by Jiff » Sun Mar 04, 2018 3:42 pm
Thanks for the heads up. Big fan. The album is not very well advertised and I couldn't find anywhere to buy it. Found a photo of it and you can listen to Down By The River at their Facebook page. It's a typical OMD upbeat tune with harmonica as the accent.
I don't think they had released an album of new songs since 13 in 1997. The only one of their albums I don't like much. Just a couple Larry Lee songs on it. I guess the performance band has nine members, but neither Lee or Randle Chowning among them or on Off The Beaten Path.
Besides their solo albums, Chowning and Lee released a couple albums as Beyond Reach: Waiting For The Sun in 2005 and Further in 2014. Okay, but nothing compared to the OMD albums. Lee was also in the Vinyl Kings, a Nashville band that played Beatles-like music. They released two albums: A Little Trip and Time Machine. Pretty good.
It kills me that Lee wound up producing albums by less interesting bands than OMD, especially Alabama, a band way more popular than OMD. From the Beyond Reach web page: "Having sung background vocals on several Jimmy Buffett records, in 1986 Jimmy enlisted Larry to tour with his Coral Reefer Band. “I later established a production partnership with Buffett tour mate Josh Leo, leading to a new career as a record producer for artists such as Alabama, Restless Heart, Juice Newton and many others.”"
I guess Lee and Chowning have moved back to Springfield from Nashville.