Overview
Recording for the first time as The Edgar Winter Group, Winter assembled an all-star lineup which featured himself, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Dan Hartman, San Francisco guitarist Ronnie Montrose, and producer/guitarist Rick Derringer, with Eagles' producer Bill Szymczyk serving as technical director. [9]
Montrose had recently left Van Morrison's band and didn't view himself as a rock guitarist when he joined The Edgar Winter Group. "(Winter) so much wanted to do that whole rock thing that he encouraged me," said the guitarist. "I was in the Edgar Winter Group, and I had better start delivering this heavy guitar music. Now. Because I hadn't done that before." [9]
Only twenty-one years old when the album was recorded, Hartman was a child prodigy who had played with Winter's brother Johnny in the past. Hartman wrote or co-wrote six of the album's ten tracks while also contributing vocals, electric and acoustic guitar, ukulele, bass, maracas, and percussion. "Dan was a true genius and a musical visionary", said Winter. "The group would never have been the same without Dan." [9]
"Free Ride" was chosen by Winter as the album's first single. Though it fared poorly initially, it became a hit after the followup single "Frankenstein" went to #1 on the singles chart. Hartman had written "Free Ride" before joining Winter's band, and it is Hartman who plays the song's signature opening guitar chords. "I've never heard anybody play it with exactly the same feel as Dan", Winter has said. Two guitar solos are played simultaneously by Montrose on the song in an attempt to get an Eric Clapton feel. [9]
The main riff of "Frankenstein" originated when Winter was playing with his brother Johnny in the late 1960s, and the song developed as a live staple. "I wanted an instrumental that I could use as a showcase. I thought of myself as an instrumentalist, not as a singer", Winter said. From that riff, the song developed into a jam in which Winter improvised a dual drum solo with drummer Red Turner. The song was played live many times before Winter ever considered recording it. "We played that song all over the world and then completely forgot about it. I didn't think of it for years", he said. Initially known simply as "The Instrumental", the band warmed up each day in the studio by playing the song. During the album sessions, it was producer Rick Derringer who convinced Winter to try to turn it into "something that would be usable" for inclusion on the album. Winter recalls that editing the song in the studio was a chore, with audiotape "lying all over the control room". "(It was) draped over the backs of chairs and overflowing the console and the couch. And we were trying to figure out how to put it all back together." The song obtained its title during recording when drummer Chuck Ruff heard a rough mix and said "Wow, man, it's like Frankenstein." "As soon as I heard 'Frankenstein', the monster was born", Winter recalled. [9]
Joseph Fidler Walsh is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Best known as a member of the rock band Eagles, his five-decade career has also included solo work and stints in two other successful rock bands: James Gang and Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. He was also part of the New Zealand band Herbs. In the 1990s, he was a member of the short-lived supergroup the Best.
"Frankenstein" is an instrumental track by the American rock band Edgar Winter Group that was feature in the 1972 album They Only Come Out at Night and additionally released as a single.
James Gang was an American rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1966. The band went through a variety of line-up changes until they recorded their first album as a power trio consisting of Joe Walsh, Tom Kriss (bass) and Jim Fox (drums). Dale Peters replaced Kriss on bass for the band's second and third albums. Two of the band's songs, "Funk #49" and "Walk Away", continue to be popular on classic rock and AOR stations.
Rick Derringer is an American musician, producer and songwriter. He achieved success during the 1960s with his then band, the McCoys. Their debut single, "Hang on Sloopy", was a number-one hit in 1965 and became a classic track of the garage rock era. The McCoys then had seven songs that charted in the top 100, including versions of "Fever" and "Come on Let’s Go".
Daniel Earl Hartman was an American pop rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter and original frontman for several bands, including The Soploids, Mak and the Turnarounds, Our Wringer, Last Wing, and Orion. Among songs he wrote and recorded were "Free Ride" as a member of the Edgar Winter Group, and the solo hits "Relight My Fire", "Instant Replay", "I Can Dream About You", "We Are the Young" and "Second Nature". "I Can Dream About You", his most successful song, reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1984 and No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart in 1985. The James Brown song "Living in America", which Hartman co-wrote and produced, reached No. 4 on March 1, 1986.
Edgar Holland Winter is an American multi-instrumentalist, working as a vocalist along with playing keyboards, saxophone, and percussion. His success peaked in the 1970s with his band the Edgar Winter Group and their popular songs "Frankenstein" and "Free Ride". He is the brother of late blues singer and guitarist Johnny Winter.
