Mike Finnegan
Band members Related acts
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line up 1 () - Mike Finnigan (RIP 2021) -- vocals, keyboards
supporting musicians (1976) - Ava Aldridge -- backing vocals - Frances Barnette -- strings - Barry Beckett -- keyboards - Tom Butterfield -- tuba - Pete Carr -- guitar - Harrison Calloway -- trumpet, strings - Jackie Dixon -- strings - Ron Eades -- sax - Pee Wee Erwin -- trumpet - Amos Garrett -- guitar - Johnny Gimble -- fiddle, mandolin, banjo - James Griffin -- backing vocals - Roger Hawkins -- drums, percussion - David Hood -- bass - Jimmy Johnson -- guitar - Buddy Marrow -- trombone - Maria Muldaur -- vocals - Tom Roady -- percussion - Charles Rose -- trombone - Suzy Storm -- backing vocals - Priscilla Thomas -- strings - Harvey Thompson -- sax - Tex Wex -- wood block - Bib WIber -- clarinet - Barbara Wyrick -- backing vocals
Producer – Jerry Wexler Remix – Bob Clearmountain Wood Block – Tex Wex |
- Black Rose - The Dudek Finnigan Krueger Band - Finnigan and Wood - The Jerry Hahn Brotherhood - The Phantom Blues Band - The Roots Band - The Serfs - West Coast Gant
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Genre: pop Rating: ** stars Title: Mike Finnegan Company: Warner Brothers Catalog: BS
2944 Country/State: Troy, Ohio Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+ Comments: -- Available: 1 Catalog ID: -- Price: $25.00
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I'm hard pressed to think of an American keyboardist who's played with more artists and bands than the late Mike Finnigan. Primarily a studio and touring musician, over the course of some six decades his resume includes working with everyone from Jimi Hendrix to Keb' Mo. A comprehensive list of all of his sessions and tours would easily fill a notebook. Yet, outside of the music business itself, Finnigan is largely unknown.
Finnigan's own recording career bean in the mid-'60s debut with the Kansas based The Serfs who recorded a couple of regional singles and a 1969 album for Capitol ("The Early Bird Cafe" catalog number SKAO 207). As part of The Jerry Hahn Brotherhood he recorded a 1970 album for Columbia ("The Jerry Hahn Brotherhood" catalog number CS 1044). That was followed by a1972 album on Blue Thumb with guitarist Jerry Woods ("Crazed Hipsters" catalog number BTS 35). It only took Finnigan another four years and a big assist from singer Maria Muldaur to score a solo recording contract with Warner Brothers.
Produced
by Jerry Wexler, 1976's "Mike Finnigan" teamed the
singer/keyboardist with the cream of Muscle Shoals studio players including
keyboardist Barry Beckett, guitarist Pete Carr, drummer Roger Hawkins,
bassist David Hood. The result was a covers heavy collection with the
album included one Finnigan original - the frenetic boogie-woogie styled
'Baby I Found Out' co-written with former The Electric Flag singer/bassist
Roger Troy. Musically this was one of the most diverse albums I've
ever heard. It covere
"Mike
Finnegan" track listing: 1.) Saved By the Grace of Your Love (David Palmer - William D. Smith) - 2:43 rating: ** stars Hum, did I buy a Christian album by mistake? 'Saved By the Grace of Your Love' certainly sounded authentic and there was no denying Finnigan's voice was enjoyable, but this wasn't a genre that did much for me. Hard pass. Interesting, if hardly commercial choice for Warner Brothers to have tapped as a single:
- 1976's 'Saved By the Grace of Your Love' b/w 'Misery Loves Company' (Warner Brothers catalog number WBS 8264)
2.) Performance (Allen Toussaint) - 3:17 rating: ** stars Finnigan's career included working with so many artists it wasn't a surprise to see he had good taste when it came to outside material. The first of two Allen Toussaint covers, 'Performance' demonstrated Finnigan could easily handle a big ballad. Unfortunately the heavily orchestrated song wasn't anything special and the big female backing chorus almost blew him off the stage. 3.) Baby, I Found Out (Mike Finnigan - Roger Troy) - 3:24 rating: ** stars The album's lone original, the frenetic 'Baby, I Found Out' was an okay slice of piano-powered boogie-woogie. Once again the shrill female backing singers (imagine The Pointer Sisters on uppers) and blaring horns distracted from Finnigan's performance. 4.) The Room Nobody Lives In (John Sebastian) - 3:04 rating: * star His cover of John Sebastian's maudlin 'The Room Nobody Lives In' seemingly tried to position him as a Tony Bennett-styled big band crooner. What in the world? Awful. 5.) New York State Of Mind (Billy Joel) - 3:19 rating: *** stars Yeah, having grown up on the Billy Joel original, in spite of myself I have to admit I liked Finnigan's Hammond B3 powered cover of the Joel classic. The song would have been even better without Eddie Sauter's overwhelming orchestration. 6.) Ace in the Hole (George Mitchell - James Dempsey) - 3:34 rating: ** stars Clearly Finnigan was taking the opportunity to showcase his musical breadth and diversity, but I certainly didn't expect to hear a song that started out sounding like a barbershop quartet before morphing into a Dixieland jazz tune. The Dixieland Horns provided support. Again, not my musical niche.
