Easy Pieces - Easy Pieces (1988)

"Easy Pieces" is probably the first and last mid-80s record you'll find posted here. It's here so we can continue the Renée Geyer story, and if you're new here, check out "Ready to Deal" and "Moving Along" at this blog before continuing, amongst others, 'cos they're better albums.

After singer/guitarist Hamish Stuart left the Average White Band, he worked as a sideman / backing vocalist to artists such as Aretha Franklin and Chaka Khan, for whom he wrote the superb "Whatcha Gonna Do For Me". Also working as a backing vocalist for Chaka Khan's live show was Renée Geyer, who after a revitalised pop career in early 80s Australia was trying her hand in the USA again.

Hamish and Renée joined forces with ex-Average White Band drummer Steve Ferrone and session bassist Anthony Jackson to form the band Easy Pieces, who recorded one self-titled album under contract from A&M Records. Continuing the Chaka connections, Ferrone had played drums on most of Khan's album "I Feel For You".

When I began researching this post, things got sketchy after that, not the least because this lost album is not included in any of the four artist's discographies. From what I can gather, it seems that the album initially had truckloads of money thrown at it by A&M, and took a long, long time to finish. One of the main producers was David 'Hawk' Wolinksi, keyboardist from Rufus and notable as the writer of ... you guessed it ... Chaka Khan's "Aint Nobody" and Rufus/Chicago's "Street Player", and keyboardist on Michael Jackson's "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough"

By the time they'd finished it, two things happened that confined it to the bargain bins of history. Firstly, A&M was in the process of switching distributors, and gave it zilch promotion - the album doesn't seem to have been released outside of the USA. But the final nail in the coffin was that Hamish Stuart joined Paul McCartney's band, with whom he stayed for six years - so that was the end of Easy Pieces.

Not that this is any lost masterpiece ...
Best track would be the Renée Geyer and Steve Ferrone-penned "Walk That Walk", which wears its Chaka vocal influences on its puffy sleeve, but has Randy Brecker arranging a real brass section, and Renée in fine voice. Renée's only upfront in a few tracks, mainly sitting behind Hamish Stuart's whiteboy soul tenor for most of the album, occasionally sharing a lead.

The production is very much of its time, slamming gated-reverb snares and crisply programmed FM synthesiser brass predominating. While Hawk Wolinkski is reasonably spare in his arrangements, the main culprit seems to be the other main producer, E.T. Thorngren, who was applying the same sound to his 12" remixes of Robert Palmer ("Simply Irresistible") and the Eurythmics ("Would I Lie To You"). Some of it's just plain terrible, with the first few tracks seemingly aimed at the Jefferson Starship end of the market.

I decided to post this because a lot of you have shown love for the Renée Geyer albums I've been posting, and so I thought you might be curious, as I was, about this thoroughly 'disappeared' album. Many thanks to Micko for his vinyl rip and cover scans.

Tomorrow we rush back to the 70s.... :)

TRACKLIST

01 "Whenever You’re Ready" (Hamish Stuart / St.George)
02 "It’s No Lie" (Hamish Stuart / Clyde Lieberman)
03 "Heart Of The Matter" (Hamish Stuart / Clyde Lieberman)
04 "You’re My Heaven" (Renée Geyer / Hawk Wolinski / Neil Larsen)
05. "Tuggin’ At My Heartstrings" (Hamish Stuart / Amy La Television)
06 "Trust One Another" (Hamish Stuart / John Lind)
07 "Daddy’s Girl" (Hamish Stuart / Renée Geyer / Hawk Wolinski)
08 "Walk That Walk" (Steve Ferrone / Renée Geyer)
09 "Don’t Knock It" (Hamish Stuart / Hawk Wolinski / Clyde Lieberman)
10 "Separate Shores" (Hamish Stuart / Roy Freeland)

EASY PIECES are

Hamish Stuart - Guitars, Vocals
Renee Geyer - Vocals
Steve Ferrone - Drums
Anthony Jackson - Bass

ADDITIONAL MUSICIANS

Hawk Wolinski - keyboards, percussion & programming
James Harrah - guitar (6)
Neil Larsen - keyboards
Randy Brecker - horn arrangement (8)
Daid Boruff - saxophones (8)
Gary Grant - trumpet (8)

