Crow - Crow Music
1969
Amaret ST5002
Tracks:
A1 Evil Woman
A2 White Eyes
A3 Thoughts
A4 Da Da Song
A5 Busy Day
B1 Time to Make a Turn
B2 Rollin'
B3 Listen to the Bop (Dedicated to Chuck Berry)
B4 Gonna Leave a Mark
B5 Sleepy Woman
History
Crow was formed in 1967 by singer Dave Wagner, guitarist Dick Wiegand, bassist Larry Wiegand, keyboardist Kink Middlemist, and drummer Harry Nehls under the name South 40, which was used until the group went national. Nehls was replaced by Denny Craswell once the group went national. Columbia Records brought them in to record a demo in 1969; they passed, and Crow was signed to Amaret.
In 1969, Crow’s debut album Crow Music was recorded. The single "Evil Woman (Don’t Play Your Games With Me)" made the Billboard Hot 100 Top 20 that fall. “Crow by Crow” and “Mosaic” were the follow-up releases in 1970 and 1971 respectively. Singles released off Crow’s later albums were not as successful; the band wanted to move to Elektra Records, but Amaret wouldn’t let them out of their contract while retaining their name. Wagner left the group in 1971; the band replaced him with Mick Stanhope and attempted to move forward, but collapsed for good in 1972.
[quote]I think it is a damn shame that not much is out there on the net for Minnesota bands such as CROW. Without a doubt they were a great band. It would be hard to beat Crow for good old biker/garage rock! Great for parties! Well, I am gonna do my small part to correcting that oversite.
Dave Waggoner (Wagner) had a hell of a distinctive voice. You could almost instantly identify a Crow song, thanks to Dave. Also, they had that dueling (Kink's) keyboards vs (Dick's) fine guitar work that I love so much, even to this day. Larry's great bass lines were mixed louder then most records from that era.They were one of the best Midwest 70's bands, any way you cut it.
How many of you knew that Mark "Chico" Perez (of Gypsy) played percussion on Crow records?? There is another common point, Crow & Gypsy both were courted by small labels and a big one, Atlantic. Both selected the small record label, and lived to regret it.
Not many Minnesota bands had any national attention before Prince. Some that did:
Crow, Gypsy, Castaways (Liar, Liar), Gestures (Run, Run, Run), & (of course) the Trashmen (Surfin' Bird).
Prior to Crow, the band was known as South 40, and one live LP was released by them: "South 40 Live At Someplace Else!"
(Metrobeat MBS-1000). This LP contains the songs "Fire", "You Keep Me Hangin' On", "Get Out Of My Life Woman", "99 1/2", among others.
http://www.midwesttribute.com/crow.html
More reading:
[url]http://www.thecrowband.com/history.htm[/url]
Wiki:
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crow_(band)[/url]
Amaret Page:
[url]http://www.bsnpubs.com/mgm/amaret.html[/url]
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