Game


Band members                              Related acts

  line up 1 (1969-70)

- Eddie Keating -- vocals, bass, guitar

- Chuck Kirkpatrick (aka Chuck Crane)- vocals, guitar, bass

- Scott Kirkpatrick -- drums, percussion

- Les Lurhing -- keyboards

- George Terry -- vocals, guitar, bass

 

  line up 2 (1970-72)

- Eddie Keating -- vocals, bass, guitar

- Chuck Kirkpatrick (aka Chuck Crane) -- vocals, guitar, bass

- Les Lurhing -- keyboards 

NEW - David Robinson -- drums, percussion  (replaced Scott Kirkpatrick)

 - George Terry -- vocals, guitar, bass

 

  line up 3 (1972-74)

- Denny Freidkin -- drums (replaced David Robinson) 

- Eddie Keating -- vocals, bass, guitar

- Chuck Kirkpatrick (aka Chuck Crane) -- vocals, guitar, bass 

-- Les Lurhing -- keyboards 

 

  line up 4 (1974-76)

NEW - Phil Jones - drums, percussion (replaced Denny Freidkin)

- Eddie Keating - vocals, guitar, bass

- Chuck Kirkpatrick - vocals, guitar, bass

- Les Lurhing - keyboards 

 

  line up 5 (1976-78)

- Eddie Keating - vocals, guitar, bass

- Chuck Kirkpatrick - vocals, guitar, bass

- Les Lurhing - keyboards 

 


 

 

- The Aerovons (Chuck Kirkpatrick)

- Bridge (Eddie Keating and Les Luhring)

Crabby Appleton (Phil Jones)

- Crane (Eddie Keating)

- Firefall (Scott Kirkpatrick)

- Chuck Kirkpatrick (solo efforts)

- Life (George Terry)

- McGuinn/Hillman/Clark Band (Scott Kirkpatrick)

- People (Denny Freidkin)

- Proctor Amusement Company (Chuck Kirkpatrick and 

  George Terry)

- The Vandals (George Terry)

 

 

 


 

Genre: rock

Rating: *** (3 stars)

Title:  Game

Company: Faithful Virtue

Catalog: FVS 2003

Year: 1969

Country/State: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+

Comments: DJ sticker on back cover

Available: 1

Catalog ID: 4580

Price: $35.00

Cost: $66.00

 

When I bought this album about the only thing I knew about the group was that singer/guitarist George Terry (of Eric Clapton fame) was one of the members.  At least that was the case until I stumbled across singer/guitarist Chuck Kirkpatrick's exhaustive on-line band history (which I've kind of condensed for purposes of brevity).

 

Singer/bassist Eddie Keating, singer/guitarist Chuck Kirkpatrick, drummer Scott Kirkpatrick, keyboard player Les Luhring and singer/guitarist George Terry had all been members of the Southern Florida based Proctor Amusement Company.  The band had become quite popular throughout the region, even recording a couple of singles and an unreleased LP for the New York based Faithful Virtue label before calling it quits. While Proctor Amusement Company had come to an end, by 1969 the five were playing Southern Florida clubs as Game.  

 

 

The only married band member and having to deal with real life challenges, like bills, in addition to Game, Chuck Kirkpatrick was working as a sound engineer at Miami's Criteria Studios.  Who knows the maturations, but that job seems to have led Game to sign a recording contract with the small California based Commonwealth United Records.  The relationship yielded one promotional single; a Kirkpatrick produced and arranged cover of Alan Gordon's sappy, '50s flavored ballad 'When Love Begins To Look Like You':

 

- 1969's 'When Love Begins To Look Like You' b/w 'Julie (The Song I Sing Is You)'  (Commonwealth United catalog number C-3009)

 

 

 

