You Never Know Who Your Friends Are

I bought this album, another imported copy, from Musicland in Berwick Street, Soho towards the end of '69 whilst living and working in London. This cover was as striking as it's predecessor being a black and white photograph of police brutality (Kent State?). The title and artiste were written in mock blood. The inside spread showed an overhead view of a desk (Koopers?) with all the paraphenalia one might expect (on my desk any way!) - dirty ashtray, shopping list, cold coffee, half eaten danish, keys, handcuffs (?) vaseline (?). The track listing and credits are on a clipboard and the desk is littered with Kooper photographs. Apart from a couple with Bloomfield, I don't know who is in the others. As before, when the album was released in the UK, CBS decided to just chop the gatefold sleeve down the spine so the effect of the outside cover is lost and, I guess, it must be pretty difficult to see that the back cover is meant to be a desk!
However, this pic is the sleeve of the title track which was released as a single

Side 1

1 Magic In My Socks 2 Lucille 3 Too Busy Thinkin 'Bout My Baby 4 First Time Around 5 Loretta 6 Blues - Part IV

Side 2

1 You Never Know Who Your Friends Are 2 The Great American Marriage / Nothing 3 I Don't Know Why I Love You 4 Mourning Glory Story 5 Anna Lee 6 Never Gonna Let You Down The musicians on this album are the 'Al Kooper Big Band' a collection of accomplished musicians who perform their job adequately without injecting the sort of spark that Area Code 615 did on 'I Stand Alone'. Notable amongst them are Stu Scharff on guitar and Paul Griffin (the original keyboard player for the 'Like a Rolling Stone' session. Back-up voices include Lou (Lightnin' Strikes) Christie. The title track features a moog synthesizer and I believe that when this track was issued as a single, it was the very first pop/rock single to feature the instrument. On this album, Kooper wrote 9 of the 12 selections and it shows. Kooper, to my mind, has always been a great intepretor of other peoples songs, however his own songwriting sometimes wasn't as good as others. OK - this is a good album (ie not a great album like 'I Stand Alone') but the highlight tracks are Harry Nilsson's 'Mourning Glory Story', Stevie Wonder's 'I Don't Know Why I Love You' and the Motown Classic 'Too busy Thinkin 'Bout My Baby'. Kooper's own 'You Never Know...', 'Lucille' and 'First Time Around' are all good but, I think his best song on this album is 'The Great American Marriage / Nothing' - a wonderful plaintive song just suited to his voice. The studio dialogue on this album is on track 6 side 1. After nearly 30 years, I still don't know what 'Can you tighten your foot please?' means! Also listen closely to the back up girls on side 2 track six as they announce the impending end of the album! Home

has thousands and thousands of cds for sale at low prices - including "Soul of a Man" ! This page hosted by

Get your own Free Home Page