Woman with the sweet lovin' better than a white line
This staple of classic rock radio is from Head East, a central Illinois band, and is featured on their self-produced 1974 debut album Flat as a Pancake. A&M Records discovered the album due to the success of 'Never Been Any Reason' and re-released Flat as a Pancake in 1975. By 1978, the album had be certified Gold. Head East is still in existence and frequently tours.
What's not to like about this song? You have cowbell, synthesizers, power chords, and dueling melodies, which is a basic recipe for 70s rock success. I've been a fan of 'Never Been Any Reason' for years and yesterday I discovered that the vocals in this song are not sung by a man and a woman but a man and another man. Call me a liar, but Head East has the skinny on the vocals of 'Never Been Any Reason'. I don't know about you, but my mind was blown when I made the discovery.
After writing the first two paragraphs of this blog, I had to grab my MP3 player and listen to 'Never Been Any Reason'. My ears carefully tuned in to what I always thought were the female vocals and after awhile, I could hear that it was a man with an extremely high vocal style. Amazing.
After writing the first two paragraphs of this blog, I had to grab my MP3 player and listen to 'Never Been Any Reason'. My ears carefully tuned in to what I always thought were the female vocals and after awhile, I could hear that it was a man with an extremely high vocal style. Amazing.
It's clearer on the Head East Live double album that gets chopped down into cutout bin fodder.
ReplyDeleteI always loved this song. Wish they had been able to match the success of this track.
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