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Native Sons by Loggins and Messina (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Native Sons
  • Group name: Loggins and Messina
  • Year: 1976
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Columbia Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Distinguishing characteristics:
    • Stamped on back of album: DEMONSTRATION / Not For Sale
    • Scratched into side 1 of LP: PAL – 33578 – 1D Az
    • Scratched into side 2 of LP: PBL – 33578 – 1D Az
  • Buy it on Amazon: $5.80

Native Sons by Loggins and Messina

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve never heard of this record, but I’ve built up a pretty solid familiarity with Loggins and Messina, having reviewed four of their other records:

What I expected

Country, soft rock.

What it was actually like

This was a weird one.

The first track, Sweet Marie was a funk song with a very jazzy sound, and I thought that maybe the whole record would be the same way, since it was from 1976. There was nothing funk about the rest of it, however, and the only other time I thought of 1976 was at the beginning of It’s Alright, which started with flute and a mashup of someone reading the preamble to the Constitution and the end of the Declaration of Independence. That song had some pretty distressing lyrics, and a violin solo.

Pretty Princess and Wasting Our Time were both pretty bad soft rock songs, the former with a terrible saxophone solo. No saxophone solo, however, could possibly have been as bad as the one on Native Son, the worst song – so bad that they actually named the record after it – largely filler crap and literally Kenny G. level of awful.

My Lady, My Love had country style vocals and some kind of classical or Spanish guitar and violin, which was somewhat interesting.

Peacemaker had some more flute and more violin, with a good lively tempo, and what sounded like xylophone, or some kind of bells.

Boogie Man was actually a boogie woogie song! It was the best on the record.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

Mother Lode by Loggins and Messina (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Mother Lode
  • Group name: Loggins and Messina
  • Year: 1974
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Columbia Records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Distinguishing characteristics:
    • Top right corner of album is clipped
    • Sticker on front of album: track list with “Columbia Records / Demonstration / Not For Sale”
    • Printed on both sides of LP: “DEMONSTRATION / NOT FOR SALE”
  • Buy it on Amazon: $95.55

Mother Lode by Loggins and Messina

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve never heard this record before, but I’ve previously reviewed three from Loggins and Messina:

What I expected

Country, rock, maybe blues.

What it was actually like

This was pretty bad!

Growin’ was country, with a tiny bit of disco, but also horns.

Be Free had kind of a folk or traditional sound, with flute, and some jingle bells, and country fiddle.

Changes was a solid country rock song, and probably the best on the record, but the verses were far better than the chorus.

Brighter Days and Fever Dream were both easy listening, with the latter squeezing in all kinds of other genres and instruments.

Time to Space had a terrible saxophone part, and actually I almost stopped listening right at that moment, but then it started with the funk bass and bongo drums, which was so weird.

Lately My Love sounded like it had steel drums and was trying to evoke a Caribbean sound, but did a really awful job at it. By the way, what was it with lots of bands all trying to do that around the mid 1970s? Were they just responding to the popularity of reggae?

Move On had a horrible saxophone solo.

Grade

2/5: bad, but I was able to listen to the whole thing

Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina Sittin’ In by Loggins and Messina (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina Sittin’ In
  • Group name: Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina
  • Year: 1971
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: Columbia Records
  • Collection: Brenner / Gessner
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “G” written inside album sleeve, indicating that my father owned it
  • Buy it on Amazon: $27.99

Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina Sittin' In

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’m not familiar with this record, but I’ve previously reviewed two by Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina:

What I expected

Folk rock, country rock.

What it was actually like

Several songs on this record were also on On Stage, such as the famous Danny’s Song. The version on Sittin’ In was the version that I remembered, folk style with two guitars and vocals, and later with piano and violin.

Vahevala was nowhere near as dumb on this record as it was before; it helped that it was far shorter. The steel drums were way too much, though, and not even good.

Listen to a Country Song was one that I liked a lot from On Stage, and it was great here as well, especially its fiddle solo.

Of Trilogy‘s three parts, the first (Lovin’ Me) and third (Peace of Mind) were pretty boring filler material, with the latter including a pretty lame attempt at soul. I liked the second (To Make a Woman Feel Wanted) better, though. It was blues and country with honky tonk piano, but unfortunately they still couldn’t lose the damn saxophone.

Speaking of unnecessary saxophone, Back to Georgia started out as a country rock song with piano that was not good, but then started to get much better – until the saxophone made its appearance, and in this case it was actually worse, because the track had two different saxophones and my living room has surround sound, so they were coming at me from both directions!

And Nobody But You, a rock song with harmonized country-sounding vocals, some piano and a good tempo, was also diminished by the saxophone.

