode was to Loggins & Messina. This is the career defining album. This is one of those "if I only had x number of albums to listen to . . . ." Jimmy Messina was never better as a songwriter or producer, and Kenny Loggins "Brighter Days" is (IMHO) the best song he ever wrote, and he's written some good ones.

Buy this album.

The middle '70s were captured by the song "Be Free." Of all of the music, of all the hype, of all the recollections that have stayed with me, this CD is the pinnacle of what was good and right with those times.

Forget about the pop music of Loggins and Messina. This album is different. This happens to be the best Jazz/Country fusion album ever done. There's great musicianship here. There's EXCELLENT instrumental solos that can take up half of the track as in "Move On". This is superb music that never made it to the radio. These tracks are simply too long to have gotten air play back in the 1970s. L&M put together a truly great album with Mother Lode but not too many people have heard it. Sadly, they broke up shortly after this album was released. Afterwards, Kenny made a come-back by going strictly pop.

Jeez! Victor Feldman, Al Garth, oboes,...saxes.. violins... mandolins...jazz...1974. I still listen to this music. Tell me who was doing anything like this besides Steely Dan in this era? Most of the lyrics are germain to contempoary society. These guys are a "Motherlode" that never quits giving.