Blue


Band members                             Related acts

  line up 1 (1973-77)

- Angus Timi Donald -- drums, percussion

- Jimmy McCulloch -- lead Guitar 

- Ian MacMillan -- vocals, bass, guitar 

- Hugh Nicholson -- vocals, guitar, keyboards 

- Robert Smith -- guitar

 

  line up 1 (1977)

- Ian MacMillan -- vocals, bass, guitar

NEW - David Nicholson -- bass, guitar (replaced Robert Smith)

- Hugh Nicholson -- vocals, guitar, keyboards 

NEW - Charlie Smith -- drums, percussion (replaced Timmy Donald) 

 

 

 

 

- Cody (Timi Donald and Ian MacMillian)

- Longdancer (Charlie Smith)

- Marmalade (Hugh Nicholson and Charlie Smith)

- Ian MacMillian (solo efforts)

- The Poets (Ian MacMillian, Hugh Nicholson, and  Charlie Smith)

- High Nicholson (solo efforts)

 

 

 


 

Genre: pop

Rating: 3 stars ***

Title:  Another Night Time Flight

Company: Rocket

Catalog: PIG 2290
Year:
 1977

Country/State: Glasgow, Scotland

Grade (cover/record): NM/NM

Comments: sealed copy; cut top right corner

Available: 1

Catalog ID: 5517

Price: $10.00

 

Dropped by Robert Stigwood's RSO label after two albums ("Blue" and "Life In the Navy") the band's future looked even grimmer in the face of a major personnel change.  Original drummer Timi Donald was replaced by former Longdancer and Marmalade drummer Charlie Smith, with Hugh Nicholson's younger brother David brought in as a replacement for second LP guitarist Robert Smith.  The revamped lineup was then blessed with a professional reprieve when they were signed to Elton John's MCA affiliated Rocket label.  Ironically, with everything Elton John touched turning gold, the band's third LP 1977's "Another Night Time Flight" should have turned them into superstars.  As fate would have it, even though John played keyboards on numerous selection, provided backing vocals (credited as Redget Buntavan), and co-produced the set with engineer Clive Franks, success simply didn't materialize.  While I'm hardly qualified to do a musical postmortem, this one's worth checking into.  Hugh Nicholson was again responsible for most of the ten tracks and propelled by catchy melodies and nice vocal arrangements, songs like the title track, 'Fantasy' and 'Shepherd' were as top-40 commercial as anything else being played on mid-1970s radio.  The real problem seemed to be the absence of diversity.  The band's catalog was commercial, but just kind of blended together into one big, shapeless suite where very little jumped out at you.  The funny thing is that there were plenty of hooks, but you actually had to pay attention to spot them.  Hardly something most pop fans were willing to invest in.  Ever seen a group of lawyers putting together an issue paper?  The resulting paper is technically superb, though unintelligible to most people.  Imagine the same group of lawyers recording an album - technically perfect and totally devoid of life.  In an effort to be fair to the album I'd listen to it and then put it back in my 'check out again' pile.  As a result I've listened to this set at least a dozen times.  The first couple of spins the only tracks that made any impact on me were MacMillian's 'Women' which struck me as a Stealers Wheel knock off and 'Strange Thing' which at least rocked a bit harder than the others.  It wasn't until I'd heard the LP multiple times that some of its hidden virtues became clear to me.  With a little effort virtually every one of these songs had something going for it - check out 'I'm Alone', or 'Capture Your Heart'.  Certainly not the most original or creative LP you'll pick up, but a nice slice of mid-1970s craftsmanship that deserved better.

 

 

Rocket tapped the LP for a pair of singles:

 

 

- 1977's 'Capture Your Heart' b/w 'Shepherd' (Rocket catalog number PIC 40706)

- 1977's 'Bring Back the Love' b/w '' (Rocket catalog number PIG 40801)

 

"Another Night Time Flight" track listing:
(side 1)

1.) Another Night Time Flight   (Hugh Nicholson) - 3:59
2.) Fantasy   (Hugh Nicholson)  - 3:31
3.) Women   (Ian MacMillian)  - 3:51
4.) Shepherd   (Hugh Nicholson) - 4:44
5.) Strange Thing   (Hugh Nicholson) - 4:10

 

(side 2)
1.) Bring Back the Love   (Hugh Nicholson) - 4:25
2.) I'm Alone   (David Nicholson) - 4:06
3.) Tired of Loving You   (Hugh Nicholson)  - 3:41
4.) Capture Your Heart   (Hugh Nicholson) - 3:20
5.) I Understand   (Hugh Nicholson) - 4:25

 

And thanks to YouTube you cans see a couple of live (of lip synched) performances:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sohtr25d8u8

"Capture Your Heart"



 


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