PRODUCTION CREDITS

Produced by E.T Thorngren (E.T.?) and Hawk Wolinski except
Track 1 - Produced by Bill Bottrell & Easy Pieces.
Executive producers - Jimmy Iovine and John McClain (not John McCain)
Produced and engineered by E.T. Thorngren
Remixed by Bill Bottrell
Recorded at Rumbo Recorders, Fool On the Hill and A&M Studios
Mixed at Encore Studios and SmoketreeMore credits on cover scans

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Renée Geyer - "It's a Man's Man's World (1974)

This is the earliest Rénee Geyer album I've posted - it's her 2nd solo album, and comes before Ready to Deal in the chronology. "It's a Man's Man's World" is more infused with a classic RnB sound, with touches of blues, than her later more funk-soul influenced albums. Her cover of the James Brown song was a sizeable hit in her home country. Producer Tweed Harris, previously best known as a 60s soul musician, works here with a classic band setup augmented with orchestral and brass colourings. Not my favourite Geyer album, but some good tracks here - I like her cover of Isaac Hayes' "Do your Thing".

Enjoy!

TRACKLIST

01. 'It's A Man's Man's World' - 3.34 (James Brown)
02. 'They Tell Me Of An Uncloudy Day' - 3.42 (Jackie Moore / Dave Crawford / Brad Shapiro)
03. 'Take Me Where You Took Me Last Night' - 3.53 (Dee Ervin / Lynne Farr)
04. 'Since I Fell For You' - 3.42 (Buddy Johnson)
05. 'What Do I Do On Sunday Morning' - 3.58 (Dennis Lambert / Brian Potter)
06. 'Love The Way You Love' - 3.15 (Mark Punch / Garry Paige)
07. 'Scarlet Ribbons' - 2.45 (Evelyn Danzig / Jack Segal)
08. 'Do Your Thing' - 3.44 (Isaac Hayes)
09. 'And I Love Him' - 5.14 (John Lennon / Paul McCartney)
10. 'It's Been A Long Time' - 3.23 (Melvin Wilson / James Baker)
11. 'Mama's Little Girl' - 3.26 (Dennis Lambert / Brian Potter)
12. 'Once In A Lifetime Thing' - 3.33 (Jim Weatherly)
13. 'Feel Good' - 3.15 (Alan Ciner)

MUSICIANS

Renée Geyer: Vocals, Backing Vocals
Guitars: Phil Manning; Tim Gaze; Steve Murphy; Tony Naylor
Keyboards: Tweed Harris
Bass: Barry "Big Goose" Sullivan; Mike Kelly
Drums: Geoff Cox
Background Vocals: Julie McKenna; Wendy Reece; Bobby Bright; Mike Brady (no, not that one)
Percussion: Gary Hyde

CREDITS

Producer, Arrangements: Tweed Harris
Engineers: Ian McKenzie; Ernie Rose
Recorded at Bill Armstrong Studios, Melbourne, Australia
Released 19th August 1974

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Renée Geyer - "Winner" (1978)

'I Miss You'


'Save Me'


'Apartment C & D'

One day soon we'll move on from Renée Geyer at this site, but some great things are appearing so we'll keep going for now :
Although her first U.S. release "Moving Along" (see previous post) had its troubles in the international market, there was enough interest for Polydor to fund the recording of a second album. Motown's Frank Wilson once again manned the console, however this time the Renée Geyer Band provided the rhythm section, ably supported by U.S. session players like Neil Larsen, Ernie Watts, Nate Morgan and the Tower Of Power horns (see credits below).

However, Geyer wasn't happy with either the mix or the promotion that Polydor were providing, and negotiated a release from her contract. She then brought the tapes home to Australia and remixed the album herself with the help of John Sayers and Christo Curtis. She toured the country promoting it, but neither the album nor the two singles released from it enjoyed the same success as previous releases.

One wonders whether Wilson's original mix of the album was more of the polished style that he applied to 1977's "Moving Along", but in any case, we've got a rawer final album here, more in the style of her 1975 album "Ready To Deal" (see previous post) with plenty of Rhodes, some good tracks and, of course, some great vocals.

Perhaps unhappy with its commercial failure, Renée herself has since referred to this album as "Loser", but she's being harsh : "I Miss You" stands out as a great piece of orchestrated jazzy soul, with even a bit of scatting; "Bad Side of the Blues" has a great vocal performance that precurses her later move into more blues-oriented territory; "Apartment C & D" is another one of those big production 70s soul numbers like "Stares and Whispers" on the previous album, with massive orchestration and some of the same writing team, and there's some good slow funk in "Save Me" and "Sweet Kisses". I put up a preview clip of "Money" at the previous "Rarities" post.

