WITHOUT LOVE
WHERE WOULD YOU BE NOW ?
is the third
studio album
by American
rock band
released on
March 2, 1973,
by Warner Bros. Records.
It features some of the band's
most popular songs,
including
"Long Train Runnin'",
"China Grove"
and
"Without You".
The album has been
certified
2× Platinum
by the
Recording Industry
Association of America (RIAA).
It was voted
number 835
in the third edition
of Colin Larkin's
All Time Top
1000 Albums
(2000).
Recording and Content
There was pressure on the band
to move quickly and to
save time they began
reworking old tunes.
One of Tom Johnston's songs,
"Osborn",
had been an
improvisational piece
that the band played live.
After laying down the track,
according to producer
Ted Templeman,
"We still really didn't have it,
and I said,
'Make it about a train,
since you have this thing
about
'Miss Lucy down along the track.'
So he came up with
"Long Train Runnin'."
Synthesizers and strings
were brought in to record
The Captain and Me.
Synth programmers
Malcolm Cecil
and
Robert Margouleff
were brought in
to engineer
the opening track,
"Natural Thing".
Striving for a synthesized sound
like that of
The Beatles'
"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!",
they would overdub
individual notes
to create chords
for the song's bridge.
"Dark Eyed Cajun Woman"
was a bluesy track
(one of the band's earliest)
and seen by Johnston
as a tribute to
the blues
and
B.B. King.
"Clear as the Driven Snow",
according to Johnston,
is a warning about
recreational chemical abuse,
which reflected the
band members' lifestyles
at that time.
The second side
of the album opens with
the rocker
"Without You".
This song,
like many others,
had begun as a jam. "
That song had both drummers
playing at the same time,"
Johnston stated.
"It was kind of a tribute to
The Who.
We did it in concert
for quite a while."
"South City Midnight Lady",
while being about
South San Francisco,
is not about any woman
in particular.
Jeff Baxter
of
Steely Dan
played pedal steel guitar
on the track.
He would become an
official
Doobie Brother in 1974.
Cecil and Margouleff
also added the
synthesized effect
of a
woman whispering
at the end.
Patrick Simmons'
short solo guitar piece
"Busted Down Around O'Connelly Corners"
is followed by
"Ukiah",
which Johnston wrote
in tribute to the area.
Johnston said,
"We played a few shows in Ukiah,
and I used to camp out a lot
in the area when I was
going to college."
The song's
back-to-the-land sentiments
also reflected some
of his feelings at the time,
although he admitted he
probably couldn't
make it as a farmer.
This track segues into
the album closer
and title track
, "The Captain and Me".
According to Johnston,
the captain is no one
in particular and the lyrics
were written at the
last minute and
have no real meaning.
The song was released
as a single in
the Netherlands
and received
some airplay there.
Ron Blomberg
recalled he
and Yankee captain
Thurman Munson
liking the song
for its positive message "
about people coming together
to change things for the better,"
describing the song as
having
"pretty cosmic"
words,
and named
his book
about Munson
after this song.
TRACKLIST
Long Train Runnin'
China Grove
Dark Eyed Cajun Woman
Clear As The Driven Snow
Without You
South City Midnight Lady
Evil Woman
Busted Down Around O'connely Corners
Ukiah
The Captain And Me
Black Water
(Remix)
Take Me In Your Arms
(Remix)
Listen To The Music
(Remix)
China Grove
(Remix)
Rockin' Down The Highway
(Remix)
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