Stretch (UK) - You Can't Beat Your Brain For Entertainment, 1978 [Repertoire, 2007]

Artist: Stretch
Album: You Can't Beat Your Brain For Entertainment
Year: 1978
Style: Rock
Genre: Hard & Blues
Format: APE+CUE+LOG+COVERS
Size: 288 MB
Source: my CD collection

Stretch featured the fine vocal talents of one Elmer Gantry (who named himself in honour of the character in the Burt Lancaster movie Elmer Gantry). Elmer had previously led an outfit called Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera, which released three singles in the late Sixties on the Direction label. They were "Flames", (1967), "Mary Jane", (1968), and "Volcano", (1969), all now collector's items. He also recorded a song called "Psychobabble", featured on an Alan Parsons Project Album "Eye In The Sky". They all helped establish Elmer's reputation as a fine, expressive singer and imaginative composer. Stretch was a much more bluesy kind of band and featured a hot young guitarist, and songwriter simply known as "Kirby". Elmer was the lead vocalist and also played some guitar. They made a strong team, ably backed by Steve Emery (bass guitar), and Jim Russell (drums), who also played with rock'n'roll revival band The Wild Angels. Stretch was augmented on the album by horn players Mike Bailey and Ron Carthy, saxophonists Mick Eve and Chris Mercer, and keyboard player John Cook.

The band had made a promising start and enjoyed the thrill of a hit single, when "Why Did You Do It" (written by Kirby and featured on this CD) got to Number 16 in the U.K. in November 1975. It spent nine weeks in the charts and seemed to signal the start of a hugely successful career.

The band followed up "Elastique" with "You Can't Beat Your Brain For Entertainment" (1976), and "Life Blood" (1977), all on Anchor, by which time drummer Jeff Rich had joined the band. The blond-haired young sticksman was later to find job security with Status Quo. The final Stretch record, "Forget The Past" was released on the Hot Wax label in 1978. Alas, none of these last two quite matched up to the power of their debut album and they couldn't manage to find the panacea of another hit single.


Line-up / Musicians:
Elmer Gantry - Lead & Backing Vocals, Electric Guitar, Harmonica, Producer
Steve Emery - Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals
Kirby - Lead Guitar, Slide & Acoustic Guirars, Backing Vocals, Producer
Jeff Rich - Drums

Songs / Tracks Listing:
1. Fixin' To Die (3:39)
2. If The Cap Fits (3:27)
3. The Way Life Is (4:04)
4. That's The Way The Wind Blows (3:47)
5. Hold Up The Light (3:24)
6. Can't Get Enough (3:42)
7. Hold On (3:25)
8. Put Your Hands Up (4:09)
9. Loves Got A Hold On Me (4:02)
10. Feelin' Sad (5:26)

Stretch je veoma odlićan rok sastav!
Hvala Ti ogromna, fovit!