Sunday 29 November 2015

Frank Robson's second album Stay Awhile from 1976 by request




This his second album continues in the same vein of bluesy James Taylor-like songwriting (the earliest records he made, and without the solo acoustic) with harder progressive elements here and there, horns-driven round the speedway track.  Taken straightforwardly as an album from the "golden age" it should be on every top hundred list of best rock albums, ever.  Sadly, we will never find its presence there or anywhere similar no matter how much we choose to enlighten those awful criterati...

In particular the title track is a pure masterpiece of melodious storytelling with its deep horns and emotive intensity:





In addition to that wonderful laidback of with sustained notes in the melody, the key here is the chord progression with a not-so-rare initial sequence: C, C7, F, Bflatm, Aflat, then the big surprise: the diminished chord in A, with its awful tension, steps us up to Bflat, after which the song is able to return to the 'stepping stones' of F, G7, and thus tonic C.

But the LP is chock-full of gorgeous musical ideas... have a listen to the casual sexiness of "You're Just My Love:"





Really? It couldn't have been a radio hit back then?

Apologies for the mono rip here, all I had.  I would've purchased the vinyl for a better but the price is a bit prohibitive with the dreaded Christmas approach.  If you take a look at his discography he made a third album in 1987 which eschewed the rock and horn sound for a simpler songwriterly approach in keeping with the times, and is of less interest particularly due to its inferior quality.

ADDEDNUM: quimsy provided a stereo rip, thanks!!

2 comments:

  1. https://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/3avlwj

    ReplyDelete
  2. bonus: quimsy rip in stereo:

    https://www.sendspace.com/pro/dl/wqve0e

    ReplyDelete