Classic Album Review-”Tompall & The Glaser Brothers Greatest Hits”
As we reach the weekend, we end the week with a look back at the Greatest Hits compilation from Tompall & The Glaser Brothers. Released in 1974, this collection covers their output from the 1967 to 1974 period, and includes 9 tracks that appeared in the country top forty, including their only top ten hit of the time, “Rings”. This album failed to reach the bestseller lists, upon it’s release.
The album begins promisingly enough, with the 1971 top ten hit, “Rings”. This was one of the better tracks of their time at MGM, arguably the strongest song of that part of their history.
The trio is joined by former Texas Playboy Leon McAuliffe for a rendition of the Bob Wills’ classic “Faded Love”. Also from 1971, this is also a pretty good version of the oft-recorded tune, that just missed the top twenty.
“Gone Girl” is next. From 1970, it utilizes a Tex-Mex sound that actually fits well with the Glaser’s harmonies. It is a mid tempo song with a good melody. It does risk going overboard in the arrangement, but luckily stops just short.
However, I do think the arrangement does overpower the vocals on “Through The Eyes Of Love”. It’s a nice love ballad, that were it stripped down of the strings and backing vocals, would sound much better. This was their second top forty single, released in 1967.
I love the harmonies on “All That Keeps Ya Goin’”. The song, itself, is great, as well. A great melody on a song that deserves to be heard. Only complaint? Overproduced and too slick of a sound. MGM tried to make them sound like a country-pop group, when frankly, they should have let them sound more raw and gritty, in my opinion. This made a brief top forty appearance in 1970, and was included in a George Kennedy movie, “Tick, Tick, Tick”.
“The Moods Of Mary” is a forgettable three minutes of blandness. The tight harmonies are all that come close to saving this track that ends the first side.
Side two opens with their first actual hit single, “California Girl (And The Tennessee Square)”, which just missed the top ten in 1969. It’s a good recording that has a strong mix of country and rock, and the result is a sound that would have mixed well with both country and top forty sounds of the day. Again, it does risk going overboard in the arrangements, but stops just short of the point where the instrumentation overpowers the vocals.
On the other hand, again, “Walk Unashamed” does cross over that line. A great ballad, by itself, and again, really nice, tight vocals by the brothers, but arrangement is just too flowery and syrupy; so much syrup, in fact, that the makers of Log Cabin saw their stock prices rise, whenever this record got played. A minor top forty entry in 1970.
The formula that worked on “California Girl” was tried again on their 1969 follow-up, “Wicked California”. Didn’t work. Average song, at best, with a bland, overproduced arrangement. Overall, a forgettable effort. It’s number twenty-four peak is a bit surprising.
I’ve always liked their first chart single, 1967′s “Gone, On The Other Hand”. Catchy melody and a bouncy tune. One of the album’s better tracks.
The album wraps with a ballad titled “A Lady Like You”, which I’m guessing was recorded especially for this album, as it’s sound is more along the line of Tompall’s mid-’70′s “outlaw” sound. Though not a hit, this is one of the better tracks on the disc. This is that raw, gritty sound that I mentioned earlier. This is how they should have recorded most of their work, in my opinion. Good track, right here.
An album that has not been seen on CD, though most of the tracks have, I found only a couple of copies for sale, online, around $10.
As for the album’s Standout Track, I would have to go with “Rings”. “A Lady Like You” would get my vote for Hidden Gem, while the Weakest Track would be “The Moods Of Mary”.
Overall, an album that contains a large volume of average. Too much overproduction and too many missed opportunities, here. Had MGM not continually watered down their music, the Glaser Brothers might have had more success during this period of their career. Then again, this is the same label that actually put a full orchestra behind some of Hank Williams’ recordings. The not-so-good outweighs the good, here, resulting in a 2 out of 5 effort. Your thoughts?
This collection came right on the heels of their best album, RINGS AND THINGS, which contained the singles “Rings” (which went to #1 on Record World), “Sweet Love Me Good Woman” and “Ain’t It All Worth Living For”. I guess MGM didn’t want to overlap RINGS AND THINGS too much so the latter two singles were not on the GREATEST HITS collection, which is too bad as they would have upgraded this collection by at least a star and a half. I have no idea why “One of These Days” was left off and the dull “Moods of Mary” included. Neither was a hugh hit but “One of These Days” charted higher
Tompall and The Glaser Brothers were an exciting act to see in person. Unfortunately, none of their studio albums captured that excitement although RINGS AND THINGS with its heavy western swing feel on most of its tracks,came very close