BIG BIG thanks to Micko from MidOzTouch for the 320 vinyl rip.

TRACKLIST

01. "Money (That's What I Want)" - 5.19 (Berry Gordy / Janie Bradford)
02. "I Miss You" - 4.50 (Melvin Robinson / Judy Wieder)
03. "Save Me" - 4.13 (Mark Punch / Garry Paige)
04. "Baby I'm the One" - 4.36 (Dee Erwin/Alexandra Brown)
05. "Baby Be Mine" - 3.46 (Jean Mc Clain)
06. "Sweet Kisses" - 6.28 (Mark Punch)
07. "The Magic is Still There" - 3.58 (Mark Punch / Garry Paige)
08. "Bad Side of the Blues" - 4.03 (John Finley / Katherine Ornelas)
09. "Apartment C & D" - 3.54 (John Footman / Judy Wieder / Ron Cederlund)
10. "I Don't Wanna Lose a Good Thing" - 3.50 (Jack Allen / Shelby Flint)

RENEE GEYER BAND

Renée Geyer: Vocals, Backing Vocals

Mark Punch: Guitar

Tim Partridge: Bass

Greg Tell: Drums

OTHER MUSICIANS

Guitars: Melvin Robinson

Piano, Clavinet, Synthesizer: Nate Morgan

Special Synthesizer Work: Michael Boddicker

Keyboards (Tracks 1,5): Neil Larsen

Saxophone: Ernie Watts

Horns (3,5,7): Tower Of Power Horns

Percussion: Jack Ashford; Frederick Lewis

OTHER CREDITS

Producer: Frank Wilson

Recorded at Crystal Sound Recording, Los Angeles, California

Mixing: John Sayers, Renée Geyer, Christo Curtis at Studio 301, Sydney, Australia

Horn Arrangements : Bruce Miller (Tower Of Power Horns)

String arangements : Bruce Miller, Sonny Burke, Jim Martin

Cover Illustration: Shane ConroyDetails from Wikipedia

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Renée Geyer - "Rarities E.P."

I was going to wait a little longer for another Renée Geyer post, but many of you seem to be into this stuff, so let's go! Some rarities here that I've packaged together as an EP.

I dug reasonably deeply to put this together, even going through her career as a backing vocalist for Troublefunk, Sting and Joe Cocker, none of which made the cut - I've stuck mainly to soulful 70s funky stuff ...

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01. “IT'S A MAN'S MAN'S WORLD” (1974)

Renée's cover version of the James Brown classic, from her 1974 album of the same name. If you like this I'll post the album some time. (edit : album now posted).



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02. “IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME” (1977)



The rarest find - this was recorded for a series of radio concerts in 1977 by 2JJ, a “youth-oriented” government-owned radio station, and released on a compilation album called “Long Live the Evolution”. Great slow track with rhodes and trumpet.

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03. “BE THERE IN THE MORNING” (1976, alt. version)




7" single release, an entirely different version to the one that appears on the 1977 album "Moving Along". This one's rootsier and rhodesier (that's my new adjective, and i'm sticking to it).


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04. "MONEY (THAT'S WHAT I WANT)" (1978)




This comes from the 2nd album she did in L.A with legendary Motown producer Frank Wilson. The album was called "Winner". Renée fought with Polydor Records, took the tapes back to Australia and remixed them, and the album bombed. Was it the hair ? For some reason, this track was tacked on to the end of one of her greatest hits collections, although it was not a single or a hit. I'll dig for the album. (edit : album now posted). 

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05. "THE RESTLESS YEARS" (1977)




"The Restless Years" was an appalling TV soap that was inflicted on the Australian public from 1977-81. The theme song was a candy floss drifting piano and vocal piece that run over shots of clouds, a la "Days Of Our Lives". In a strange twist of fate, the TV network paid Renée to record a slightly funky (in a "Love Boat" sorta way) version, which charted reasonably. One skip on this track.

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06. "IT'S A MAN'S MAN'S WORLD"
(Drum n Bass mix,1999)


 For her third Greatest Hits collection in 1999, her record company enlisted electronic producers to remix her songs on a bonus CD. Almost always a bad move! Have you heard the way those people murdered Curtis Mayfield's classics last year? Well anyway - I'm not a big drum'n'bass fan, but for some reason this remix by the UK duo "Pound System" grabbed me - as busy as it is, it somehow gives her voice plenty of space .. trust me on this one ...


