Roberts, Rick Windmills & She is a song

While singer/songwriter Rick Roberts is perhaps best known for his work with country-rock pioneers The Flying Burrito Brothers and late 70s hit makers Firefall ,in between those two endeavors he recorded these two albums for A & M Records.
While hardly setting the charts on fire they remain good examples of the kind of appealing country-rock The Eagles would later take to the top of the charts.
When Chris Hillman left the Flying Burrito Brothers to join Manassas in 1971 Rick Roberts lead the Burrito's for a European tour before recording his debut solo album:Windmills.
David Aderle was assigned to be the producer and the cream of the L.A. country-rock community centered around the Troubadour was recruited.
They were all "friends" of Rick Roberts and very good musicians and they came up with a lot of ideas that added a great deal to the album.
The album's tittle derives from the dedication to a Dutch/American girl Rick Roberts met while touring the Netherlands with the Burrito's.
The musicians on Windmills are:Don Henley,Bernie Leadon,Randy Meisner,Jackson Browne,Al Perkins,Joe Lala,Chris Hillman,Dallas Taylor,David Crosby,Mother Hen,Byron Berline,Lee Sklar,Mike Utley,Marc Benno and of course Rick Roberts.

Settling in Boulder Colorado Rick Roberts recorded "She is a song" at a small independent studio.
Fresh from Manassas Chris Hillman assumed production duties.
Rick Roberts called on local players to grace the second album including Joe Walsh's Barnstorm and members of Poco.
The musicians are:Paul Harris,George Grantham,Al Perkins,Kenny Passarelli,Joe Lala,Joe Walsh,Chris Hillman,Joe Vitale,Rusty Young,Steve Fromholz and Rick Roberts.

touring solo to promote the second album Rick Roberts performed at Max's Kansas City early 1973,where he ran into Gram Parson's Fallen Angel Band.
Befriending Jock Bartley,a member of the Fallen Angels,they hooked up back in Boulder recruiting the musicians to form a group that became Firefall.

Zephyr - Sunset Ride(Remaster)

Zephyr was a blues based hard rock band formed in 1968 in Boulder, Colorado by guitarist Tommy Bolin, keyboardist John Faris, David Givens on bass guitar, Rob Chamberlain on drums and Candy Givens on vocals. Zephyr's second album (1972 ) featured Firefall's Jock Bartley in place of Tommy Bolin, the replacement of Bobby Berge and John Faris, and one of the few known recorded appearances of Bobby Notkoff, other than his work with Neil Young, for whom he created the heart wrenching violin break on Running Dry. Lead singer Candy Givens passed away already, and this album is perhaps her most passionate legacy.

Firefall Part 3 - The Phoenix

Break of Dawn (1982)
Jock Bartley was the only original member who hadn't quit the band.
Bartley were suggested with John Sambataro and Chuck Kirkpatrick. Sambataro was a versatile Miami based singer / guitarist / keyboardist / songwriter who sang on record with Stills, Clapton, Dave Mason, McGuinn, Clark & Hillman among others. John and Jock had actually met back in '78 when they both played on the Criteria sessions for Andy Gibb's platinum album, Shadow Dancing. Kirkpatrick was a local
Miami singer / guitarist who sang with Johnny on a number of the aforementioned sessions and had worked as an engineer. Albert then talked to Alan Jacobi, a Miami entertainment lawyer who had a relationship with Atlantic; Jacobi convinced the label to help fund Firefall's rekindling. Atlantic sprung for some new demos, which led to a new album deal and the spring of 1982 Criteria sessions for the Break of Dawn album, with Ron and brother Howard producing once again. Backing Bartley, Sambataro and Kirkpatrick were an number of Miami session players. The album featured special appearance by Stephen Stills (vocals, guitars, piano), David Sanborn (alto sax), plus former band mates Rick Roberts (additional background vocals) and David Muse (flute, harmonica and vocoder). The first single, the power ballad Always penned by Sambataro and frequent collaborator Paul Crosta, hit the airwaves in late January '83 - two years after the band's last single. Always topped local charts in several markets around the country, but nationally didn't quite break the Top 40. The album, out in March, made few industry waves.

