Song on MGM

Song: "Like We Were Before"/"Sugar Lady"; MGM 14157

And speaking of Curt Boettcher, how could we let a Discoveries column go by without the mention of another Boettcher effort? This time it's Song on MGM, a group that featured Mickey Rooney's son. These two sides were produced by Curt and Keith Olsen, and are quite delightful. "Like We Were Before" is the real standout sounding like Badfinger, the Nazz and Merry-Go-Round all rolled into one. Strong melody, excellent vocals and fine instrumentation throughout. "Sugar Lady" is a bit heavier, without any real melody to hook you, but there still are a couple of nice touches. Look for the review of the Song Lp in these pages next issue!
- Alan Betrock, The Rock Marketplace no.4 December 1973

"Like We Were Before" is a perfect song and a perfect record - a mix of heavy guitars and melody with tremendous phased drumming. Just like the Nazz, Song was a band of Anglophile Americans playing powerpop before there was such a thing. That makes "Like We Were Before" both behind the times and ahead of the times.

I don't think Alan Betrock ever got around to reviewing the Song Lp in TRM. I had the single for a year or so before I found the Lp. The first time I brought it home, I had such high expectations, hoping for an album's worth of "Like We Were Before". What I found was closer to an album's worth of "Sugar Lady" - not horrible, but much too wanky. Apparently, this is one of the productions that Curt Boettcher did under duress. He was under contract as a producer, and was doing this album to pay the rent. The good news is that "Like We Were Before" is on it. But so is "Sugar Lady". I shelved the album, thinking Song was only good for one song on one side of one single. Mickey Rooney Jr. was the main songwriter and singer as well as rhythm guitar player. I don't know if this was a vanity project for a Hollywood brat or what.

I came back to the album a year later, though. I found a really cool song called "Eat Fruit" that sounds like an early John Lennon solo track, kind of like one of those Hudson Brothers songs where they sound more like Lennon than he did at the time. There's also a track called "Whenever I Think Of You" that is really catchy and melodic - a mellow Merseybeat sound for the 70's, again like what the Hudson Brothers, the Wackers, Badfinger and Rockin' Horse were doing. The tracks I thought were awful before aren't that bad after all. "Banana High Moon" is really melodic and has great harmonies inbetween frantic bongo-handclap breaks. "10 x 10" is sort of a husky Creedence boogie with some nice jangly Badfinger guitar. On a whole, the first side is great.

Some overly husky vocals on "I'm Not Home", which has a bit of an English Isles folk sound like Fairport Convention. "Wife" is a beautifully understated ballad, like Bread or Paul McCartney's "Mother Nature's Son". "Sugar Lady" and "Meatgrinder" are unexceptional midtempo rockers and "Medicine Man" is a progressive jazz-rock jam complete with a drum solo. So that make's 3 great tracks, 3 good ones and 4 duds. I've read that Mickey Rooney Jr. made some solo records later on. Has anyone out there heard 'em?


Song - Album Lp - MGM SE-4714

Clark Garman: Lead Guitar
Mickey Rooney Jr.: Rhythm Guitar
Rob Lewine: Bass
Shelly Silverman: Drums

Side One
10 x 10 2:28
(Garman - McDonald)
Like We Were Before 2:05
(Rooney Jr. - Covington)
Eat Fruit 2:28
(Garman - McDonald)
Whenever I Think Of You 2:06
(Rooney Jr. - Blanchard)
Banana High Noon 6:00
(Garman - Rooney Jr.)

Side Two
I'm Not Home 3:42
(Rooney Jr. - Sardo)
Wife 1:42
(Rooney Jr.)
Sugar Lady 2:45
(Garman - Rooney Jr. - McDonald)
Meatgrinder 2:58
(Garman - Rooney Jr. - McDonald)
Medicine Man 7:19
(Garman)

Produced by Curt Boettcher &
Keith Olsen for Portofino Productions

A&R Coordinator: Michael Lloyd
Recorded at Sound City