Tarkio (album)
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| Tarkio | ||
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| Studio album by Brewer & Shipley | ||
| Released | 1970 | |
| Recorded | Wally Heider Studios, San Francisco | |
| Genre | Folk rock | |
| Length | 36:43 | |
| Label | Kama Sutra Records | |
| Producer(s) | Nick Gravenites | |
| Professional reviews | ||
|---|---|---|
| Brewer & Shipley chronology | ||
| Weeds (1969) |
Tarkio (1970) |
Shake Off The Demon (1971) |
Tarkio (1970), the third album released by Brewer & Shipley, was their most popular recording yielding two hit songs: "One Toke Over the Line" and "Tarkio Road".
The title came about when they left California in 1969 returning to the Midwest, this time to Kansas City, Missouri, where they played college towns in Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas. One regular gig was Tarkio College in the small town of Tarkio, Missouri and being long-hairs at that time in that place it was essential not to stop in the small towns on the way back home. They found they could just make it from Tarkio to Saint Joseph, Missouri on a single tank of gas and took to calling the route "Tarkio Road".
The catchy single, "One Toke Over the Line", peaked at #10 garnering notice from Spiro Agnew for what he saw as its subversiveness. Ironically, Lawrence Welk performed the song on his show calling it a gospel song.
The band backing Brewer & Shipley was essentially the Butterfield Blues Band. Jerry Garcia contributed a distinctive steel guitar intro to the track "Oh Mommy" which was a plea to throw Richard Nixon out of office. "Song from Platte River" laments a perceived loss of freedom suggesting that like a large river, it may be "wide and wicked", it is still the only chance for true peace. Many of their songs echo this feeling of coming oppression and desire for pastoral quiet.
[edit] Track listing
all songs Brewer & Shipley except where marked
Side A
- "One Toke Over The Line" – 3:16
- "Song from Platte River" – 3:15
- "The Light" – 3:09
- "Ruby In the Morning" – 2:15
- "Oh Mommy" – 3:03
Side B
- "Don't Want to Die in Georgia" – 3:45
- "Can't Go Home" – 2:29
- "Tarkio Road" – 4:30
- "Seems Like a Long Time" (Ted Anderson) – 4:12
- "Fifty States of Freedom" – 6:49
A CD reissue in 1996 added the following tracks
- "This Seat Occupado (Fly-Fly-Fly)" (Brewer & Shipley)
- "The Mighty Quinn" (Bob Dylan)
[edit] Personnel
- Mike Brewer - Vocals & Guitars
- Tom Shipley - Vocals & Guitars
- Mark Naftalin - Piano & Organ
- John Kahn - Bass
- Paul Butterfield & Fred Burton - Electric Guitar
- Bill Vitt & Bob Jones - Drums
- Noel Jewkes - Flute
- Jerry Garcia - Pedal Steel Guitar
