Russ Ballard...No Favor
Posted on: 05/19/2020 02:39 PM
Personally, I don't think Russ Ballard did himself nor us any favor by singing THIS SONG even though I have several of his albums and like many of his other songs.
Re: Russ Ballard...No Favor
Posted on: 05/22/2020 06:25 PM
Glad to hear you're in agreement, mdh! It has me wondering if Ballard's version here was the same as D&G heard it for the first time and if the duo changed it to be upbeat.
Ballard's version of "I Don't Believe In Miracles" is very similar to America's or should I say vice versa. I think Gerry did a killer job on his recording of the song.
I also wonder what Ballard's version of "The Border" sounds like. Maybe in the future, he'll record it like he did here with "YCDM".
Re: Russ Ballard...No Favor
Posted on: 07/08/2020 11:52 AM
I don't think Russ Ballard did any favors for America when he produced their "Your Move" album in 1983. I think that album killed the momentum they had generated with the success of "You Can Do Magic" and "View from the Ground."
On "View from the Ground" I thought Gerry and Dewey struck the right balance between outside material and their own. Because of the success of "You Can Do Magic" I suspect that record company executives probably thought if a little bit of Russ Ballard is a good thing, then more Russ Ballard will be even better.
They were wrong. While "Your Move" is not a bad album, it was just not nearly as strong as "View" IMHO. I remember feeling let down the first time I listened to it. Then I read the song credits and realized it was more a Russ Ballard album than it was an America album. Too much Ballard and not enough Dewey and Gerry!
I am not anti-Ballard. I loved "You Can Do Magic" and "The Border" and even thought that "Jody" and "Tonight is for Dreamers" should have been hit singles. But he just went too far on "Your Move" and they never regained their momentum after its release.
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