Genre: rock
Rating: *** (3 stars)
Title: Homegrown
Company: Elektra
Catalog: EKS-75057
Year: 1973
Country/State: Lafayette, California
Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+
Comments: includes original lyric insert
Available: 1
GEMM catalog ID: 4776
Price: $20.00
Cost: $1.00
Yes, I'll admit that I bought this album knowing full well that it was the work of 'Robbie Douglas' of 'My Three Sons' fame (check out the sly nod to the television program on the album cover). I also knew that as Don Grady he'd been a member of The Yellow Balloon (see separate entry). So what !!! I also happened to know that this is a surprisingly good album. Good luck finding your own original copy.
Aptly title, 1973's "Homegrown" comes close to being a true one man show. Apparently recorded at home using 'Keith Olsen's homemade 8 track' Agrati wrote all 11 tracks, produced, mixed, sang and handled most of the instrumentation. Propelled by Agrati's likeable voice, the album's exceptionally varied, effortlessly bouncing from genre to genre, including a brief chamber music interlude (the curiously titled 'Rocky Mountain Bear Hunt'). It almost sounds like Agrati was trying to test himself to see if he could deal with all these different styles. The album kicks off with a killer cut in the jazzy 'Bloodstream' (complete with some tasty scat singing and a horn solo that would have made Miles Davis proud). Elsewhere Agrati takes stabs at vaudeville ('One Man Woman'), sensitive singer/songwriter ('Heather Ann'), and hard rock (the Steve Winwood and Traffic-styled 'Hollywood Song'). Tracks like 'Love, Come My Way' and 'Sunny Day' are actually quite commercial, though nowhere near as interesting. Elektra also tapped the album for a pair of singles:
- 'One Woman Man' b/w '' (Elektra catalog number EK-45846)
- 'Bloodstream' b/w 'Two-Bit Afternoon' (Elektra catalog number EK-45860)
"Homegrown" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Bloodstream
(Don Agrati) - 3:33
2.) Love, Come My Way
(Don Agrati) -
3:01
3.) Rocky Mountain Bear Hunt (instrumental)
(Don Agrati) -
1:08
4.) Heather Ann
(Don Agrati) -
3:04
5.) Story (Don
Agrati) - 2:23
6.) One Man Woman
(Don Agrati) -
2:07
(side
2)
1.) Hollywood Song (Don Agrati)
- 4:03
2.) Sunny Day
(Don Agrati) -
2:33
3.) I Was a Man
(Don Agrati) -
2:30
4.) Protoplasm Blues
(Don Agrati)
- 4:22
5.) Two Bit Afternoon (Don Agrati) - 3:26
Until I did a little research I didn't realize what an active musician Agrati is. Among other things, he's an in-demand jazz sessions player, he wrote the theme music for the Phil Donahue Show, composed the music that's used at the Universal Theme Parks, and has written soundtracks for numerous movie and television programs.