What was it with these guys and the saxophone? When reviewing their (later) record Loggins and Messina, I wrote:

I want to stress that rock musicians really need to avoid using saxophone in their music. If you’re Charlie Parker, I want to hear your saxophone part, but in rock I just don’t think there’s a lot of use for it.

And I wish someone had given them that message 50 years ago.

Anyway, Rock ‘n’ Roll Mood was not very rock ‘n’ roll to me. House at Pooh Corner was an acoustic folk-style song about Winnie the Pooh. Same Old Wine was very slow, blues style but rather boring, though the harmonica was fine – and at eight minutes and 17 seconds, twice as long as it needed to be.

Grade

3/5: interesting, but not for me

On Stage by Loggins and Messina (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: On Stage
  • Group name: Loggins and Messina
  • Year: 1974
  • Number of discs: two
  • Label: Columbia records
  • Collection: Selman
  • Distinguishing characteristics: “PROMOTION RECORD NOT FOR SALE” stamped in red on back of album
  • Buy it on Amazon: $2.50

On Stage by Loggins and Messina

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I don’t know very much about Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina, but I listened to Loggins and Messina a few months ago, and wasn’t that into it.

What I expected

On Stage is clearly a live record, so I hope it won’t have some of the things that I disliked about Loggins and Messina.

What it was actually like

On Stage got off to a bit of a slow start, but I definitely recognized Danny’s Song, though I had no idea that it was a Loggins and Messina song. I always thought of it as a kind of campfire type song, without ever stopping to wonder who had written it. The version on this record wasn’t the best, but I was happy to hear it.

The aptly titled Listen to a Country Song was great – very lively and catchy, and I loved the fiddle in it, and though there was at least a bit of country sound throughout the whole record, that track kicked off a stretch that consisted of country songs, through Holiday Hotel and to the next side, where Just Before the News was more of a bluegrass song that was also excellent.

Similarly, Your Mama Don’t Dance was another song that I loved – kind of a rockabilly thing, and the saxophone didn’t even bother me, though I still think that part should have been a guitar part.

On the other hand, several parts of On Stage were rather boring, and those parts tended to be where they used the horns section the most, such as Golden Ribbons and Back to Georgia, as well as parts of Trilogy. It wasn’t as corny on this record as when some other musicians have done it, however.

Angry Eyes was a really excellent rock jam that was a high point on the record.

Vahevala, which was 21 minutes long and took up the entire third side, had a lot going on: rock, country, a strong and prominent bass line, guitar solos, great percussion, flute. Parts of it were pretty dancey and I could definitely imagine this being a hit with concert audiences. Towards the end it tapered off, slowed down and got very tiresome, with seagull noises and other sound effects. Then it picked back up, but there was way too much horns at the very end.

Overall, I was extremely pleasantly surprised by On Stage!

Grade

4/5: would listen again

Loggins and Messina by Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina (Vinyl record album review)

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Record basics

  • Album name: Loggins and Messina
  • Group name: Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina
  • Year: 1972
  • Number of discs: one
  • Label: CBS
  • Collection: Selman
  • Distinguishing characteristics:
    • “PC 31748” sticker on front
    • “DEMONSTRATION / Not For Sale” stamped on back
  • Buy it:

Loggins and Messina by Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I’ve heard of both Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina, but I don’t know much about either or both of them.

What I expected

I think Kenny Loggins is a country musician, but in all fairness, I might have conflated him with Kenny Rogers.

What it was actually like

Lady Of My Heart must have been one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard, and I couldn’t make any sense of how or why it got included on this record. It was sort of an approximation of jazzy lounge music, but just really bad, with even bad vocals. I think it must have been a joke or a dare.

Till the Ends Meet was also pretty boring. Holiday Hotel was lively and I enjoyed it, and Just Before the News was bluegrass-inspired and pretty good. Your Mama Don’t Dance was a decent bluesy rock song.

Angry Eyes had a saxophone, and I want to stress that rock musicians really need to avoid using saxophone in their music. If you’re Charlie Parker, I want to hear your saxophone part, but in rock I just don’t think there’s a lot of use for it. The same song also had a flute part and I’m maybe slightly more forgiving of flute being used in rock music, if only because it’s so uncommon, but there’s a simple standard that I would apply: are you Jethro Tull? Are you better than Jethro Tull, or engaged in a serious attempt to do something that Jethro Tull hasn’t done or can’t do? If you answer no to all of those questions, then you probably should leave the flute out of your rock song. Anyway, the vocals at the end of this song sounded like they were trying to channel Crosby, Stills and Nash (and maybe Young), and they weren’t half bad at it, so that was nice.

Grade

2/5: weak, but I was able to listen to the whole thing