John Sebastian - John B. Sebastian
John Sebastian - Lead vocals (all tracks except B4), Rhythm Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Piano, Harmonium
Background vocals – Graham Nash (A3), The Ikettes (B2)
Lead Guitar – Danny Weiss (A1), Stephen Stills (B2)
Guitar – David Crosby (A2), Stephen Stills (A2)
Bass – Harvey Brooks (A1, A3, B1-2, B4), Ray Neopolitan (A2, A4, A6, B3, B5),
Drums – Dallas Taylor (A1, A3-4, A6, B1-2, B4-5)
Organ – Paul Harris (A1, B2)
Lute, Flute, Viol – Mr. & Mrs. Stanley Beutens & Friends (A2)
Electric Piano – Paul Harris (A3)
Horns – Burt Collins & Friends (A3), Paul Harris (B4), José Cuervo & Yesterday's Horns (B4)
Synthesizer – Buddy Emmons (A3)
Pedal Steel Guitar – Buddy Emmons (A3, A6)
Percussion – Dallas Taylor (A4)
Vibraphone – Buzz Linhart (A4)
Harmonium – Paul Harris (B1)
Congas – Reinol Isaac Andino (B2)
Electric Harpsichord – Danny Weiss (B2)
Tambourine – Bruce Langhorne (B2)
Clavichord - Paul Harris (B4)
Harp – Gayle Levant (B5)
Keyboards – Paul Harris (B5)
Arranged by Paul Harris (A2, B2, B5)
All songs written by John Sebastian
1 LP, Gatefold jacket
Heavy Press : 180g
Record color : black
Speed : 33RPM
Size : 12”
Stereo
Studio
Record Press : Record Technology Incorporated
Label : Exhibit Records
Original Label : Reprise Records
Recorded in 1968
Engineered by Bruce Botnick, Doug Botnick, Edison Youngblood, John Harny, Fritz Richmond
Remixed by Fritz Richmond
Produced by Paul Rothchild
Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio
Art Direction by Ed Thrasher
Photography by Jerry De Wild, Dr. Deadjellie, Jim Marshall, Henry Diltz
Originally released in January 1970
Reissued in 2017
Tracks :
Side A:
- Red-Eye Express
- She's A Lady
- What She Thinks About
- Magical Connection
- You're A Big Boy Now
- Rainbows All Over Your Blues
Side B:
- How Have You Been
- Baby, Don't Ya Get Crazy
- The Room Nobody Lives In
- Fa-Fana-Fa
- I Had A Dream
Reviews :
“When he led the Lovin' Spoonful from 1965 to 1967, John Sebastian experimented with a variety of styles, expanding from the folk, jug band, and rock & roll that were the band's basic mixture to include everything from country ("Nashville Cats") to orchestrated movie scoring ("Darling, Be Home Soon"). Freed from the confines of a four-piece band, he stretched further on his debut solo album, including the samba-flavored "Magical Connection" and the R&B-styled "Baby, Don't Ya Get Crazy" (complete with the Ikettes on backup vocals) in addition to traditional country on "Rainbows All Over Your Blues," which spotlighted Buddy Emmons on pedal steel guitar. But there were also delicate ballads like the string-filled "She's a Lady," a stripped-down remake of "You're a Big Boy Now," and "The Room Nobody Lives In," the last performed with only a harmonium and bass guitar. And there were pop/rock songs like "Red-Eye Express," "What She Thinks About," and the utopian "I Had a Dream" that you could imagine having fitted easily into the Spoonful's repertoire. The songs continued Sebastian's trend toward a more personal writing style, many of them containing images of travel that corresponded to his peripatetic lifestyle. Like Paul McCartney's McCartney, which followed it into the marketplace by a few months, the album was an eclectic but low-key introduction to the solo career of a former group member whose band was known for more elaborate productions, and all the more effective for that. (John B. Sebastian was the subject of a legal dispute between MGM records and Reprise records, with Reprise winning out, although MGM briefly issued its own version of the LP, apparently taken from a second-generation master. The MGM version is sonically inferior to the Reprise one and has different artwork, but the contents of the two LPs are identical.)” AllMusic Review by William Ruhlmann
Ratings:
AllMusic 4 / 5 , Discogs 3.69 / 5