The Hour Glass (album)

Infobox Album
Name = The Hour Glass
Type = Studio
Artist = The Hour Glass


Released = October 1967
Recorded = June-August 1967
Genre = Soul, Rock and Roll, Pop
Length = 31:53 (1967 release) /
51:59 (1992 re-release)
Label = Liberty Records
Producer = Dallas Smith
Reviews = 4/5 [http://wc05.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:gbfrxqy5ldte]
Last album =
This album = The Hour Glass
(1967)
Next album = Power of Love
(1968)

"The Hour Glass" was the debut record by the group of the same name, issued in October 1967 on Liberty Records, the first of two by the group that featured the namesakes of The Allman Brothers Band.

The album was recorded by a group saddled by a producer unable to quite realize the group's potential. Dallas Smith, a formulaic producer noted for his work with Bobby Vee, knew the group was from the South. He knew they had formed from the ashes of groups that had performed liberal amounts of blues covers. And he heard soulful qualities in the voice of nineteen-year-old Gregg Allman. Therefore, he referred to them as a "Motown band", much to the chagrin of the group [1] . "The Hour Glass" was recorded with an emphasis on lead vocalist Gregg Allman's voice and dispensing with nearly all original material. Of the eleven tracks on the original LP, only one was penned by a group member, Gregg Allman's "Got To Get Away". The remaining ten were written by songwriters running the gamut from Curtis Mayfield and Jackson Browne to Del Shannon and the Goffin-King team. The Hour Glass performed the basic tracks, which were overdubbed by Smith with layers of vocals and instrumentation.

The album was a failure in both sales terms and in properly showcasing the group. On the follow-up, 1968's "Power of Love", the group would be given a bigger role in the making of the album.

The album is currently available on the "Hour Glass" anthology. The 1992 reissue on EMI, rife with bonus tracks, has fallen out of print, the bonus tracks now available on the 2004 album "Southbound".

Track listing

# "Out of the Night" (Alex Moore and Bob Welch) - 1:57
# "Nothing But Tears" (Jimmy Radcliffe and B. J. Scott) - 2:28
# "Love Makes the World Go 'Round" (Deon Jackson) - 2:42
# "Cast off All My Fears" (Jackson Browne) - 3:31
# "I've Been Trying" (Curtis Mayfield) - 2:40
# "No Easy Way Down" (Gerry Goffin and Carole King) - 3:20
# "Heartbeat" (Ed Cobb) - 4:52
# "So Much Love" (Gerry Goffin and Carole King) - 2:57
# "Got to Get Away" (Gregg Allman) - 2:14
# "Silently" (Dan Bourgoise and Del Shannon) - 2:48
# "Bells" (Edgar Allan Poe, arr. Peter Alin) - 2:24
# "In a Time" (Paul Hornsby) - 2:17
# "I've Been Trying" (alternate version) (Curtis Mayfield) - 2:35
# "Kind of a Man" (Composer Unknown) - 3:07
# "D-I-V-O-R-C-E" (Bobby Braddock and Curly Putman) - 3:12
# "She Is My Woman" (Composer Unknown) - 2:38
# "Bad Dream" (Gregg Allman) - 3:37
# "Three Time Loser" (Don Covay-Ronald Miller) - 2:40

*Tracks 1-11 constitute the original album.
*Tracks 12-13 are outtakes from the album.
*Tracks 14-18 are tracks from aborted 1968 and 1969 sessions by Gregg Allman (present on 1992 re-release only).

References

*"Skydog: The Duane Allman Story" by Randy Poe, pp 42-43.

Personnel

* Gregg Allman – organ, piano, vocal
* Duane Allman – guitars, vocal (tracks 1-13)
* Paul Hornsby – piano, organ, vocal (tracks 1-13)
* Johnny Sandlin – drums (tracks 1-13)
* Mabron McKinney – bass (tracks 1-13)
* Several unknown studio musicians on horns, guitars, backing vocals, drums, bass, banjo, keyboards and percussion