(side
2) On the success she enjoyed with 'Midnight at the Oasis' singer Maria Muldaur was largely responsible for pushing Finnigan to the attention of Warner Brothers management. She continued her support of the Finnigan cause with the funky ballad 'Southern Lady'. The duet provide one of the album's isolated highlights. 2.) Everything Will Work Out (Richard Stekol) - 4:49 rating: **** stars Written by former Honk and Funky Kings guitarist Richard Stekol, the slinky 'Everything Will Work Out' captured Finnigan showcasing he could effortlessly pull of a slice of classic Muscle Shoals funk. Awesome performance and anyone doubting what a great voice he had need only check this one out. Shame the album didn't feature more material along this line. 3.) Misery Loves Company (Jerry Reed) - 4:41 rating: *** stars Squeezing out most of the original's country twang, Finnigan's cover gave Jerry Reed's 'Misery Loves Company' a blues flavor. Another one that surprised me in terms of how much I Iiked it. 4.) Holy Cow (Allen Toussaint) - 4:00 rating: *** stars The second Allen Toussaint song, Lee Dorsey enjoyed the original hit and nobody's going to be able to do it better. Finnigan's arrangement stuck close to the Dorsey version and deserved note for bringing the song to the attention of a new audience. Check out Dorsey's version first. 5.) Mississippi On My Mind (Jesse Winchester) - 3:46 rating: ** stars With backing from the cream of Muscle Shoals talent, including The Muscle Shoals Horns, 'Mississippi On My Mind' was a straight-ahead country ballad. Pretty, but not a musical niche I'm into.
76 years old, Finnigan died of kidney cancer in August, 2021.
There's a FaceBook dedicated to Finnigan at: https://www.facebook.com/mike.finnigan.54?fref=ts
© Scott R. Blackerby December, 2024
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d
the whole musical waterfront including conventional pop (the Allen Toussaint
ballad 'Performance'), Gospel ('Saved
By the Grace of Your Love'), Muscle
Shoals styled funk ('Everything
Will Work Out')
and even Dixieland jazz ('Ace
in the Hole'). To quote Finnigan
from the album liner notes: "I wanted to have
a lot of different kinds of songs, but I didn't want to get so eclectic I'd
seem too precious for words. Didn't
want to get pigeonholed either." Well, he succeeded in
terms of different kinds of songs and not being pigeonholed. Not sure
about the not sounding eclectic - just check out the barbershop quartet 'Ace
In The Hole'.
The eleven songs were so wide-ranging in styles you simply couldn't get a
handle on who the real Mike Finnigan was. You could clearly see
versatility made the man a great sessions player and touring musician, but
the end impression was that of a talented musical chameleon. Perhaps
the biggest surprising and one of the album's standout characteristics was Finnigan's
voice. The man was obviously sought after for his keyboard skills,
but tracks like a cover of Billy Joel's 'New
York State of Mind'' and his duet with
Maria Muldaur 'Southern
Lady' displayed a sweet and likeable, if
somewhat anonymous voice. Shame he didn't show more originality on the
debut.
