[go: up one dir, main page]

Graham Central Station (album): Difference between revisions

Content deleted Content added
Covers and samples: title of sampled song was incorrect, grammar was wonky
top: Redundant. Anyone who can read can see that it's self-titled. See WP:TITULAR.
 
(20 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown)
Line 8:
| recorded = 1973–1974
| venue =
| studio = {{hlist|[[Wally Heider Studios|Wally Heider]] (San Francisco)|[[Record Plant]] ([[Sausalito, California|Sausalito]])|Warner Bros. Studios (North Hollywood)}}
| studio =
| genre = [[Funk music|Funk]]
| length = 38:23
Line 19:
}}
 
'''''Graham Central Station''''' is the self-titled debut album by former [[Sly and the Family Stone]] bass player [[Larry Graham]]'s new band, "[[Graham Central Station]]".
 
==Background==
 
In late 1972, [[Larry Graham]] quit [[Sly and the Family Stone]] because of tensiontensions between Larry andwith group leader [[Sly Stone]]. After agreeing to produce a band named Hot Chocolate (not to be confused with British pop band [[Hot Chocolate (band)|Hot Chocolate]]), he decided to join the band and renamed them [[Graham Central Station]] in 1973.
 
==Album cover==
The cover photo was taken at the [[Third and Townsend Depot|Third and Townsend Southern Pacific Depot]] in San Francisco.<ref>http://www.musicalmaps.com.au/search/label/selftitledalbumgrahamcentralstation</ref> The station was demolished shortly afterward from 1975—1976.
 
==Reception==
Line 31 ⟶ 34:
}}
 
Released in 1974, the album peaked at number twenty on the [[Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums|Billboard Top Soul Albums]] charts while the single, "Can You Handle It?" peaked at #9 on the [[Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs|Billboard Soul Singles]] chart.
 
In his review for Allmusic, Donald A. Guarisco called the track "Hair" "pure magic," adding that it "wraps a clever lyric about tolerance around a huge groove driven by one of Graham's serpentine basslines." He also called out "Can You Handle It?" as another highlight and credited "Ain’t No Fun to Me" and "We Be's Gettin' Down" with making the album "equal parts pop-soul and funk" respectively, but determined overall the lyrics on some songs to be rather underdeveloped and that "casual listeners" may want to pick up the album's best songs on a compilation. <ref>https://www.allmusic.com/album/graham-central-station-mw0000186103</ref>
 
=="Hair"==
While not released as a single, the track "Hair" went on to become one of Graham's most popular compositions among fans. Graham has said that like many of his songs, it was built around the bassline, which opens the track.
 
In a 1995 interview, Graham said of the song's origins;
<blockquote>"Hair. I got into that song because people used to really ask me everywhere; 'Is that really all your hair?' Because I had this hair that was like...BOOM. I mean it was like...you know, hanging down, big 'fro—super 'fro. And people would literally ask me, so that's why I wrote the song.<ref>https://openvault.wgbh.org/catalog/V_4AC9B8BDAC7C4A06969E0B77EE36C809#at_187.596_s</ref></blockquote>
 
==Covers and samples==
Line 85 ⟶ 96:
===Musicians===
;Graham Central Station
*Larry Graham – bass (except track 1), fuzz bass (tracks 3 and 7), guitar (tracks 3, 4, and 6), piano (tracks 5, Clavinet8, and 9), [[clavinet]] (tracks 4, 8, and 9), organ (track 4), drums (tracks 5, 8, and 9), percussion (track 5), lead vocals (tracks 2, 3, and backing6), vocals (tracks 1, 5, 7, and 9), and background vocals (track 4), horn arrangements
*Patryce "Chocolate" Banks – electric funk box (tracks 2, 3, and 6—8), background vocals (tracks 2—4 and 6—8), lead vocals (tracks 4 and 8), vocals (track 1, 5, and 9)
*Hershall "Happiness" Kennedy – [[clavinet]], trumpet
*Hershall "Happiness" Kennedy – clavinet and trumpet (tracks 2, 3, 6, and 7), organ (track 8), background vocals (tracks 2, 3, 7), vocals (track 1)
*Willie "Wild" Sparks – drums
*Robert "Butch" Sam – piano (tracks 2), organ (tracks 2, 3, 6, 7, and 9), background vocals (tracks 2, 3, 6, 7), vocals (track 1)
*David "Dynamite" Vega – guitar
*Willie "Wild" Sparks – drums (tracks 2—4, 6, and 7), vocals (track 1)
*Robert "Butch" Sam – piano, organ
*David "Dynamite" Vega – guitar (tracks 2, 3, 6—8), vocals (track 1)
*Patryce "Choc'Let" Banks – vocals, drum programming, electric funk box
with:
*[[Freddie Stone]] – guitar on(track "Tell Me What It Is"5)
*Pascal Caboose - tenor saxophone on(tracks "It Ain't No Fun to Me"2, "Hair"3, "Can You Handle It?"6, and "People"7)
*[[Milt Holland]] – percussion on(track "We Be's Gettin' Down"4)
*[[Lenny Williams]] – vocals on(tracks "Tell Me What It Is"5 and "Ghetto"9)
*[[Clarence McDonald]] – string arrangements
 
===Technical===
*Steve Barncard, [[Donn Landee]], Mallory Earl, Tom Flye - engineer
*[[Donn Landee]] – engineer
*Mike Salisbury - cover design
*[[HerbMallory Greene]]Earlphotographyengineer
*Tom Flye – engineer, mixed by
*Lee Herschberg – mixed by
*Tom Anderson – assistant engineer
*Steve Jarvis – assistant engineer
*Trudy Portch – production coordination
*[[Herb Greene (photographer)|Herb Greene]] – photography
*Mike Salisbury - cover design
 
==Charts==