Search - Sons of Champlin :: Ariola Years

Great LP's on CD

patocaster | San Jose, CA United States | 08/24/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"At last! Finally these LP's have been released on CD. They are great songs and a great bargain--3 LP's for $25 can't be beat.



Looking back at the mid-seventies, in hindsight it seems a sad inevitability that Bill Champlin would leave his namesake band of Marin County brothers. The thrust of the psychedelic era was waning but the Sons Of Champlin continued to scuffle, playing clubs up and down the west coast and making really good records. Their live performances throughout were great. As Mickey Hart said, "They were breathing fire!" Playing small clubs was (and is) a hard way to earn a living, promote LP's and make a mark in the recording industry. Even though they were known as great musicians and made great records, the Sons just never intersected with anything resembling a commercial success. It was just a matter of time before Champlin would leave the Bay Area for L.A. and ply his trade where he could earn the reputation that he deserved.



Thanks to Acadia this compilation finally completes the Sons' studio catalog on CD. This collection starts with the "Goldmine", a 1975 homegrown recording to which Ariola eventually picked up the rights, then 1976's "Circle Filled With Love" and "Loving Is Why" from 1977. Champlin eventually moved to LA and released two solo efforts, "Single" in 1978 and "Runaway" in 1981, before joining Chicago. His solo recordings tell the story of this "favorite son's" escape. But before all that, there were the Sons, a great band with great songs. Check out the latest version of them. You won't be disappointed."

The SONS that shine on your ears

Peppino | 09/10/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"To be with some perspective , I am not a fan of rock musics, have my favourites.



I do not consider the Sons of Champlin a rock musics grupo, even if they were a Hippy band from the USA , and from São Francisco!



The recordings I heard before the wonderful Ariola record label releases were fun, creative, adventurous harmonically and FUNKY as 3 month old underwears, BUT...probably do to excessive narcotic refreshments, the Sons were ragged sounding to my ears, and the jazz-influenced guitar of Terry Haggerty most enjoyable AND irritating, same time. He comes from jazz guitar family , as I was told..Bill Champlin's voice, much like his "vanilla soul" fratello Lowell George, was sweet like honey or soulful to the stars!



BUT, to this recording of ALL THREE Ariola recordings have smooth out the edges, the compositions more cogent and chord progressions less sounding as forced, (obvious the influence of the jazz contingency in the band ~~later including , for one CD, MArk Isham!).

T Hagerty still plays his own way, but, check some songs, he plays a fluid jazz style, again, comparable to Denny Dias on early Steely Dan,a STRAIGHT UP jazzer!



Some hypnotic musical interludes, some polished ballads, and, what you have is less a pseudo-R& B influenced rock group, but a true jazz/funk/soul aggregation, although there are a few "throw back" tunes that have the "trademark" Sons of Champlin sound. These, MY least favourite .



The 2nd CD is the most innovative, the 1st CD (2 recordings) have a sound as reminding one of the EARLY Boz Scaggs (before he went "Hollywood") and not quite, but a bit as the other São Francisco(actually Oakland, no?) "horn bands" like Tower of Power , Cold Blood, etc.



The trademark Sons of Champlin composing style is also abundant, especially as CD #1 draws to the 10-21 tracks.



So, this CD a MUST for any fan , not only for the Sons, but of very well conceived soul/jazz sounds.



100 stars, and FINALLY this music was released, I first hear it in 1975-77!"

Rediscovered Nugget

CDnut | San Francisco, CA | 09/12/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Always been a fan of Bill C. in all of his combinations and I'm old enough to go back to the Loosen Up Naturally Days of the Sons (which I think is great, but epic? Hmmm.) I just wanted to get my two cents in about the production of the CD. I bought it at a place that warned me about other titles from Ariola that sounded less than fantastic. This remastering sounds great and I agree with the earlier performance reviews comparing to early Boz Scaggs and TOP. If you are a fan of the Sons don't worry about the sound of this CD. You will not be let down."