1908 - ALBERT HAMMOND - Revolution Of The Heart (2005)
ALBERT HAMMOND
''REVOLUTION OF THE HEART''
MAY 2005
40:23
1/The Side of Midnight/3:12
2/Dream/3:03
3/The Centre of the Universe/3:16
4/The Sweetest Thing/3:01
5/Restless Years/2:37
6/Satisfy Me/2:57
7/Rock 'N' Roll Hero/2:21
8/I Was Blue/2:33
9/Revolution of the Heart/3:29
10/Not in My Name/3:01
11/Photograph/2:35
12/There Ain't No Flies on Me/2:38
13/History Will Be My Judge/2:41
14/I'll Be Here for You/2:59
1907 - ALBERT HAMMOND - Somewhere In America (1982)
ALBERT HAMMOND
''SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA''
1982
33:03
1/The Light at the End of the Line
Albert Hammond / Will Jennings/2:45
2/Sweet Defector
Albert Hammond / Lauren Wood/4:05
3/Rendezvous
Bruce Springsteen/3:00
4/Shoot Em up, Shoot Em Down
Albert Hammond / Gary Osborne/3:10
5/Hero on Parade
Elton John / Gary Osborne/3:16
6/Oh! What a Time
Albert Hammond / Will Jennings/3:01
7/Before You Change the World
Albert Hammond / Gary Osborne/3:24
8/The Time
Albert Hammond / Gary Osborne/3:28
9/Doe Was the Loving Kind
Albert Hammond / Will Jennings/3:02
10/Somewhere in America
Albert Hammond / Will Jennings/3:52
Scott Chambers /Bass
Marsha Coy /Vocals
Paulinho Da Costa /Percussion
Bryan Garofalo /Bass
Bob Glaub /Bass
Albert Hammond /Guitar, Vocals
James Newton Howard /Keyboards, Synthesizer
Tom Kelly /Vocals
Melissa Lundgren /Vocals
Bill Meeker /Drums
Jerry Peterson /Saxophone
Rick Roberts /Vocals
Lauren Wood /Vocals
Richie Zito /Guitar
1/Tangled Up in Tears
2/To All the Girls I've Loved
Hal David / Albert Hammond
3/Kaleidoscope
4/Rivers Are for Boats
Hal David / Albert Hammond
5/You and I
6/99 Miles from L.A.
Hal David / Albert Hammond
7/When I Need You
Albert Hammond / Carole Bayer Sager
8/Cry, Baby
Albert Hammond / Mike Hazelwood
9/Moonlight Lady
Albert Hammond / Carole Bayer Sager
10/All Alone Am I
Arthur Altman / Manos Hadjidakis / Joann Ioannidis
REVIEW
by Joe Viglione
When I Need You should have been a monster album for Albert Hammond. His label at the time, Epic, had just scored with Engelbert Humperdinck's After the Lovin' while Leo Sayer hit number one on both Top 40 and AC charts with Hammond's title track from this disc. Add to all the attention and label savvy the fact that this is an exceptional recording by a songwriter of note, and the fact that it failed to generate any serious renown on its own is a real mystery. There are four co-writes with Hal David, four co-writes with Carole Bayer Sager, a songwriting team up with Molly Ann Leiken on "Tangled Up in Tears" (no doubt inspired by Bob Dylan's 1975 recording for sister label Columbia, "Tangled Up in Blue"), and an extraordinary Charles Calello production of the Brenda Lee 1962 Top 5 hit "All Alone Am I." The timing for this song to come back couldn't have been better, and Albert Hammond, resplendent in his best "Adult Contemporary look" album cover which Mac Davis, Kenny Rogers, and Tom Jones could envy, recorded each track on this with a seriousness missing from earlier long players of his. To show just how serious, three titles from his 1976 album, 99 Miles from L.A. appear in updated versions on When I Need You. All three titles were co-written with Hal David, a sublime rendition of what would become a hit in 1984 for Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias, "To All the Girls I've Loved Before," "Rivers Are for Boats," and an extremely commercial reading of "99 Miles from L.A.." Both "99 Miles..." and "All Alone Am I" should have obliterated the competition on AC and Top 40 in the mid-'70s. Perhaps programmers never forgave Hammond for the dreadful "I'm a Train" from 1974, and if his previous label, Mums, was forcing that "hit" down their throats, it could have cost Hammond credibility at radio. "When I Need You" is as good a performance as Leo Sayer's, but the production on Sayer's is a few notches above Calello's work on the title track, and there is the difference. If John Fogerty almost got sued by Fantasy for copying his own song with the "The Old Man Down the Road"/"Green River" controversy, Hammond's songwriting partner Mike Hazelwood, on "It Never Rains in Southern California," should have been up in arms with what Carole Bayer Sager and Hammond did to "Midnight Lady," you can actually sing "It Never Rains In Southern California" over this clone tune! But the interesting thing here is that Albert Hammond's When I Need You is almost as exquisite as the Carole Bayer Sager/Burt Bacharach album on Boardwalk, Sometimes Late at Night, and when you see the contributions here from Bacharach's partners -- Hal David and Sayer, it qualifies When I Need You as a perfect bookend to that Carole Bayer Sager classic. Some hip label should combine both because these discs are exemplary easy listening recordings.