Subsequently offered a recording contract by the New York-based Faithful-Virtue label, 1969's "Game" was an interesting debut.  Co-produced by manager/mentor Steve Goldberg and guitarist Kirkpatrick, musically the set was all over the place, including stabs at singer-songwriter sensitivity ('sermon'), progressive ('Entrance'), rock ('Fat Mama') and even showing off some jazzy interludes (check out side two's 'Disturbance/We Turn To You').  Normally such a diverse album wouldn't make all that much of an impression with me, but this was one of those exceptions.  While most bands have a hard time finding one good singer, Game wasn't hurt by having three in the form of Keating, Kirkpatrick and Terry.  The fact that Keating and Luhring wrote some nifty melodies and were capable of turning in ear candy harmony vocals didn't hurt the end results either (check out Luhring's 'Discovering You').  The one thing the album lacked was a truly killer commercial track.  'Fat Mama' was mindless, unoriginal fun and came close, but no cigar.  That was actually odd, given their prior band Proctor Amusement Company had a pop focus.  To be honest, material such as 'Make Some Music' and 'Stop, Look & Listen' sounded a couple of years ahead of it's time.  Had it been released in say 1976 it probably would have blown an AOR outfit like Pablo Cruise or Kansas off the radio.   Unfortunately the set went nowhere commercially.  

 

(Wonder if there's a master list reflecting rock album covers featuring the work of Peter Breughel The Elder?)

 

"Game" track listing:
(side 1)

1.) Entrance (Eddie Keating - Tom Quick) - 0:48 rating: *** stars

'Entrance' surprised me given it sounded like something out of the Styx catalog - mildly progressive, but with a pop edge.  Admittedly the track was too short to make much of an impression.

2.) What's Going Through My Head (Eddie Keating) - 3:19 rating: *** stars

Throwing me into a state of complete confusion, Keating's 'What's Going Through My Head' started out with a blue-eyed soul vibe before abruptly shifting into a mildly jazzy swing tune compete with scatting segments.  

3.) Discovering You (Les Luhring) - 4:11 rating: *** stars

A smooth ballad with a nice melody and some sweet harmony vocals, 'Discovering You' could easily have been mistaken for a slice of mid-'70s yacht rock by a band like Ambrosia, or Pablo Cruise.  I guess that was a nice way of saying the track sounded somewhat anonymous.  

4.) Fat Mama (Eddie Keating) - 2:44 rating: *** stars

I won't deny it's a fun track, but if you wanted to hear a tune lacking a single original note or thought, then 'Fat Mama' was the tune for you.  Guess they felt the need to showcase their bar band credentials ...  The track also appeared as the "B" side on their 'Stop, Look & Listen' 45.

5.) Make Some Music (Eddie Keating) - 7:48 rating: *** stars

Starting out as a big, anthem styled  ballad, 'Make Some Music' slowly built up steam and energy. And when it finally got there showcasing a pretty melody and some lovely group vocals, the song abruptly shifted into an ever changing series of rock segments, complete with a brief Kirkpatrick drum solo and even some Latin percussion. This was another one that wouldn't have sounded out of place on a mid-'70s yacht rock album.

 

(side 2)
1.) Stop, Look & Listen (Les Luhring) - 3:28 rating: **** stars

Sporting some "social commentary" lyrics 'Stop, Look & Listen' was another track that had a mild Styx-styled progressive edge.  The melody was pleasant enough with a nice George guitar solo and some sweet Beach Boys influenced harmonies.  The song was tapped as a promotional single:

 

 

 

 

- 1969's 'Stop, Look & Listen' b/w 'Fat Mama' (Faithful Virtue catalog number FV 7005)

 

 

 

 

 

 

2.) Disturbance (instrumental) / We Turn to You  (Les Luhring - Eddie Keating) - 6:20 rating: *** stars

Opening up with some Lurhing electric piano, the instrumental 'Disturbance' had a distinctive jazzy flavor with interesting time signaturesSegueing into 'We Turn to You' the tune too a more conventional direction.  It was still jazzy, but the vocals were bathed in a breezy melody powered by some of the collection's best lead guitar work

3.) Sermon (Eddie Keating) - 2:19 rating: *** stars 

Keating's 'Sermon' featured a pretty acoustic guitar powered melody. The lyrics were clearly heartfelt and sincere.  In fact the track's always reminded me of something you might have heard on a Christian rock album by a band like Joshua. 

