Sugarloaf was famous for the hit singles ‘Green Eyed Lady’ and ‘Don’t Call Us We’ll Call You’. They were part of the early 70’s rock revolution but never kicked on.
Written by: Eric
ARTIST: Sugarloaf
ALBUM: Sugarloaf
LABEL: Liberty
SERIAL: LST-7640
YEAR: 1970
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Jerry Corbetta – vocals, keyboards * Bob Raymond – guitars, vocals, saxophone * Bob Webber – bass, vocals * Bob McVittie – drums
TRACK LISTING: 01 Green-Eyed Lady * 02 The Train Kept A-Rollin’ (Stroll On) * 03 Bach Doors Man * 04 Chest Fever * 05 West Of Tomorrow * 06 Gold And The Blues * 07 Things Gonna Change Some
Background
In true silly 60’s fashion, Sugarloaf originally went by the psychedelic inspired Chocolate Hair, before naming themselves after a mountain in their home state of Colorado. Far better choice I think, and I am guessing far more marketable for the record company too. The band released three studio albums and one compilation in the early 70’s and toured with many of the big hitters of the day.
This included War, Deep Purple and Iron Butterfly but these days are only remembered for a couple of hit singles ‘Green-Eyed Lady’ and the forever obnoxious ‘Don’t Call Us, We’ll Call You’ which for years I went around thinking was a Dr Hook song! Woe is me.
The Songs
Much has been written about ‘Green-Eyed Lady’ over the years by classic rock musicologists and it is indeed one of the finest singles of the 1970’s and a prototype for the sound Styx and Kansas would expand on just a few years later. It’s also the standout track by a mile for what is essentially a car wreck of an album.
The remaining material is generic and uninspired. Their cover of The Yardbirds ‘The Train Kept A- Rollin’ (Stroll On)’ is completely pointless as is the classical instrumental and curiously titled ‘Chest Fever’ which sounds dull and lifeless. ‘West Of Tomorrow’ could be Three Dog Night in disguise, but it’s not. The rest of the album is just jazz and blues based organ driven rock and really not worth a description.
In Summary
‘Sugarloaf’ reminds me a lot of The Blues Image record ‘Open’ which came out the same year and included the huge hit single ‘Ride Captain Ride’, but little else of note. Like ‘Green-Eyed Lady’, both songs are staples on classic rock radio to this day.
It’s a shame neither band capitalized on the approach of these singles and expanded this sound on future releases. The late Sugarloaf keyboardist/vocalist Jerry Corbetta released a ‘so-so’ west coast album years ago and still regroups Sugarloaf for the occasional reunion gig but I wondered how many people actually showed up?
This band could’ve been called Jerry And The Three Bob’s!