Bad Company – Straight Shooter

A castle becomes the recording room

After their successful debut, Bad Company could have settled into a familiar routine. Instead, Paul Rodgers, Mick Ralphs, Boz Burrell and Simon Kirke went to Clearwell Castle in Gloucestershire in September 1974. Ronnie Lane’s Mobile Studio supplied the recording facilities, with Ron Nevison handling the engineering. The band produced the album themselves; mixing followed at AIR Studios in London. Released in 1975, Straight Shooter concentrates on four musicians and eight songs, leaving room for riffs, stories and changes of pace.

The castle is more than a picturesque detail. Mobile recording allowed the musicians to work away from a conventional studio: the equipment came to the band. That history offers a useful way into the record today. Rather than treating it as a container for a couple of hits, follow the whole sequence from “Good Lovin’ Gone Bad” to “Call On Me”.

Beyond the familiar songs

“Feel Like Makin’ Love” and “Shooting Star” provide the obvious landmarks, but their histories reward another look. Rodgers began “Feel Like Makin’ Love” as a young singer in Free; Ralphs contributed the chorus. The finished song brings two musical paths together. With “Shooting Star”, listen for the relationship between the storytelling and the rock-song form: a musician’s life becomes the subject of the music itself.

Kirke contributes “Weep No More” and “Anna”. He had already recorded “Anna” with Kossoff Kirke Tetsu Rabbit in 1972, while “Weep No More” includes the string credit for Jimmy Horowitz. These differences encourage a complete listen. The quieter turns and less familiar titles help define the album as much as the songs that became radio favourites.

Four players and the space between them

The album credits list Rodgers on vocals, guitar and piano, Ralphs on guitar and keyboards, Burrell on bass and Kirke on drums. They do not provide an exhaustive instrument-by-instrument assignment for every track. Horowitz’s contribution, however, is specifically associated with “Weep No More”; our musician list preserves that distinction.

One rewarding listening approach is to follow the exchange between voice and guitar. Where does a phrase answer Rodgers, and where is a gap allowed to remain? Then consider how Kirke’s two compositions change the flow. These are small ways to reconnect with a familiar record: hearing the relationships between songs, rather than waiting only for the next famous chorus.

Analogue Productions, Atlantic 75 and 45 RPM

This edition presents the original programme across two 180-gram LPs at 45 RPM. Mastering is by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound, with a Stoughton tip-on gatefold jacket. The sleeve identifies the source as a quarter-inch flat copy of the original master. That specific information should not be replaced with an unqualified original-master-tape claim.

The series distinguishes the first numbered copies pressed at Quality Record Pressings from subsequent pressings at QRP or RTI. No particular numbered copy is promised here. The clear points are the edition, the 45-RPM configuration and the opportunity to spend time with all eight songs on a record whose appeal reaches beyond its best-known moments.

You order from Michael 45 in Germany. We arrange the US import and dispatch from Hilden.

More from the series: Atlantic 75 Series

Also on SACD: Straight Shooter

More by Bad Company: “Bad Company” · Burnin’ Sky

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

Participants and documented credit status. Track references correspond to the tracklist.

• Paul Rodgersvocals, guitar, pianoParticipation: Album personnel
• Mick Ralphsguitar, keyboardsParticipation: Album personnel
• Boz BurrellbassParticipation: Album personnel
• Simon KirkedrumsParticipation: Album personnel
• Jimmy HorowitzstringsParticipation: B1

Produced by Bad Company. Recording and mixing: Ron Nevison. Album credits do not establish every instrument on every track; Jimmy Horowitz: strings on B1.