Posted on by Nathan Beaudry

Episode #117 – Bobby Harrison – Funkist


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Lead up to the Album:

  • Bobby Harrison was born in 1939 in London.
  • He started in the 1950s in a group called The Rockafellas.
  • In 1960s he formed the group Powerpack and put out singles in 1966 and 1967.
  • He was a founding member of Procol Harum and was in the band when they recorded their number 1 hit “A Whiter Shade of Pale.”
  • Harrison and the band’s guitarist, Ray Royer, quit shortly after that to form the band Freedom.
  • Freedom would go on to play dates with Black Sabbath, Jethro Tull, and The James Gang.  They got a lot of attention for their cover of The Beatles’ “Cry Baby Cry.”
  • This album is considered by fans to be the “missing link” between Freedom and Snafu.
  • The material on this album was originally intended to be material for Freedom.  He wanted to get more away from R ‘n’ B and more into funk.
  • Freedom’s last album was called “Is More Than A Word.”
  • In 1972 Harrison left Freedom and started collaborating with Micky Moody who was playing in “Juicy Lucy.”
  • This is considered the “missing link” between Freedom and Snafu.  Freedom’s last album was 1972.  Snafu’s first album was 1973.  This album was released in 1975.
  • Harrison: “I didn’t know really what to do after Freedom broke up, and I was approached by my management to do a solo album. So I thought, “Okay, I got all these songs floating about.”  I decided also that I could pick and choose all these musicians.
  • Harrison says that this album was ready to go but the record company shelved it for a while, that’s why it came out after Snafu was out for a couple of years.

Personnel:

Technical:

Album Art & Booklet Review

  • Artwork [Photo Montage] – Greg Hodal*
    • Had done a previous release by Snafu.
  • Design [Sleeve Design Produced By] – Cream (7)
    • Designed hundreds of album covers for bands such as Gary Glitter, Snafu, Deep Purple (Made in Europe), The Troggs, George Harrison, and many more.
  • Lacquer Cut By – Wly*
    • Mastering engineer whose real name was Wallace Edward Traugott.  Did thousands of albums in the 50s, 60s, and 70s.
  • Other [Special Thanks To] – Claire & Zoey
  • According to Roger Dean there was going to be a UK release of this album with his cover art but it doesn’t appear to have been released.

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Album Tracks:

Side One:

  1. Cleopatra Jones (Joe Simon)
  2. Whiskey Head (B. Harrison, W. Monaghan)
  3. Thinkin’ Bout You (B. Harrison, W. Monaghan)
  4. King of the Night (B. Sergeant, B. Harrison)

Side Two:

  1. Little Linda Lovejoy (B. Sergeant, B. Harrison)
  2. Spotlight (B. Goldberg, G. Goffin)
    • Barry Goldberg was a blues and rock keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer.
    • Worked with Al Kooper, Leonard Cohen, Maggie Bell, Muddy Waters, and Ted Neeley’s album 1974 A.D.
    • Gerald Goffin was an American lyricist and songwriter. Has over 2,000 entries on Discogs.
    • https://www.discogs.com/artist/241547-Gerry-Goffin
    • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerry_Goffin
    • Wrote many number 1 hits including “Will You Love Me Tomrrow”, “Take Good Care of My Baby, “The Loco-Motion”, and “Go Away Little Girl.”
    • Worked with Carole King and they were married from 1959 to 1969.
    • Arranged By – John Cameron (2) (tracks: A1, B2)
    • Producer [Produced By] – Steve Rowland
  3. Long Gone (B. Harrison, M. Moody)
    • Guitar: Micky Moody
    • Keys: Matthew Fisher
    • Drums: Bobby Harrison
    • Bass: “Chrissie” Stewart
    • Harrison: “I really like that track, it’s so “spaced out” for want of a better term) it’s so laid back.  The Snafu version was much more matured, but the early one has a very special feel about it.”
    • “I wrote the lyric for it, and it’s all about going on tour.”
    • Producer [Produced By] – Bobby Harrison  & Matthew Fisher 
  4. Looking For a Friend (B. Sergeant, B. Harrison)

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Reception and Review

  • The album was released and got to No. 76 in the Billboard charts.
  • Harrison says he never received any money from Captiol Records from the album’s release.
  • Harrison was upset doing the album with all of these incredible musicians and the label deciding not to put it out initially.
  • After this album Harrison and Moody formed Snafu which also featured Pete Solley who would also later join Whitesnake.
  • Harrison: “Bringing together a bunch of top quality players like the ones I had on this album can work out very well, but it can also be a total disaster.  I was very lucky it worked well.  WE worked at some very famous studios too, mainly at Olympic No. 1, but a few tracks were also done at Trident and Morgan.  I remember clearly doing the tracks with Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath at Morgan.
  • Snafu’s first album was the self titled “Snafu” released in 1973.
  • In the early 1980s Snafu broke up and Harrison moved to Iceland.
  • Bobby Harrison is currently in a band called Journey that plays Christian-oriented rock in Essex.

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