Genre: pop
Rating: 3 stars ***
Title: Carry On
Company: Baby Grand
Catalog: SE-1044
Year: 1979
Country/State: US
Grade (cover/record): VG+ / VG+
Comments: still in shrink wrap (opened)
Available: 1
GEMM catalog ID: 5821
Price: $75.00
Like the better known Dellwood, Guinness, and Tiger Lily labels, Baby Grand was apparently set up as a tax scam operations. Unlike those other imprints, Baby Grant doesn't seem to have attracted much attention.
In typical tax scam fashion, 1979's "Carry On" didn't have much in the way of biographical information. The songs were produced by the Atlanta-based Bowman Recording & Production Company, with all six tracks credited to Harlan McNee (good luck looking him up on the web). Musically the album featured a likeable, but largely anonymous set of AOR material. Commercial, but hardly original, virtually any one of these tracks would have made an okay FM single.
- Opening up with some tasty lead guitar, 'Somebody's Got To Try' was an okay, pseudo-operatic slice of pop-rock. Musically it sounded like something that Jim Steinman and Meatloaf might have put together, though the anonymous male and female backing singers were far superior to Steinman, or Meatloaf. rating: *** stars
- 'I'll Try To Love Again' started out as a pretty, acoustic ballad before switching into mid-tempo rock groove. Once again the lead singer was pretty good, though his voice didn't have a great deal of personality. Imagine a tired Boz Scaggs and you'd be in the right aural neighborhood. Nice lead guitar helped the track. rating: *** stars
- The title track was the album's most commercial offering. A keyboard-propelled mid-tempo ballad with a bit of a dance edge, the chorus was quite catchy, though the highlight came in the form of the jazzy keyboard solo. rating: *** stars
- In contrast to side one, the driving 'Faces'n'Places' sounded kind of tired and strained. That said, midway through it sported a killer jazzy lead guitar and the song ended with a nice fuzz lead. This one actually sounded like it could have been written for a television episode. rating: ** stars
- Kicked along by another tasty fuzz guitar and some of that late-1970s 'scratch' guitar that was so popular in dance tracks, 'Never Satisfied' managed to find a nice balance between rock and light-disco. Probably didn't sound very promising to many of you, but it was actually one of the better tracks on the set.. rating: *** stars
- 'I Need You' was the album's big ballad. Unfortunately it was also the album's dullest composition. Shrill and forgettable, this one really did sound like a Meatloaf outtake. Forgettable.. rating: ** stars
Certainly not the year's most original album, I'd have to say it wasn't any worse than half of the top-40 rubbish on the late-1970s charts. Anyone know anything about these guys? (Nice cover art credited to K. Clary.)
"Carry
On" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Somebody's Got To Try (Harlan McNee) - 4:00
2.) I'll Try To Love Again (Harlan McNee) - 6:05
3.) Carry On (Harlan McNee) - 5:34
(side
2)
1.) Faces'n'Places (Harlan McNee) - 5:29
2.) Never Satisfied (Harlan McNee) - 4:23
3.) I Need You (Harlan McNee) - 5:33
SRB 11/2009