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Please leave a comment, hope you enjoy it!

Renée Geyer Band - "Really Really Love You" (1976)

This is a live Renée Geyer album that comes between the previously-posted "Ready To Deal"(1975) and "Moving Along"(1977).

Apart from the band's own title track, and a version of the jazz standard "Masquerade", she covers contemporary soul/funk tracks by Johnny 'Guitar' Watson, the Temptations, Aretha Franklin (a duet of "It Only Happens" with Doug Williams), Sly Stone, and the Average White Band. Her cover of Watson's "Hard Head" has appeared on a few rare soul/funk compilations before.

In the "Moving Along" post I wrote about the initial perception in the USA radio market that she was an African-American singer - well, they clearly hadn't heard her speak before : her speaking voice is pure nasal Aussie suburban girl in the interactive crowd bits ...

Anyway it's her singing we're concerned with here, and this still comes from her great period. Enjoy!

TRACK LIST

01. Hard Head - 5.33 (Johnny Guitar" Watson)
02. Shakey Ground - 4.38 (Jeffrey Bowen / Edward Hazel / Al Boyd)
03. Person to Person - 4.08 (Average White Band)
04. It Only Happens (Duet with Doug Williams) - 4.18 (Mickey Denne / Ken Gold)
05. Booty - 5.06 (Sylvester Stewart)
06. Masquerade - 6.41 (Herb Magidson / Allie Wrubel)
07. Really Really Love You - 11.08 (Renée Geyer Band)

Renée Geyer Band

Renée Geyer: Vocals
John Pugh: Guitars
Mal Logan: Keyboards
Barry "Big Goose" Sullivan: Bass
Greg Tell: Drums
Russell Smith: Trumpet
Bruce Sandell: Saxophones
Miguel Carranza: Trombone
Doug Williams : backing vocals
Otis Kevinagh : backing vocals
Stanley Brown : backing vocals

CREDITS

Producers: Renée Geyer Band; Ern Rose
Engineer: Ernie Rose
Recorded at Dallas Brooks Hall, Melbourne, Australia
Cover Notes: Ian Meldrum
Cover Art / Concept: Ian McCausland & Colin Batrouney
Photography: David Parker

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Renée Geyer - "Moving Along" (1977)

This album is something of a lost gem that i'm happy to bring you.
After her domestic Australian success with the album "Ready to Deal" in 1975 (see previous post), Renée Geyer recorded a live album called "Really Really Love You", which I'll post here another time.

In 1976, she was signed to RCA and sent over to Los Angeles to record the album "Moving Along" with famed Motown producer/arranger/songwriter Frank Wilson, the writer/producer of such classics as "Love Child"/"Stoned Love" (Supremes); "Keep On Truckin' " / "Boogie Down" (Eddie Kendricks); "Chained" (Marvin Gaye) and "You've Made Me So Very Happy" (Brenda Holloway, Blood Sweat and Tears).

Wilson had just left Motown, and brought an extraordinary collection of musicians to the studio : James Jamerson, Nathan Watts (bass); Ray Parker Jr (guitar); Raymond Pounds (drums) and many others - see the full list below.

The result was this beautiful collection of sophisticated soulful ballads and slick, orchestrated funk. Geyer was at the height of her vocal powers, and Wilson's arrangements are fantastic and tight. He co-wrote a few tracks - "Stares and Whispers" is like a Diana Ross movie theme on ecstacy, and was clearly set up to be the first single. (Wilson also got Freda Payne to record it as the title track on her album later in the year). Renee co-wrote "Be There In the Morning" - an uptempo soul number more recently 'rediscovered' by influential DJ Gilles Peterson and included on a few retro comps - with the two band members she'd brought along from Australia. It was later covered by Norman Connors on "Invitation". There's the rawer, bluesy funk vocal of "Tender Hooks", the philly-meets-gospel-pop "Quicker than the Eye", and many others.

After the mix was complete, RCA shipped copies - without photos or cover imagery - to hundreds of radio stations all over the USA, trying to create a buzz around this unknown soul singer. A wide range of RnB stations jumped on it, playing many different tracks on high rotation, and particularly focusing on the re-recorded "Heading in the Right Direction", which had been a single from her previous album.

