Let’s go back to the year 1972.  I was just shy of 4 years old and didn’t know anything about music at this point.  Obviously, I don’t remember this release.  I do know that 46 years later, I would discover this album in a collection I picked up.  And I also know this was one of the coolest albums in that entire collection.  I thought it would be fun to go deep in my collection and talk about one of my favorites and this is definitely out of the ordinary from my usual reviews.

Babe Ruth is a blues rock band that leans very progressive and they hail from England.  Formed in 1970 with Alan Shacklock, Janita “Jennie” Haan and Dave Hewitt.  The band would later add Dick Powell and Dave Punshon and we would then have the band we hear on this album simply titled ‘First Base’.  Lots of baseball theme with the band name, album title and even the weird cover of spacemen playing baseball.

SIDE ONE:

The album kicks off with the most rocking song of the bunch called “Wells Fargo”.  It is the story of the old western stagecoach and has a whole cowboy theme to it.  Jennie Haan’s vocals are totally brilliant with a hard rocking edge with the hints of Janis Joplin.  Alan’s guitar riff was fuzzy and cool and when you bump that up against Brent Carter’s saxophone you are in for a treat.  The whole blues rock feel is what I’ve been digging a lot of lately and this helps satisfy that thirst and then thrown in a damn fine guitar solo and life is good.  There is also a cool groove throughout the song by the fantastic rhythm section of Dave on bass and Dick on drums.  This is how you kick off your debut album folks. Continue reading “Babe Ruth – ‘First Base’ – Album Review” →