[Review by Bill Glahn]
Jo Jo Gunne: On Your Radio (Echoes CD2054)
Venue: Ultrasonic Studios, Hempstead, New York, 1973, exact
date unknown. This was a promotional broadcast for Bite Down Hard, released on
June 5, 1973, so best guess is mid to late June.
Sound Quality: maybe the worst quality of any radio broadcast
on CD that I’ve ever heard. Layers of hiss and distortion that drown out the
band. Pathetic. Better recordings of this show abound.
Cover: 8 page booklet and tray card in traditional
jewel case. Liner notes.
Tracklist: Roll Over Me/ Babylon/ intro – 99 Days –
Run Run Run/ Rock Around The Symbol/ Special Situations/ Rhoda/ Take Me Down
Easy/ Shake That Fat/ Broken Down Man/ DJ outro
Comments: After Spirit’s magnificent album, Twelve
Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus, the band split with Randy California opting for a
(short-lived) solo departure and members Jay Ferguson and Mark Andes leaving to
form Jo Jo Gunne. Ed Cassidy would carry on the Spirit name with a fine album,
Feedback, but clearly missing the talents of Randy California. California
released a weird album called Kapt. Kopter and the (Fabulous) Twirly Birds,
long on improvisation and short on actual songs. It died a quick death in the
cutout bins. Only Jo Jo Gunne experienced a level of public success when their
more pop-oriented self-titled debut yielded the Top 40 hit, “Run, Run, Run.” But
by their second album, Bite Down Hard, the musical ideas were already fading
and the band was nearing generic boogie (which is where they ended up).
This is where On Your Radio picks up the story.
Six of the tracks featured on On Your Radio come from
their current record, while the remaining four are highlights from their first.
Future lineup changes in the band would only exasperate the problem of not
being able to differentiate themselves from a hundred other bands of the era.
Jay Ferguson would recapture the rock/pop magic displayed on the first album
with his second solo lp, “Thunder Island” release. Besides the title track, a huge
1978 hit, the album revisited the fabulous “Babylon” from Jo Jo Gunne’s first
album. Perhaps that is the direction that Jo Jo Gunne should have followed.
On Your Radio presents a picture of Jo Jo Gunne before
their final crash into mediocrity and could have been a fine release. But the aural
presentation lacks any credibility.
Grade: F
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