Gladstone were the Gladstone Brothers, Terry and Tommy, who joined the Duck's Neck, CT, Mariachi Marching Band before hitting their teens. "We hit plenty teens later," laughs Terry. "The Regulars was Duck's Neck's only garage band. We actually played the filling station." Tommy concurs - "We'd set up by the pumps, and it was like, dollar gas, check the oil, wipe the windows and a medley of Yardbird hits."
One of the customers turned out to be Earl "The Duke" Gunkelfinger, owner of the local radio station W-ANK. He saw promise in the boys and drew up contracts that netted him 115% of their earnings. "He said 15% was standard industry practice," laments Terry today. "We didn't know what per was - we were dumb kids who missed school to play in a band."
The band broke up after Gunkelfinger was arrested for burning down the Duck's Neck Grain And Feed Hall during a Battle Of The Bands.
"Then we took a Country Rock correspondence course and everything got good for a while," Tommy smiles. The brothers now own and license Koyne-Klene©, the successful coin-operated coin-cleaning franchise.
Is there any link on ? checking every words every point find nothing. i still own the first lp with a 60s/70s US hard cover sleeve and remember how pleasant this music was.
ReplyDeleteThere's an annoying Stealth Link™ right in this comment somewhere. Trouble finding Stealth Links? If I made it easy they wouldn't be hard to find, would they? I'd have to call them EasyLinks. Where's the fun in that?
ReplyDelete'
Once things start to heat up, like when & if Summer arrives, you will have to try to appease the thronging (if not thonging) masses by calling them HotLinks. Either that or ConeyIslandRedHotLinksThatGiveYouATummyAche.
DeleteAt least one of those has a snappy rolls-off-the-tongue je ne sais quoi, like a flaming hot beach bonfire-roasted treat in the company of the 4-or-5 who have roused from their deep sleep in one of the Isle's cabanas.
Thanks Farquhar just i would to know before your answer at this point there is not link ?
DeleteFranck, link is tiny blue dot above the "R" of "Reply" in the comment above (May 27, 2020 at 5:12 PM)
DeleteNext time you're on your own!
I bought this record a few months ago and loved it. It was issued in Argentina with a different title and cover:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.discogs.com/Gladstone-Gladstone/release/13106543
Pretty solid album don't you think?
Ah, Gladstone, one of the great also rans of 70s country rock. Popular locally, but never able to make it nationwide, much less internationally. Not for a lack of quality. "A Piece of Paper" is one of those songs that should have been a big hit, not just a local turntable favorite. And if America could get airplay and gold albums, why would a ballad like "Lady Eyes" not do the same?
ReplyDeleteAdmittedly, the cow cover of the first and best album didn't help, so they brought this out with them sitting in front of a country house. The second album is nice, but pretty unremarkable.
Still, very well worth checking out.
Agreed.
DeleteI hadn't heard Gladstone, until this morning.
Someone at ABC Records really dropped the ball on Gladstone.
My grandmother (Nonna Marie) on my father's side, who was from Catania in Sicily, and spoke broken English, once told my sister and I: "Asparagus makes your pee taste bad." She called soccer "Calcio".
I have always hated asparagus. I eat almost all of my vegetables, but not that.
DeleteSpeaking of alternative covers, I've only seen the second album with the goofy brothers in a not too flattering portrait on it, this one with the cute hippie chick is much better!
ReplyDeleteI don't think an "Act of God" could have gave those two, a flattering look.
DeleteThey really, really had a problem with album covers, and I reckon that's a major factor in their relative lack of success. I couldn't bear to look at the cover to the second album - not even a peek - so made this replacement myself out of ordinary household items found in an ordinary household.
DeleteI actually interviewed the lead singer for this band back in the 1970s while attending North Texas State University. I need to find my copies of their LPs and maybe even the piece that ran in the North Texas Daily. Thanks for dishing up a really unexpected memory -- Marietta Station! And thanks for the stealth link. Am looking forward to listening again. As I recall, they were actually quite good.
ReplyDeleteDid some digging and discovered my memory is better than I expected. I thought the name of the guy I interviewed was "Doug" something. Yep, Doug Rhone and his bandmate was H.L. Voelker. Apparently they ended up permanent fixtures in Neil Diamond's band. And I have to agree that "A Piece Of Paper" is a mighty fine song which deserved to be a big hit. Thanks again for unexpectedly opening up the memory floodgate. Life is full of surprises. (Anonymous @ 11:26 above)
ReplyDeleteI always appreciate the "two cheers' for most of the albums I post here. The mild surprise that the Foam-O-Graph™ actually plays some good records.
ReplyDelete