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The failure of Grin to sell large numbers of records in the early '70s is one of those mysteries of popular music. They seemed to have everything, all in the person of leader Nils Lofgren, an accomplished guitarist and songwriter with a connection to the CSNY axis who had played on Neil Young's After the Gold Rush when he was only 18-years-old. He was still under 21 when the first self-titled Grin album was released in 1971. Maybe his youth had something to do with the band's limited commercial success; he often let other band members take lead vocals on the songs he wrote, preferring a group context that sometimes hid his talents. Nevertheless, the band's albums garnered good reviews and the first three (of four) made the charts, with "White Lies" charting as a single. Those albums were stylistically diverse and somewhat uneven, but contained catchy pop/rock songs ("Like Rain," "Love or Else," "Sad Letter"), any one of which could have changed Grin's story with the right promotion. This well-chosen best-of (actually the second one, following a 1976 LP, despite a sticker on the CD proclaiming "1st-Ever GRIN 'Best-Of' Collection!"), containing a couple of previously unreleased tracks and a non-LP B-side, accurately portrays the band's pop-folk-rock-country sound, from "Everybody's Missin' the Sun" (which could have fit on After the Gold Rush easily) to "You're the Weight," from the band's 1973 swan song Gone Crazy, licensed from A&M Records. Lofgren, of course, went on to a more successful solo career from the mid-'70s to the mid-'80s before becoming "the most overqualified second guitarist in rock" in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, as Springsteen himself put it. But the work of Grin is more than juvenilia: In the early '70s, it was good enough to make fans frustrated that the band didn't get more of a hearing. And it sounds just as good more than 25 years later.
© William Ruhlmann /TiVo
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Grin, Associated Performer, Main Artist, Associated Performer - David Briggs, Producer - Nils Lofgren, Accordion, Guitar, Keyboards - N. Lofgren, Composer, Lyricist - Bob Gordon, Bass - Bruce Dickinson, Producer - Steve Berkowitz - Tom Lofgren, Guitar
Originally released 1971. All rights reserved by Columbia Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment
Grin, Associated Performer, Main Artist, Associated Performer - David Briggs, Producer - Nils Lofgren, Accordion, Guitar, Keyboards - N. Lofgren, Composer, Lyricist - Bob Gordon, Bass - Bruce Dickinson, Producer - Steve Berkowitz - Tom Lofgren, Guitar
Originally released 1971. All rights reserved by Columbia Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment
Grin, Associated Performer, Main Artist, Associated Performer - N. Lofgren, Composer, Lyricist - Nils Lofgren, Accordion, Guitar, Keyboards - Bob Gordon, Bass - Tom Lofgren, Guitar - David Briggs, Producer - Bruce Dickinson, Producer - Steve Berkowitz
Originally released 1971. All rights reserved by Columbia Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment
Grin, Associated Performer, Main Artist, Associated Performer - David Briggs, Producer - Nils Lofgren, Accordion, Guitar, Keyboards - N. Lofgren, Composer, Lyricist - Bob Gordon, Bass - Bruce Dickinson, Producer - Steve Berkowitz - Tom Lofgren, Guitar
Originally released 1971. All rights reserved by Columbia Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment
Grin, Associated Performer, Main Artist, Associated Performer - David Briggs, Producer - Nils Lofgren, Accordion, Guitar, Keyboards - N. Lofgren, Composer, Lyricist - Bob Gordon, Bass - Bruce Dickinson, Producer - Steve Berkowitz - Tom Lofgren, Guitar
Originally released 1971. All rights reserved by Columbia Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment
Grin, Associated Performer, Main Artist, Associated Performer - David Briggs, Producer - Nils Lofgren, Accordion, Guitar, Keyboards - N. Lofgren, Composer, Lyricist - Bob Gordon, Bass - Bruce Dickinson, Producer - Steve Berkowitz - Tom Lofgren, Guitar
Originally released 1971. All rights reserved by Columbia Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment
Nils Lofgren, Accordion, Associated Performer, Guitar, Keyboards, Main Artist, Accordion, Associated Performer, Guitar, Keyboards - Grin, Associated Performer, Main Artist, Associated Performer - N. Lofgren, Composer, Lyricist - Bob Gordon, Bass - Tom Lofgren, Guitar - David Briggs, Producer - Bruce Dickinson, Producer - Steve Berkowitz
(P) 1972 Sony Music Entertainment
Nils Lofgren, Accordion, Associated Performer, Guitar, Keyboards, Main Artist, Accordion, Associated Performer, Guitar, Keyboards - Grin, Associated Performer, Main Artist, Associated Performer - David Briggs, Producer - N. Lofgren, Composer, Lyricist - Bob Gordon, Bass - Bruce Dickinson, Producer - Steve Berkowitz - Tom Lofgren, Guitar
(P) 1972 Sony Music Entertainment
Nils Lofgren, Accordion, Associated Performer, Guitar, Keyboards, Main Artist, Accordion, Associated Performer, Guitar, Keyboards - Grin, Associated Performer, Main Artist, Associated Performer - David Briggs, Producer - N. Lofgren, Composer, Lyricist - Bob Gordon, Bass - Bruce Dickinson, Producer - Steve Berkowitz - Tom Lofgren, Guitar
