An appreciation: Gary Wright and Spooky Tooth

**grego** · 08-28-2016

I have all ST albums, love them all, faves are You Broke My Heart and Witness. Also very good is Mike Harrison's debut album, Smokestack Lightning. Luther Grosvenor's album, Under Open Skies, I never heard.

**yoyiceu** · 08-28-2016

Originally Posted by grego

I have all ST albums, love them all, faves are You Broke My Heart and Witness. Also very good is Mike Harrison's debut album, Smokestack Lightning. Luther Grosvenor's album, Under Open Skies, I never heard.

Smokestack Lightning is Harrison's second solo, but is probably his best. In 2002 he recorded a good album with the Hamburg Blues Band, which included a remake of Waiting For the Wind. Under Open Skies is great, rivaling in quality some of Gary Wright's early albums as the best solo albums from Spooky Tooth ex members. Grosvenor also recorded two solid hard rock albums with Widowmaker in the mid Seventies.

**yoyiceu** · 08-28-2016

Originally Posted by grego

I have all ST albums, love them all, faves are You Broke My Heart and Witness. Also very good is Mike Harrison's debut album, Smokestack Lightning. Luther Grosvenor's album, Under Open Skies, I never heard.

Smokestack Lightning is Harrison's second solo, but is probably his best. In 2002 he recorded a good album with the Hamburg Blues Band, which included a remake of Waiting For the Wind. Under Open Skies is great, rivaling in quality some of Gary Wright's early albums as the best solo albums from Spooky Tooth ex members. Grosvenor also recorded two solid hard rock albums with Widowmaker in the mid Seventies.

Here's a great cut from Under Open Skies, later remade with Grosvenir with Widowmaker.

**Enid** · 08-28-2016

Originally Posted by yoyiceu

Smokestack Lightning is Harrison's second solo, but is probably his best. In 2002 he recorded a good album with the Hamburg Blues Band, which included a remake of Waiting For the Wind. Under Open Skies is great, rivaling in quality some of Gary Wright's early albums as the best solo albums from Spooky Tooth ex members. Grosvenor also recorded two solid hard rock albums with Widowmaker in the mid Seventies.

Here's a great cut from Under Open Skies, later remade with Grosvenir with Widowmaker.

Were Luther Grosvenir and Huh Lloyd Langton both in Widow Maker, or did they have just one guitarist?

**yoyiceu** · 08-28-2016

Originally Posted by Enid

Were Luther Grosvenir and Huh Lloyd Langton both in Widow Maker, or did they have just one guitarist?

Yes, Langton played on both albums.

**grego** · 08-29-2016

Originally Posted by yoyiceu

Smokestack Lightning is Harrison's second solo, but is probably his best. In 2002 he recorded a good album with the Hamburg Blues Band, which included a remake of Waiting For the Wind. Under Open Skies is great, rivaling in quality some of Gary Wright's early albums as the best solo albums from Spooky Tooth ex members. Grosvenor also recorded two solid hard rock albums with Widowmaker in the mid Seventies.

Here's a great cut from Under Open Skies, later remade with Grosvenir with Widowmaker.

Yes, very good track, great guitar, and thanks for the info about Mike Harrison. Of Gary Wright, I never heard his albums, prior to Dream Weaver, which didn't impressed me - actually I never listened the entire album, but got quite clear that it's not my thing from hearing several tracks.

**yoyiceu** · 08-29-2016

Originally Posted by grego

Yes, very good track, great guitar, and thanks for the info about Mike Harrison. Of Gary Wright, I never heard his albums, prior to Dream Weaver, which didn't impressed me - actually I never listened the entire album, but got quite clear that it's not my thing from hearing several tracks.

Wrights first two solo albums -Extraction and Footprint- are the most Spooky Tooth like, as he recorded them before the band came back together. They're very good and much rockier than what became his style after Dreamweaver. That's the interet of the just issued Ring of Changes, which was to be his third solo before the Spooky Tooth reformation and was shelved by A & M because they wanted to issue a new Spooky album instead. The first one has the original version of The Wrong Time, one of the highlights of The Last Puff, the Spooky album recorded by Harrison without Wright.