![]() The group had a difficult time meeting the high expectations created by Sloppy Seconds, and the result was Belly Up, which Huey noted "was unfortunately prophetic." The group was forced to file bankruptcy in 1974, although they continued to tour incessantly. ![]() David left the band in 1973 and was replaced by John Wolters. Hook & The Medicine Show even after they got their picture on the cover of the bible of popular music in March of 1973. Rolling Stone magazine subsequently featured the band on its cover as a result of the novelty hit.īut all was not well for Dr. The song "The Cover of Rolling Stone," penned by Silverstein, appeared on the album and became the group's biggest hit. This was in time for the recording of Sloppy Seconds. The next year, two more musicians were added to the Medicine Show-Jance Garfat on bass and Rik Elswit on guitar. And, during their peak years, they were just as famed for their crazed stage antics, which ranged from surreal banter to impersonating their own opening acts." "Although the band had a reputation as a mouthpiece for humorist Shel Silverstein, who supplied several of their biggest hits," wrote Huey, "they didn't rely exclusively on his material by any means. The album included "Sylvia's Mother," which became a hit in mid-1972. Silverstein wrote all the songs for their self-titled debut album, released in 1971. Hook & the Medicine Show became a great combination. The soundtrack was written by Shel Silverstein, a well-known children's author and the writer of "A Boy Named Sue," which Johnny Cash parlayed into a hit. This also led to a contract for the band with CBS. Haffkine also became their manager and producer. Recording came to the attention of Ron Haffkine, musical director for the film "Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?," the band was hired to perform on the soundtrack. The band "began playing some of the roughest bars in the Union City area, concentrating mostly on country music out of sheer necessity," according to Steve Huey, writing in All Music Guide. Phillips quit soon after the band was formed and was replaced by John "Jay" David. This included George Cummings, lead and steel guitars Billy Francis, keyboards and Popeye Phillips, drums. The remainder of the band was recruited from a group in which Sawyer played, called the Chocolate Papers. The band was formed in 1968 in Union City, New Jersey, by singer-songwriter Dennis Locorriere and Ray Sawyer, a singer with a bold stage presence, including an eye patch needed after suffering injuries in a car accident. In later years, the band changed its material to disco-tinged ballads and had marginal success before breaking up. Hook & the Medicine Show was a band that combined country with pop and rock, and was perhaps best known for the catchy and witty hit song "The Cover of the Rolling Stone." They were among the bands that became popular during the 1970s thanks to AM radio play. This leaves out many latter-day hits - "Sharing the Night Together," "Better Love Next Time," "When You're in Love With a Beautiful Woman," "Sexy Eyes," and "Baby Makes Her Blue Jeans Talk" - most of which are on Capitol's Classic Masters collection, and shines the focus on the group's first two albums, which were nearly entirely written by Silverstein, including the hits "Cover of the Rolling Stone," "Sylvia's Mother," and "Carry Me Carrie." There are also two tracks, "Life Ain't Easy" and "You Ain't Got the Right," from the 1973 album Belly Up!, along with some sharp selections of album tracks, which make for a good, entertaining sampling of the band at its early-'70s peak.Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show, since it primarily covers the Columbia recordings, with the exception of the 1975 cover of Sam Cooke's "Only Sixteen," which was their first hit for Capitol, and 1976's "A Little Bit More," one of their biggest hits. It could be easy to level that argument against Columbia/Legacy's The Essential Dr. Each era has its partisans, with a mere handful of listeners liking both, and because of this, each label-specific collection has endured criticism for not containing the other. Hook & the Medicine Show and ending as the swanky, leisure-suited crooners Dr. ![]() To top it off, the band changed considerably during those two eras, beginning as the ramshackle, Shel Silverstein-singing, goofy bar band hippies of Dr. First, there's the simple fact that they had their hits at two different labels, spending the first part of the '70s at Columbia and the latter half at Capitol. The problem with assembling a definitive Dr.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |