Blue Mountain Eagle

You'd half expect this supergroup's self-titled debut album -- recorded at Wally Heider's recording studios in L.A. with producer Bill Halverson (Crosby, Stills & Nash, Freddie King) -- to have made a bigger splash. Unfortunately, after landing in record store bins in the spring of 1970, Blue Mountain Eagle failed to generate much interest among the audience it was intended for. The album really doesn't have a bad track (though many are largely unremarkable) and fans of bands like Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds, and the Flying Burrito Brothers -- not to mention to occasional heavy-handed vibe of bands like Steppenwolf -- are encouraged to seek out a copy. Each member of the group gets his own turn on lead vocals. The leadoff track, Joey Newman's "Love Is Here," kicks off with a nice fuzz guitar and soaring vocals, with Newman and Bob Jones trading blistering country-rock licks. "Yellow's Dream" sounds like something you'd expect to hear from Three Dog Night. Shortly after the release of this album, in May 1970, bassist Randy Fuller left the group to join Dewey Martin. Atlantic CEO (then Atco president) Ahmet Ertegun (who was reportedly a fan of Fuller's lone songwriting contribution, "Sweet Mama") tried to persuade Fuller to sign a solo deal and write songs for other Atlantic-related projects, but Fuller declined Ertegun's invitation. The rest of the band continued recording -- there are rumors of enough material for a second album -- but broke up soon thereafter, and their surviving statement as a band quickly vanished without further notice. In 2007, Blue Mountain Eagle was reissued on CD. ~ Bryan Thomas