Saturday, November 15, 2008

Nils Lofgren and Grin: Lost pop gems - Sad Letter and Love or Else

This was one of my favorite albums from my first year in college. The album included at least four or five other wonderful pop gems. Nils, as you may know, went on to work with Neil Young (playing on the masterpiece Tonight's The Night), and, of course, with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band for many years (including currently). I think they asked him to join the Rolling Stones before Ronnie Wood took the job...

This was another one of those great records (think of Big Star or The Posies) that stiffed in the marketplace--especially when you consider the influence those records had on the next generation, and rock in general.

This record is so obscure, you can't even find the lyrics. That almost never happens. I found a book, quoted on the internets, that says "The failure of Grin to sell large numbers of records in the early 1970's is one of those mysteries of popular music. They seemed to have everything..."




Love or Else, performed thirty some years later:


---o0o---

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