Adding ‘Band’ to the moniker for the second Tufano and Giammarese Band album with a nice embossed logo on the sleeve and street tough stare downs on both front and back, this very much looks and sounds like a group effort as a opposed to their debut.
Written by: Eric
ARTIST: Tufano and Giammarese Band
ALBUM: Tufano and Giammarese Band
LABEL: Ode Records
SERIAL: SP-77032
YEAR: 1975
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Dennis Tufano – lead vocals, keyboards, guitars * Carl Giammarese – lead vocals, guitars * John Forest – bass * Tom Osfar – drums * Darryl Warren – congas, percussion * Mart Grebb – keyboards, tenor sax * Tracy Richardson – background vocals
TRACK LISTING: 01 Let In The Light * 02 Heartbreak * 03 Gone Like The Wind * 04 Coloring The Trance * 05 Taken The Shaken * 06 Honest Man * 07 Kind Of A Drag * 08 Times Change * 09 Fly Away * 10 Sweet Delight * 11 Hypnotizing Love * 12 Summer Night
Background
I suppose it really was kind of a drag when The Buckinghams split in 1970. I was too young to remember that, but recall hearing the song often during my grade school years in Chicago, the band’s hometown and grew to appreciate their music later on with a couple retrospectives in the collection.
Now many of you know of the 1985 Buckinghams album ‘A Matter of Time’ which was very AOR directed and included Carl Giammarese, but prior to the band’s reunion, Carl with his former band mate Dennis Tufano pulled together as a duo, releasing three very good albums in the 1970’s as Tufano and Giammarese Band.
The Songs
Adding ‘Band’ to the moniker for their second album with a nice embossed logo on the sleeve and street tough stare downs on both front and back, the Tufano and Giammarese Band very much looks and sounds like a group effort as a opposed to their debut.
Produced by Jack Richardson of The Guess Who fame, the Tufano and Giammarese Band offers up ’70s pop with consistent flair and catchy melodies. Similar in style to Seals & Crofts, there’s a nice late summer feel to the music that I can’t help but enjoy.
In particular the lead-off Latin flavoured ‘Let In The Light’ which brings to mind singer-songwriter Alzo. Digging deeper ‘Heartbreak’ chugs along like early Poco and good for it while ‘Coloring the Trance’ is definitely a high point with Tufano’s soaring vocals and sweet guitar picking from Giammarese making great music together.
On side two and very welcoming is a cover of ‘Kind Of A Drag’. Die-hard Buckinghams followers might have frowned on this at the time, but I think it’s a beautiful variation on the classic, slow and nicely orchestrated with a just-right sax solo, this is the record’s cornerstone. Although I don’t want to leave out the vaguely countryish ‘Times Change’ and closer ‘Summer Night’ which sums up an album filled with warm breezes and dusty sunsets.
In Summary
A follow-up ‘The Other Side’ was released in 1977 and to my knowledge none of the Tufano and Giammarese Band’s albums have been released on CD, although both the debut and the album reviewed here are available at Amazon for download.
Video
Kind Of A Drag
