Gunhill Road - Gunhill Road (Reissue) (1972/2011)

The people who bought the Gunhill Road album for the novelty hit "Back When My Hair Was Short" probably got quite a surprise when they got home and slapped the thing on the turntable. Instead of a collection of comic tunes, they were now the proud owners of a collection of mellow, introspective pop songs -- and of course, one lightly comic number. They probably got their money's worth, because the material and performances here are really good. Lead singer Glenn Leopold had a warm baritone voice and a distinctive singing style, and the rest of the band supported him with tasteful backup vocals. Cuts like "Sag Harbor" and "Callin' Atlanta" have gorgeous harmonies and hook-laden, acoustic-tinged backups. Producer Kenny Rogers brought out crack session musicians for support on this job, and the resulting recording is many-layered and interesting without being overly slick. Those who did buy the album because they liked the single got another kind of surprise: the album version of the song has drug references in the lyrics that were cut out of the single in order to get more radio airplay. The single version of "Back When My Hair Was Short" squeaked into the Top 40 in 1973 and continued to receive occasional rotation on oldies radio stations and on the Dr. Demento show. Two other singles were released, but to no purpose, and the band never followed up the album.