(P) 1972 Sony Music Entertainment
Nils Lofgren, Accordion, Associated Performer, Guitar, Keyboards, Main Artist, Accordion, Associated Performer, Guitar, Keyboards - Grin, Associated Performer, Main Artist, Associated Performer - David Briggs, Producer - N. Lofgren, Composer, Lyricist - Bob Gordon, Bass - Bruce Dickinson, Producer - Steve Berkowitz - Tom Lofgren, Guitar
(P) 1972 Sony Music Entertainment
Nils Lofgren, Accordion, Associated Performer, Guitar, Keyboards, Main Artist, Accordion, Associated Performer, Guitar, Keyboards - Grin, Associated Performer, Main Artist, Associated Performer - David Briggs, Producer - N. Lofgren, Composer, Lyricist - Bob Gordon, Bass - Bruce Dickinson, Producer - Steve Berkowitz - Tom Lofgren, Guitar
(P) 1972 Sony Music Entertainment
Nils Lofgren, Accordion, Associated Performer, Guitar, Keyboards, Main Artist, Accordion, Associated Performer, Guitar, Keyboards - Grin, Associated Performer, Main Artist, Associated Performer - David Briggs, Producer - N. Lofgren, Composer, Lyricist - Bob Gordon, Bass - Bruce Dickinson, Producer - Steve Berkowitz - Tom Lofgren, Guitar
(P) 1972 Sony Music Entertainment
Grin, Associated Performer, Main Artist, Associated Performer - David Briggs, Producer - Nils Lofgren, Accordion, Guitar, Keyboards - N. Lofgren, Composer, Lyricist - Bob Gordon, Bass - Bruce Dickinson, Producer - Steve Berkowitz - Tom Lofgren, Guitar
(P) 1972 Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
Grin, Associated Performer, Main Artist, Associated Performer - Nils Lofgren, Accordion, Composer, Guitar, Keyboards, Lyricist - David Briggs, Producer - Steve Berkowitz - Bob Gordon, Bass - Tom Lofgren, Guitar
(P) 1972 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
Grin, Associated Performer, Main Artist, Associated Performer - David Briggs, Producer - Nils Lofgren, Accordion, Composer, Guitar, Keyboards, Lyricist - Steve Berkowitz - Bob Gordon, Bass - Tom Lofgren, Guitar
(P) 1972 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
Grin, Associated Performer, Main Artist, Associated Performer - Nils Lofgren, Accordion, Composer, Guitar, Keyboards, Lyricist - David Briggs, Producer - Steve Berkowitz - Bob Gordon, Bass - Tom Lofgren, Guitar
(P) 1972 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
Grin, Associated Performer, Main Artist, Associated Performer - Nils Lofgren, Accordion, Composer, Guitar, Keyboards, Lyricist - David Briggs, Producer - Steve Berkowitz - Bob Gordon, Bass - Tom Lofgren, Guitar
(P) 1972 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
Grin, Associated Performer, Main Artist, Associated Performer - Nils Lofgren, Accordion, Composer, Guitar, Keyboards, Lyricist - David Briggs, Producer - Steve Berkowitz - Bob Gordon, Bass - Tom Lofgren, Guitar
(P) 1972 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT
Album review
The failure of Grin to sell large numbers of records in the early '70s is one of those mysteries of popular music. They seemed to have everything, all in the person of leader Nils Lofgren, an accomplished guitarist and songwriter with a connection to the CSNY axis who had played on Neil Young's After the Gold Rush when he was only 18-years-old. He was still under 21 when the first self-titled Grin album was released in 1971. Maybe his youth had something to do with the band's limited commercial success; he often let other band members take lead vocals on the songs he wrote, preferring a group context that sometimes hid his talents. Nevertheless, the band's albums garnered good reviews and the first three (of four) made the charts, with "White Lies" charting as a single. Those albums were stylistically diverse and somewhat uneven, but contained catchy pop/rock songs ("Like Rain," "Love or Else," "Sad Letter"), any one of which could have changed Grin's story with the right promotion. This well-chosen best-of (actually the second one, following a 1976 LP, despite a sticker on the CD proclaiming "1st-Ever GRIN 'Best-Of' Collection!"), containing a couple of previously unreleased tracks and a non-LP B-side, accurately portrays the band's pop-folk-rock-country sound, from "Everybody's Missin' the Sun" (which could have fit on After the Gold Rush easily) to "You're the Weight," from the band's 1973 swan song Gone Crazy, licensed from A&M Records. Lofgren, of course, went on to a more successful solo career from the mid-'70s to the mid-'80s before becoming "the most overqualified second guitarist in rock" in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, as Springsteen himself put it. But the work of Grin is more than juvenilia: In the early '70s, it was good enough to make fans frustrated that the band didn't get more of a hearing. And it sounds just as good more than 25 years later.
© William Ruhlmann /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 19 track(s)
- Total length: 01:04:13
- Main artists: Grin
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: Epic - Associated - Legacy
- Genre: Pop/Rock Rock
(P) 1974 A&M Records, Inc., Originally Recorded 1971, Originally Released 1971 Sony Music Entertainment Inc., (P) 1972, 1999 Sony Music Entertainment Inc.
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