Genre: rock
Rating: 2 stars **
Title: Peculiar Friends
Company: Polydor
Catalog: 24-4062
Year: 1971
Country/State: Poland / US
Grade (cover/record): VG / VG
Comments: gatefold sleeve; minor cut out notch along spine; some aging on textured cover; original Polydor inner sleeve
Available: 1
GEMM catalog ID: 5246
Price: $15.00
Warning - this is ex-Goldie and the Gingerbread lead singer Genya Ravan in a horn rock environment ...
As on the band's two earlier studio sets, your feelings about 1971's "Peculiar Friends" are going to depend heavily on how you feel about horn rock. Co-produced by lead guitarist Aram Schefrin (and keyboardist Michael Zager (the pair also wrote all nine tracks), the album served as a showcase for Ravan's muscular, but raw voice. Imagine Blood, Seat and Tears had they been fronted by an angry young woman with a voice that occasionally recalled Janis Joplin at the shriller end of her vocal range and you'll have a pretty good idea as to what to expect. Ravan's always struck me as an earnest performer, but to my ears her tendency to become hyper shrill when driving home a performance wasn't much fun. Coupled with those horns, tracks like ''The Night I Got Out of Jail and 'No Next Time' (Michael Zager's vocals were better than Ravan's) just didn't do much for me. That's unfortunate since she actually had a nice voice that was better showcased when she throttled it back a notch. Check out her easygoing delivery on the pretty ballad 'Shootin' the Breeze'. So what were the highlights? Largely free of horns 'The Pickpocket' was a pretty good rocker, while 'Fourteenth Street (I Can't Get Together)' sported a nice Schefrin guitar solo. Not exactly a mega seller the album still managed to hit # 190 providing the band with their final charting album.
"Peculiar
Friends" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Peculiar Friends (Aram Schefrin - Michael Zager) - 0:19
2.) The Night I Got Out of Jail (Aram Schefrin - Michael Zager) - 3:44
3.) Shootin' the Breeze (Aram Schefrin - Michael Zager) - 3:19
4.) The Pickpocket (Aram Schefrin - Michael Zager) - Genya Ravan - 3:48
5.) No Next Time (Aram Schefrin - Michael Zager) - 4:34
(side
2)
1.) Love Me (Aram Schefrin - Michael Zager) - 5:05
2.) Fourteenth Street (I Can't Get Together) (Aram Schefrin - Michael Zager) - 5:49
3.) I Had Him Down (Aram Schefrin - Michael Zager) - 3:52
4.) Down In the Cold (Aram Schefrin - Michael Zager - Genya Ravan) - 6:09