Jo Jo Gunne Vs Edgar Winter Group

First Jo Jo Gunne album is harder than Edgar Winter Group's
"They Only Come Out At Night."

"Bite Down Hard" was an even bigger step toward pure arena heavy boogie but the wheels were beginning to come off the band. It didn't
have the swing of "Jo Jo Gunne."

By the time Jo Jo Gunne got to its third and fourth records it was
up against Kiss in the market and was noncompetitive.

I recall an interview with the fellows in Jo Jo Gunne in which members were reflecting on where their career came off the rails.
They had gone out on an arena tour as a headliner with Kiss
opening. Every night, Kiss blew them out of the venue. "[They]
left the stage a smoking ruin," laughed one of them ruefully.

The Edgar Winter Group didn't even last that long although it's
my impression they still have a big following in Japanese-land.

Wow.

Amazing how he starts that sax solo when his mouth is still a few inches from the mouthpiece.

Hah, i assume the track is a bit off? or were kettle whistle tests dubbed?

Er, I mean 'Old Grey Whistle Test'....

Only took me 50 years to hear an Edgar Winter song that wasn't "Frankenstein" or "Free Ride"...I bought a used copy of his first two albums, released as a two-fer in 1976. $10, very good shape. This reminded me of Todd Rundgren:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpjza-cuYiU

I won't check again for any comments for at least a few hours. Edgar Winter fans, they only come out at night.

they might have come out at night 50 years ago!

edgar, aside from being a weirdo, was surprisingly musical and had a knack for collecting, and then losing, quality musicians.

have i even seen this thread before? if i had i inevitably would have mentioned that i saw the edgar winter group and jo jo gunne on the same bill! geez look at all those shows -- why didn't i go to those other ones? probably because i was 14 and couldn't get there on my own?

https://www.concertarchives.org/image_uploads/photo/image/342562/large_Village_Voice_-_New_York_City__New_York_1973-06-21.jpg

I'd be obvious and opt for Sly today, but back then, I'm first in line for the Dog.

on the regret-o-meter sly would surely be my #1, but i would eagerly go back in time and see any one of those.

I'm pretty sure that Edgar Winter cover is actually a photo from the short-lived prog phase of Jackie Rogers Jr. "Keep Playin' That Rock 'n' Roll" from the White Trash album is possibly the most gleeful expression of eagerness to "sell out" ever recorded. Edgar's voice is a lot easier to take at an uptempo
pace than when he tries to do a ballad.

Meanwhile, the first Jo Jo Gunne record was a partial disappointment after Spirit's Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus - a lot of pandering to AM radio with weak or trite hooks, sort of like a duller post-Bachman Guess Who. Suddenly on Side 2 they shape up and give us "99 Days":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0MqDDFTZfE

I vote Jo Jo Gunne for “shake that fat”. I don’t know much Edgar so if he’s done anything that cool pls notify.

Edgar Winter has a great beardo/disco/proto-air track – produced by Tom Moulton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9l2er58Tcw

"Run Run Run" by JJG got a nice airing in a season 2 EP of Hacks. I haven't heard all their stuff, but I have the debut on vinyl and yeah, overall it's disappointment coming after Spirit, certainly doesn't live up to the promise of the single.

I picked up a really nice copy of Edgar Winter's Shock Treatment, the follow-up to They Only..., and it's worth checking out. Really heavy Stevie Wonder influence, like they'd been mainlining Talking Book and Innervisions, so it feels pretty unique for what could have so easily been a clodhopper Rock record.

No Randy California or Ed Cassidy, they were never going to be as good as Spirit.

... or John Locke for that matter. Jay Ferguson did write a lot of Spirit's best material though, so...

Only took me 50 years to hear an Edgar Winter song that wasn't "Frankenstein" or "Free Ride"...

When I went to file the double I just bought, discovered They Only Come Out at Night in there. No recollection of ever buying this--only thing I'm sure of is that it would have been years after the fact, not in high school.

Downloaded the first Jo Jo Gunne LP last night, haven't listened yet. A few weeks ago, at the same store, I bought a Spirit two-fer that's part of the same series as the Edgar Winter: The Family That Plays Together + Feedback.

They Only Come Out At Night is one of those records that just *appears* in collections. Don't ask why, it just does.

It was quite the blockbuster at the time.

There's also a second Spirit twofer with the debut and Clear.

Feedback manages to do the JoJo Gunne thing better than they themselves did. One of the Staehely bros. still gigs around Houston biker bars a bit, as does Mark Andes (he's got a horse farm around Katy or something).