4.) Girl Next Door (Eddie Keating) - 3:19 rating: *** stars 

From heartfelt to horny ...  LOL  Opening up with some nice Les Lurhing Hammond B-3,Keating's jazzy 'Girl Next Door' gave each member an opportunity to stretch out and show their chops.  Docked a star for Keating's scat singing segment.

5.) Exit (Chuck Kirkpatrick) - 4:06 rating: *** stars

'Exit' was the album's most conventional and enjoyable rocker, the opening guitar riff has always reminded me of something off an early Doobie Brothers album ('Long Train Running'?).  The fadeout and refrain probably wasn't necessary.  Actually, wonder if the Doobies nicked it since this album came out several years before "Toulouse Street."

 

 

In 1970 the band relocated to Southern California.  Original drummer Scott Kirkpatrick dropped out before the move, replaced by Dave Robinson.  Over the next two years the band recorded a considerable amount of material, but found no takers.  Forced to start playing local clubs when their long time financial benefactor threatened to cut off support, Robinson and Terry called it quits, returning to Florida.  Terry subsequently hit the big time as a member of Eric Clapton's band.  Enduring a series of personnel changes, the band continued to play through 1978.  Chuck Kirkpatrick recorded an instantly obscure album for Capitol before returning to Miami where he spent some time recording and touring with Firefall, eventually starting his own business.

 

Kirkpatrick has an interesting website at: http://members.aol.com/JINGLEBOY2/FRONT6.HTML

 

It was a nice to surprise to hear band member Chuck Kirkpatrick:

"What a surprise!  I didn't think anybody would have - much less remember - that first album.

GAME was an evolutionary band, both in personnel and musical style.  Basically, we were the marriage of the better halves of two very well-known local bands; Proctor A. C. and a group called BRIDGE.  Bridge was very progressive and did alot of English and blues-based material, while PAC was very much a pop vocal group.  PAC had a little more of an advantage in that we were doing a local TV show weekly and were somewhat more 'visible'.  When our drummer got drafted from PAC, we 'stole' the drummer from Bridge (my brother).  Next was the lead singer, Eddie, and finally the keyboard player, Les Luhring.  Bridge dissolved, and PAC for a time remained a pop cover band, doing alot of Association, Beach Boys, Fifth Dimension material and getting a lot of high-paying gigs because of our fashionable appearance and classy stage show.

The turning point came one night after playing a prom.  The audience of high school kids were not only ignoring us, but were drunk and throwing up all over the dance floor.  In our hotel room afterwards, we vowed to get out from under the stigma of being just another local cover band and start writing and performing our own material.

We had recorded an album prior to this 'transformation' that was all original material, but it was somewhat 'lightweight' and did not impress anyone in New York where our manager tried to shop it.  That was my Brian WIlson/Pet Sounds moment, where after laboring for nearly a year to producing that album, I was completely devastated by its rejection. 

We managed to pick up the pieces and start writing in another direction that would eventually lead to that first GAME album.  I consider it a masterpiece in that it was entirely self-produced and recorded on only 8 tracks.  My experience as an engineer helped alot.  The energy and cohesiveness of the band at this period was at its peak, and our live shows became legendary.

Unfortunately, things began to change and by the time we got to "Long Hot Summer", we were already beginning to fracture as a band.  Everyone in the group decided to become a producer of his own songs, and the direction became clouded.  It was still a good album, but one that was much more difficult to make for many reasons.

Thanks for writing and feel free to ask anything else."

Chuck
CKirkp1021

 

 

George has a small website at: https://www.georgeterry.com/ 

 

© Scott R. Blackerby May, 2022

 

 

 


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