Mirror of the World (1983)
The new Firefall nonetheless got the go-ahead to record another LP - and fast. Adding Scott Kirkpatrick, Chuck's brother on drums and backing vocals, and Colorado bassist, Greg Overton, the group cut their seventh studio album, Mirror of the World named after Bartley's song about the effects of violent TV on children. The album had a much harder edge than it's predecessors, which many programmers thought reflected too great a departure from the classic Firefall sound. Though the first single, the rockin' 'Runaway Love,' written by Bartley, Sambataro and Crosta, briefly appeared in video on MTV and received only limited radio airplay, Mirror of the World quickly disappeared.

Messenger (1994)
While touring the Midwest in 1993, Firefall encountered first hand the early devastation of the terrible Flood of '93. In cities like Alton, Illinois, Des Moines, Iowa and St. Louis, the band felt the tragedy and overwhelming impact of the flood. One of their gigs was canceled and a few had to be moved back from danger. The night they returned home to Colorado, a song woke Jock up at 4:00 AM - he sat up in bed in the dark
with the hook playing in his head. Getting up, he hurried into his music room and, twenty minutes later, When The River Rises was finished. It is a uplifting song with a positive message of gaining strength in adversity. The next day, Steven, Bil and Steve joined him to work out the intricate harmonies. Two days later, the band recorded the song in Colorado Springs at Startsong Recording Studio, with engineer / programmer, Tom Gregor, co-producing the song with Bartley. Five days after it was written, 'When The River Rises' was played on the radio for the first time. The flood waters had not yet crested. Vowing to give a large portion of the publishing to Flood Relief, the song was sent to numerous radio stations in a dozen flooded states. Soon it was receiving heavy regional airplay and was used by CNN and other TV networks and stations behind coverage of the disaster.
The band parlayed the attention that 'River' brought to Firefall into the search for a new record deal. Many smaller companies showed interest but no major labels. They decided to go with a Colorado independent label, Redstone Records, who'd had a few impressive successes in the smooth jazz genre. Though Redstone might be out of their league trying to break a band in the piranha tank of rock and pop. Messenger was recorded in Denver and Boulder and was released in mid 1994. Bartley had been writing songs for ten years for just this opportunity. Along with the hard edged When The River Rises and Secret his songs Love Find A Way Very First Moment and Who Ran Away gave the album a familiar but updated Firefall sound. Bil Hopkins' classy song, Say It's Over and Steve Manshel's powerful Innocent Victim gave depth to the CD. Bartley, Weinmeister, Hopkins, Ficca and Manshel played and sang on the entire CD, with Clawson and Waddell adding most of the keyboards, sax and flute. Mark Andes and Richie Furay made guest appearances on the sessions.. The album was critically acclaimed as their best record since the early days of Firefall and gave the group a new touring impetus.
See Richie Furay - Part 3.

Recently, both Firefall and Jock Bartley has new CD's out.
Firefall - Acoustic Colorado To Liverpool
Jock Bartley - Blindsight

Firefall Part 2 - The Fire Begins To Fall

Firefall Part 2 - The fire begins to fall

Publicly, Firefall was burning hotter than ever in 1979. Behind the scenes, the band members were toast. They'd spent more than five solid years gigging, writing, recording, and touring and had finally made it. Yet their financial situation was in doubt. Relationships - both personal and business, inside and outside the band - were in shambles. One or two band members weren't on speaking terms. The six-headed democracy, with no one in charge, was splitting at the seams. Their bodies, minds, and souls suffered the effects of touring, self abuse, and neglect, typical of the era's booze'n'blow rock'n'roll lifestyle. In short, Firefall needed a break. Attempts to straighten out all the above and more added up to the lengthy delay in getting the next album out. With Joe Lala again as an unofficial member of the group, sessions for Undertow were spread out over several months and both coasts. There was much wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth by the band, the producers and the record company. The resulting Undertow was finally launched. The single, Headed For A Fall, put the band back in the Top 40. But much momentum had been lost. The second single, Love That Got Away stalled on the charts during the summer of 1980. Financial troubles increased with a growing Atlantic debt and a lawsuit settlement with their first manager.
Quality : VBR