1. I'm A Train/3:23
2. Everything I Want To Do/2:56
3. Dime Queen Of Nevada/3:38
4. New York City Here I Come/3:11
5. The Girl They Call The Cool Breeze/3:50
6. Names, Tags, Numbers & Labels/2:49
7. I Don't Wanna Die In An Air Disaster/3:38
8. Half A Million Miles From Home/2:51
9. Fountain Avenue/2:59
10. We're Running Out/2:55
11. Candle Light, Sweet Candle Light/2:33
12. Mary Hot Lips Arizona/2:43
All Tracks By Hammond And Mike Hazelwood
REVIEW
by Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Albert Hammond displays a heavy Paul Simon influence in how Hammond incorporates Caribbean rhythms and writes stark folk-rock: "Dime Queen of Nevada" is a dead-ringer for "Mother Child and Reunion" and "I Don't Wanna Die in an Air Disaster" recalls "Duncan" so strongly it's fortunate that Hammond didn't sequence these two back-to-back, since that's the only way they'd echo Paul Simon even more. Of these two sides, the Caribbean has a bigger presence here: "Everything I Want to Do" rides a chant-along, steel-drum chorus quite cheerfully as does the light-as-air "The Girl They Call the Cool Breeze" while "We're Running Out" bounces along on a white reggae beat, and these sun-kissed songs are balanced by contemplative introspection ("New York City Here I Come") and dramatic symphonic pop with a nearly cinematic pull ("Half a Million Miles from Home"), along with songs that split the difference between these two extremes (the quite excellent soft rock sweep of "Names, Tags, Numbers and Labels," "Candle Light, Sweet Candle Light"). At times, it seems like Hammond is in conflict with himself since the sunny world pop doesn't mesh with the introspection or the symphonic pop, but it does make for an interesting listen as it vacillates between nearly bubblegum pop and weighty, almost too-ambitious songs.
1790 - ALBERT HAMMOND - The Free Electric Band (1973)
ALBERT HAMMOND
''THE FREE ELECTRIC BAND''
1973
MUMS
1/Smokey Factory Blues
2/The Peacemaker
3/Woman of the World
4/Everything I Want to Do
5/Who's for Lunch Today?
6/The Free Electric Band
7/Rebecca
8/The Day the British Army Lost the War
9/For the Peace of All Mankind
Tracks By Albert Hammond / Mike Hazelwood
10/I'll Think I'll Go Away
Larry Carlton /Guitar
Carol Carmichael Parks /Vocals
Jim Gordon /Drums
Albert Hammond /Guitar, Vocals
Jay Lewis /Guitar
Michael Omartian /Keyboards
Joe Osborn /Bass
Sid Sharp /Strings
1789 - ALBERT HAMMOND - It Never Rains In Southern California (1973)
ALBERT HAMMOND
''IT NEVER RAINS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA''
1973
MUMS
1/Listen to the World
2/If You Gotta Break Another Heart
3/From Great Britain to L.A.
4/Brand New Day
5/Anyone Here in the Audience
6/It Never Rains in Southern California
7/Names, Tags, Numbers and Labels
8/Down by the River
9/The Road to Understanding
10/The Air That I Breathe
All Tracks By Albert Hammond / Mike Hazelwood
Dan Altfeld /Percussion
Allan Beutler /Flute
Hal Blaine /Drums
Larry Carlton /Guitar
Carol Carmichael Parks /Vocals
Jim Gordon /Drums
Albert Hammond /Guitar, Vocals
Jackie Kelso /Flute
Jay Lewis /Guitar
Michael Omartian /Keyboards
Joe Osborn /Bass
Ray Puhlmann /Bass
Tom Scott /Flute
REVIEW
by Joe Viglione
It Never Rains in Southern California is not only Albert Hammond's biggest solo hit, the album which spawned that Top Five smash was the best representation of the songwriter until his When I Need You album was released a few years later. The band is in a groove on this disc, and the songs are more happening than on the two immediate follow-ups, The Free Electric Band in 1973 and 1974's self-titled Albert Hammond. Songs like "Down by the River" and "The Road to Understanding" have more enthusiasm and spirit than the two succeeding albums. Albert Hammond, better-known as a songwriter for Jefferson Starship, Julio Iglesias, and Leo Sayer, among others, could have been a superstar on his own had he maintained the high level of songwriting exhibited on this disc. Though Mama Cass Elliot did a brilliant rendition of "If You've Gotta Break Another Heart" on her The Road Is No Place for a Lady album, that single was not embraced by the public as it should have been. The original version is here, along with the songwriter's take on his own "The Air That I Breathe." The Hollies would get a bigger hit out of this song than they had with "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother," but Hammond's has more tenderness and more subtlety. It's great. "Listen to the World" has the singer preaching with a band who is rock-solid behind him. Dan Altfeld's co-production with Hammond and Michael Omartian's impeccable arrangements (Omartian was everywhere at this point in time) are captivating. The material Mike Hazelwood was writing with Hammond here is also top-notch. "If You Gotta Break Another Heart" keeps coming back as a brilliant pop classic that will someday top the charts if given the chance. "Names, Tags, Numbers, & Labels" would get rearranged and released two years later on the Albert Hammond album, a practice the singer/songwriter continued on other releases. Taking previously recorded work and recrafting it wasn't a bad idea for a man whose tunes have helped so many other artists. It Never Rains in Southern California is a wonderful primer for people interested in this multifaceted artist. Songs like "From Great Britain to L.A." continue the theme initiated in It Never Rains in Southern California and continued on The Free Electric Band album -- a musician in search of fame. The arrangements, the vibe, all the elements fall into place perfectly on this outing, and it is a shame they couldn't duplicate the magic quickly and with such brio. Hammond could have rivaled Elton John for chart dominance at this time had he been able to churn out more albums as superb as this.