On the Border is the third studio album by American rock band the Eagles, released on March 22, 1974. Apart from two songs produced by Glyn Johns, it was produced by Bill Szymczyk because the group wanted a more rock‑oriented sound instead of the country-rock feel of the first two albums. It is the first Eagles album to feature guitarist Don Felder. On the Border reached number 17 on the Billboard album chart and has sold two million copies.
So What is the third studio album by the American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Joe Walsh. It was released in late 1974 on ABC-Dunhill Records.
Montrose was an American hard rock band formed in 1973 and named after guitarist and founder Ronnie Montrose. The band's original lineup featured lead vocalist and frontman Sammy Hagar, who later found greater success as a solo artist and as a member of Van Halen. Rounding out the original foursome were bassist Bill Church and drummer Denny Carmassi. The band experienced moderate success before disbanding in early 1977.
Ronald Douglas Montrose was an American guitarist who founded and led the rock bands Montrose and Gamma. He also performed and did session work with a variety of musicians, including Van Morrison, Herbie Hancock, Beaver & Krause, Boz Scaggs, Edgar Winter, Gary Wright, The Beau Brummels, Dan Hartman, Tony Williams, The Neville Brothers, Marc Bonilla and Sammy Hagar.
William Frank Szymczyk is an American music producer and recording engineer best known for working with rock and blues musicians, most notably the Eagles in the 1970s. He produced many top albums and singles of the 1970s, though–aside from continuing to work with Joe Walsh–he retired from the music business in 1990. He re-emerged in the late 2000s, taking on select projects including the 2007 Eagles album Long Road Out of Eden and the 2008 eponymous debut of Brian Vander Ark.
Charles W. Ruff III was an American rock drummer well known for his work with Edgar Winter on the popular instrumental "Frankenstein".
"Free Ride" is a song written by Dan Hartman and performed by the Edgar Winter Group from their 1972 album They Only Come Out at Night, produced by Rick Derringer. The single was a top 15 U.S. hit in 1973, reaching number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 10 on Cash Box. In Canada, it peaked at number 8.
Roadwork is a live album by vocalist/keyboardist/saxophonist Edgar Winter and his band White Trash, a powerful revue famous for their fusion of funk, gospel, R&B, and rock 'n' roll. It was released as a double LP in 1972. Roadwork was the second of only three albums the band recorded together.
Johnny Winter And is the fourth studio album by Texas blues guitarist Johnny Winter, released in 1970. Besides Winter, the group included guitarist Rick Derringer, bassist Randy Jo Hobbs and drummer Randy Zehringer, all former members of the McCoys. This was the first album released with Rick Derringer as a sideman. It was also the name of his band for a short time.
Still Alive and Well is an album by blues rock guitarist and singer Johnny Winter. It was his fifth studio album, and his first since Johnny Winter And almost three years earlier. It was released by Columbia Records in 1973.
Together: Edgar Winter and Johnny Winter Live is a 1976 album by brothers Johnny Winter and Edgar Winter. Released just three months after Johnny Winter's Captured Live!, it is composed entirely of rock and roll and soul standards. This album is a chance to hear The Edgar Winter Group playing with Johnny Winter's band together on a same stage.
Shock Treatment is the fourth studio album by Edgar Winter and the second by the Edgar Winter Group. The album went to No. 13 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart, and had two charting singles: "Easy Street" and "River's Risin'". The album was certified gold July 18, 1974 by the RIAA. In Canada, the album reached #9 and was #69 in the year end chart.
Instant Replay is the third full-length album from singer-songwriter Dan Hartman. Released in 1978, where all the album tracks reached number 1 on the American dance chart. The title track/first single peaked at number 29 on the Hot 100 in the U.S. & number 8 in the United Kingdom. The follow-up single, "This Is It", was only a minor Hot 100 hit, reaching number 91 in 1979, while rising to number 18 in the U.K.
Images is Dan Hartman's second full-length release but his first album of new material. It features an interesting mix of players to assist the multi-instrumentalist continue his pop rock themes featured in his tenure with the Edgar Winter Group and fittingly has Edgar Winter, Rick Derringer and Ronnie Montrose as guests. Montrose appears on two songs which was in exchange for the two Hartman written songs, "What are You Waiting For?" and "Rich Man", that appeared on Jump On It, the same year. Drummer John Wilcox and bassist John Siegler, both of Utopia, were the principal rhythm section.
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