Both Geyer's biography and legend have it as follows : it became clear that everyone away from the studio and record company assumed she was a black performer. The RCA execs suggested to her that they release the album without a photo of her on the cover, wanting to capitalise on black radio's rapidly expanding attention. Geyer (whose biography is titled "A Difficult Woman") refused, insisting on marketing the album complete with a cover photograph of what she later referred to as "my big pink face". And as it came to pass, the airplay stopped as soon as the album was released, an event that Geyer would later blame on her headstrong decision in regard to her marketing. I suppose no-one can know for sure why the album suddenly disappeared from the airwaves, and how much the story has changed over time ...

Although the album was a big success back home, that was the end of Renée Geyer's international career as a lead singer. She worked for some years with Chaka Khan and others as a studio/live backing singer, then briefly formed a band called "Easy Pieces" with former members of the Average White Band (!). Her later Australian albums moved more into pop, blues, rock and even country, and she still performs occasional jazz shows, but to me this is her finest album.

Hope you enjoy it, link below!

"Moving Along" - Renée Geyer (1977), RCA

TRACKLIST
01 Heading In the Right Direction - 3.00(Mark Punch / Garry Paige)
02 Be There In the Morning - 4.27(Renée Geyer / Mal Logan / Barry Sullivan)
03 Quicker Than the Eye - 4.09(Harry Booker / Judy Wieder)
04 Tender Hooks - 4.39(Ruth Copeland / Eric Thorngren)
05 Stares And Whispers - 3.29(John Footman / Frank Wilson / Terri McFadden)
06 Just To Make Love To You - 4.44(Greg Poree / Gralin Jerald)
07 Touch - 4.52(Frank Wilson / Pam Sawyer)
08 Moving Along - 6.11(Renée Geyer / Mal Logan / Barry Sullivan / Judy Wieder)

Album Credits
Producer, Arrangements: Frank Wilson: A Spec-O-Lite ProductionEngineers: Kevin Beamish; Frank WilsonRecorded at Crystal Sound Recording, Los Angeles, CaliforniaArt Direction: Basil Pao. AGIPhotography: Norman Seef

Musician Credits

Vocals, Backing Vocals : Renée Geyer
Guitars : Ray Parker, Jr., Greg Poree, Stephen Beckmeier
Bass : James Jamerson; Nathan Watts; Barry 'Big Goose' Sullivan
Keyboards : Harry Booker; Jerry Peters; Mal Logan
Piano : Reginald Burke
Drums : Raymond Pounds
Percussion : Jack Ashford; Frederick Lewis
Background Vocals : Venetta Fields; Sherlie Matthews; Pat Henerson; Tiemeyer McCain; Otis Stokes; Frank Wilson.

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bonus : Alt version of 'Be There in the Morning" DOWNLOAD

Renée Geyer Band - 'Ready To Deal" (1975)

When I was a 13 year old boy in Sydney, Australia in 1975, I was playing guitar in a metal band, covering Deep Purple, Led Zepplin and so on. One day I heard a song called "Shining Star" by Earth, Wind and Fire on the radio, and my musical world began to shift. I taped it on a reel-to-reel tape recorder, transcribed it, and forced my teenage comrades to start to play funk songs. They hated it, and the band soon split in half.

Later that year, my older brother and I began to go into the city to see Renée Geyer, who had an amazing soulful, jazzy voice and a funky band. Smells of marijuana and patchouli oil swirled around us, and people would laugh at the "little kids" as we walked around, but I was just transfixed by the music. She'd do a song by Chaka Khan and Rufus, and the next day i'd harass the import record shop owner for a record by them. Everything had changed.

There are some great funky tracks on this album, picks are "Sweet Love", "Love's got a hold" and "Heading In the Right Direction" . Plenty of Rhodes, clav and wah-wah. Renée made a few more great 70s albums, which I'll post if the interest is there.

TRACKLIST

1 Sweet Love
2 If Loving You Is Wrong
3 Spilt Milk
4 Whoop
5 Heading In The Right Direction
6 Two Sides
7 Ready To Deal
8 Love's Got A Hold
9 I Really Love You

MUSICIANS

Vocals - Renée Geyer
Bass - Barry Sullivan
Drums, Percussion - Greg Tell
Guitar - Mark Punch
Keyboards - Mal Logan
Saxophone, Flute - Tony Buchanan
Trumpet - Russell Smith

PRODUCTION

Producer - Ern Rose , Renée Geyer Band
Released in 1975

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