Lofgren Nils

When Nils Lofgren released his first solo album in 1975, most fans were expecting a set confirming his guitar hero status, and more than a few listeners were vocally disappointed with the more laid-back and song-oriented disc Lofgren delivered. However, with the passage of time Nils Lofgren has come to be regarded as an overlooked classic, and with good reason – Lofgren has rarely been in better form on record as a songwriter, vocalist, musician, and bandleader…

"No Mercy," with special effects recorded at Madison Square Garden, has the sentiment of Simon & Garfunkel's "The Boxer." The double entendre being the rock musician oftentimes works on the same stage as the fighter, of course, punching away in the ring of life. Nils Lofgren is a veteran who has performed with Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, and so many others, working here with producer Bob Ezrin who helped create Pink Floyd's The Wall. As with any great artist, Ezrin brings in his various contacts which color the recordings he makes, insuring a product that is as much the producer's as it is Nils Lofgren's. Dick Wagner co-wrote the hits "Only Women Bleed" and "You And Me" with Alice Cooper…

Ex Grin member Lofgren’s 1977 double live album for A&M Records. Lofgren’s stage shows were always a high point and this recording captured the moment well, featuring such favourites as ‘Keith Don’t Go’ and ‘I Came To Dance’. The album charted on both sides of the Atlantic. Up until the Covid lockdowns, Lofgren had been busy gigging and recording. Digitally remastered.

Nils Lofgren has a story unlike any other in rock & roll. Something of a teenage rock & roll prodigy, he first made waves when he played on Neil Young's After the Gold Rush at the tender age of 17, just around the time his D.C.-based band Grin relocated to Los Angeles in hopes of hitting the big time. Grin never became stars, but Lofgren did. His association with Young provided a launch pad for a solo career that was acclaimed and fitfully commercially successful, with the late-'70s albums Cry Tough, I Came to Dance, and Night After Night all making waves in album rock…

It's been a busy couple of years for rocker Nils Lofgren: between recording albums for Neil Young alongside Rick Rubin, and finishing his own new effort – Mountains – Nils recently joined Bruce Springsteen and the E Street on an extensive world tour. While his own tour to promote Mountains has been put on hold, fans won’t have to wait long to hear the new album. On Mountains, Nils moves seamlessly between bluesy and straight-ahead rockers and tender ballads as only he can, all treated with his trademark attention to sonic detail, and unmistakable vocals and guitar. Mountains contains Nils' adept story telling at its finest, with 9 brand new originals and a cover of Bruce Springsteen's 'Back In Your Arms’.

Spectrum Music, a British division of PolyGram devoted to budget-priced compilations of material from the major label's vaults, is responsible for this CD-length collection drawn from the fourth Grin album, 1973's Gone Crazy (the other three were on Spindizzy and now are owned by Sony), and bandleader Nils Lofgren's first five solo albums: Nils Lofgren (1975), Cry Tough (1976), I Came to Dance (1977), the live Night After Night (1977), and Nils (1979), all of which were released originally on A&M Records. Since no chart singles emerged from these LPs, there isn't any objective criterion for what might constitute the best of them, though a subjective consensus of Grin/Lofgren fans no doubt would agree with the inclusion of the Keith Richards tribute "Keith Don't Go (Ode to the Glimmer Twin)," "Back It Up," and "The Sun Hasn't Set on This Boy Yet," all from Nils Lofgren.

Finally available on wide release 32 years after it was a limited-edition, and much coveted, vinyl release sent to 1,000 radio stations and critics (each one with a sticker hand-glued to the cover), this 44-minute live radio station concert is half as long and more than twice as exciting as Nils Lofgren's official live concert souvenir, 1977's disappointing and bloated Night After Night. Al Kooper, who was then doing pre-production on Lofgren's second solo effort, sits in on keyboards and the stripped-down band also featuring Nils' brother Tommy on second guitar and a bassist and drummer keeps the sound lean and mean. There are only seven tracks, with five grabbed from Lofgren's then recently released debut, along with two tunes from Grin, the band he recorded four albums with that also included his brother…