Saturday 2 April 2016

Jo Jo Gunne (1972) Babylon

 In 1972 the artist oriented label Asylum Records released the debut albums from two American bands;  Jojo Gunne in January then The Eagles in June. While the latter went on to great success with three singles in the charts top 22 Gunne couldn't quite get that far. The trouble was Gunne's mix of boogie rock n roll just wasn't as interesting as the Eagles pioneering blend of country and rock and neither were their songs. Gunne were not as ambitious or experimental as their previous endeavour the edgy psychedelic group, Spirit, of which they shared bassist Mark Andes and Singer Jay 'Thunder Island' Ferguson. Though less adventurous they had some decent tunes though not of the order of their label mates such as Jackson Browne. 

 They had a debut hit with the generic biker rock of 'Run Run Run' a fairly simple honky tonker that lacked the strong harmonies or fresh lyrics of Take it Easy, though ironically they had their own song called Take it Easy though it's a meandering album cut.  Run Run Run did perform higher in the UK reaching no. 6 a big achievement than what the Eagles achieved. Though it's the album track Babylon, with its fluid guitars lines and Alt-rock vibe all driven by a hypnotic rhytmm and Fergusons' supple vocals. A hip swaying groover but unfortunately the bands bland brand of boogie flavoured hard rock didn't connect with rock audiences and Ferguson would later take his melodic vocals to soft rock chart success.


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