Room to make the fifth album
Bad Company had kept a demanding pace: four albums in four years from their 1974 debut, alongside touring. Before Desolation Angels, the band allowed itself a longer interval. Recorded at Ridge Farm during August and September 1978 and released in 1979, the fifth studio album emerged from an English residential studio rather than another immediate turn through the recording-and-touring cycle.
Paul Rodgers, Mick Ralphs, Boz Burrell and Simon Kirke remained the original quartet. They produced the sessions themselves, with Tony Patrick engineering. The instrumental credits also reveal how much ground four musicians could cover, with keyboards appearing alongside the familiar voice, guitars, bass and drums.
A name carried over from Free
The title comes from Jack Kerouac’s 1965 novel Desolation Angels. Rodgers recalled considering it for Free’s second album roughly a decade earlier. Its eventual appearance on a Bad Company sleeve makes the name a small thread connecting two bands and different periods of his working life.
The album begins with “Rock ’n’ Roll Fantasy”. A guitar synthesizer supplied the stimulus for its riff, bringing an unfamiliar tool into the writing process. Listen to the way that recurring figure relates to the vocal rather than expecting the instrument’s presence to define every song. The detail is useful precisely because it shows experimentation taking place within an established group.
Writing credits spread across the band
Rodgers is not the only writer represented. Burrell wrote “Gone, Gone, Gone”, and he shares “Rhythm Machine” with Kirke. Ralphs’ contributions include “Oh, Atlanta”. All four members therefore participate in shaping the repertoire, giving you another route through an album often introduced through its opening song.
“Oh, Atlanta” acquired a later connection when Alison Krauss recorded it for her 1995 collection Now That I’ve Found You. Following that song into another musical setting is an interesting way to consider how writing can travel beyond the band that first recorded it. Here it remains part of a ten-song Bad Company programme, with Hipgnosis responsible for the sleeve design. Moving between the different writers’ songs lets you consider both their individual choices and the continuity supplied by the same four players.
Analogue Productions on two records
AAPA 058-45 is the Atlantic 75 Series edition: two 180-gram LPs playing at 45 RPM in a Stoughton tip-on gatefold. The original album appeared on Swan Song, distributed by Atlantic, which explains its place in this series. The title-specific publisher listing does not identify a mastering engineer or tape source for these records; those details are left unassigned here.
Michael 45 keeps the goods in Germany and ships from Hilden, enabling customers in Germany and across the EU to avoid a personal US import and the accompanying customs wait.
Also on SACD: Desolation Angels
More by Bad Company: Run With The Pack · Straight Shooter
Customer questions: Atlantic 75: which titles are worth buying? · Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe
Series: Atlantic 75 Series – all 75 albums, time journey and the people behind Atlantic
Musicians
Documented selection of participating musicians. Personnel may vary by track; this list does not claim to be complete.
| Name | Instrument / role |
|---|---|
| Paul Rodgers | Synthesizer, Vocals, Guitar, Piano |
| Mick Ralphs | Keyboards, Guitar |
| Boz Burrell | Bass |
| Simon Kirke | Drums |
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