Babe Ruth First Base LP question

Can anyone give me some info on this band/record or a link? I bought a Japanese white label promo of it today. I think the cover is cool I can't really find any good info about this band. Thanks

inperson

 

I had that LP some years ago, and really loved it. I recently got a BGO twofer cd, including that album plus another "Amar Caballero", which is quite different.

First Base gives me that Spaghettei Western atmosphere, which is what I first picked up on. Apparently the band was a little better received in Canada.

The female singer Jenny Haan was very popular in her own right. The liner notes on this cd say something about her voice being as powerful as Janis Joplin. But her vocals are not too prominent in the mix.

The Caballero set features a good cover of "Cool Jerk", rather an unusual track for a rock band.

 

Jeez. almost forgot about that one. That first was pretty good. Saw them open for Frampton and Man at Winterland. I later met the piano player, Steve Gurl playing in Micky Jones' band (the lead guitarist from Man) The Welsh conncetion there. I had the others, but only kept First Base when I had the big "clear out".

 

I highly recommend `GRAND SLAM: THE BEST OF BABE RUTH' which came
out last year....my copy is Canadian and I got it from Amazon.ca....they
were a very under-appreciated band. One of the band members wrote the
liner notes but he really doesn't say what Ms. Haan is up to these days.

 

Didn't One Way reissue some/all of the Babe Ruth albums on CD in the US? (All out of print, of course).

Kwad

 

AMG has bio info here.

I always liked the First Base album. Still have it on vinyl and play it from time to time.

Cheers,
Chris

 

Babe Ruth was an English band that recorded 5 albums for the Harvest label between 1972 -1976. The LPs were First Base, Amar Caballerro, Stealin Home, Babe Ruth, and Kid Stuff. They enjoyed borderline success, primarily on the strength of the first LP (First Base). First Base is a masterpiece, and has been in regular rotation at my house since it came out in 1972. I never get tired of it, and consider "The Runaways" and their take on Jesse Winchester's "Black Dog" some of the classics of the era.

First Base originally gained notice not for the music, but because of the exquisite Roger Dean cover art (I think it's his best.) Dean had done the Yes covers, and his art had become associated with progressive rock. The cover drew attention to the band, and the music heightened the buzz, but Babe Ruth kind of got pigeonholed as a progressive rock band because of the cover, so it was both a blessing and a curse - because they weren't really a progressive rock band, and it set the wrong kind of expectations. The band's music had some progressive rock influences, but it had a lot of other influences, too - particularly Enio Morricone (Babe Ruth interpolated "Per Qualche Dollaro in Piu" on "First Base," and recorded "A Fistful of Dollars" outright on "Babe Ruth.")

As great as "First Base" is, I think it kind of doomed the band in a way. "First Base" was a hard if not impossible act to follow for a young band that lacked any real (commercially-recognized) musical direction, and since they didn't really fit any real category, (they went for mood more than anything else, probably as a result of the Morricone influence) many critics and fans who expected more of a progressive rock sound didn't like Amar Caballerro or its gloomy western cover and thought their albums got progressively worse after that. The band got trashed by the critics, which resulted in friction and personnel changes, album sales shrank accordingly, and the last few LPs hit the cut-out bins shortly after release. Personally, I think their fourth LP (Babe Ruth) was the best of the later recordings (followed by Amar Caballerro) and that the band was treated a little unfairly. I read an article years ago where Shalcock and Haan said the Roger Dean cover was the worst thing that could have happened to the band.)

The original band members were Jennie Haan, Alan Shacklock, Dave Hewitt,
Dick Powell, and Dave Punshon. I'd have to check the LPs to trace the various personnel changes, but Shacklock and Haan formed the basis of the Babe Ruth sound.

 

Babe Ruth was huge in Milwaukee when First Base came out. In fact, the band credited the city with helping break them in the US. Love, love their first album. Incredible.

 

Just tracked down a couple of Web sites with some info on them. Somebody mentioned their popularity in Canada and it seems to be true. "First Base" went gold over here.

Cheers,
Chris

 

Oh yes absolutely. Everybody rock fan in Quebec had First Base in his collection in the 70s. The Mexican was a huge hit!

 

Was a U.S. single ever issued of "Wells Fargo"?...if so, does anybody know what the release date was?

 

Most rock fans in Ontario had it as well!

 

"The Mexican" is one of the most influential songs in the hip-hop world. It's one of the original songs that DJs used two copies of to extend the break.

 

I should listen to that cd again. And get my avatar to appear on the thread