After the band completed a Japanese tour, Mark Andes and Michael Clarke left the band; Andes would later join the Wilson sisters for great success in Heart. Opting to carry on, Roberts, Bartley, Burnett and Muse quickly replaced them with Kenny Loggins' Grammy winning rhythm section: bassist George Hawkins and drummer Tris Imboden. Out at year's end, Clouds Across The Sun hit the charts in January 1981, followed a few weeks later by the single, Staying With It, which, unbeknownst nor agreed to by the band, ended up featuring a duet between Rick Roberts and Lisa Nemzo. After TV appearances George Hawkins left the band to join Mick Fleetwood's solo band. Boulder bassist Kim Stone was his replacement. Then, just after Firefall hit the road to support the new record, Larry Burnett bowed out of the band due to ill health. On the charts, Staying With It moved into the Top 40 but Clouds Across The Sun never caught on. Negotiations for a new record deal with RCA were in progress, but after a final concert on Maui Rick Roberts told his band mates he was history, and Firefall went into limbo. Later in '81, Atlantic Records, as an afterthought, released The Best Of Firefall before Christmas, then turned the page and dropped the band from it's roster.
Quality: 320 kb/s vinyl rip

Firefall Part 1 - Welcome To Byrdish Land

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Michael Clarke - dr
Mark Andes - b, bv
Rick Roberts - v, g
Jock Bartley - g, v
David Muse - fl, sax, harm, p, clav, org, synth
Larry Burnett - v, g



In the early 1970s, Rick Roberts and Jock Bartley first met while Bartley was on tour with Gram Parsons as a member of his backing band The Fallen Angels. Both The Fallen Angels and Roberts were performing in New York City at the same venue on back to back nights. Roberts was impressed by Bartleys lead and slide guitar work. The duo soon began practicing and even performing together. Encouraged by their peers to form a band together, they contacted Mark Andes and Larry Burnett and coaxed them into joining their band, which they christened Firefall.
Although the band already had a vast repertoire of songs to play they still required a drummer. They auditioned several local musicians and played a few shows, they still required a drummer with more experience. Roberts chose his band mate from The Flying Burrito Brothers, Michael Clarke, who was most famous for his time in the Byrds. Clarke was literally hired over the phone.
The band then decided that they wanted to add a more exotic sound to their music, so they brought in Roberts' high school friend David Muse (who was later with Heart). Muse was a multi-instrumentalist who played
saxophone, flute, hamonica and keyboards. Jim Mason, who had worked with Poco in the past, was brought in as their producer. With their line-up complete, the band went into rehearsals in Boulder.
The resulting album, the self-titled Firefall became Atlantic Records quickest album to reach gold status. The group's first single Livin' Ain't Livin' reached the top 40.
The band's next single You Are The Woman, catapulted into the top 10. To add to their exposure, they began touring with Fleetwood Mac, who were at the beginning of their most successful days. Their next single, Cinderella, though played extensively on FM radio, did not fare well on AM radio due to its controversial lyrics being boycotted by feminist groups. This did not however, have a lasting affect on the band's sales.
The group then headed back to Criteria Studios to record their second album, which was to be titled Tropical Nights. After hearing the final mix, the band received a note from Atlantic CEO saying that the album needed to be reworked. The album was re-recorded and renamed Luna Sea. The album peaked at 27 on the charts and went gold less than two months after release. The single from the album Just Remember I Love You, featuring backing vocals by Poco's Timothy B. Schmit, reached the top 10.
In 1978, the band produced their third album Elan. It was a massive success, and it became their first album to reach platinum status. The singles Goodbye, I Love You and Sweet and Sour were released within a few months and continued the band's commercial hot streak.

Richie Furay - Part 3

The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band (1974)
After leaving Poco, Furay didn't wait long to rejoin the fray; he teamed up John-David Souther (songwriter and associate of the Eagles) and Chris Hillman (ex-Byrds) to form the country-rock group. Elektra figured it had another CSN on its hands: take one part Springfield, one part Byrds, one part pop songwriter, and stir. So they hyped the record heavily, and indeed it went gold and produced a Top 40 hit (Richie's lively "Fallin' In Love"). They're just following the same old L.A. country-influenced pop formula, with the usual watertight tenor harmonies, super-professional musicianship, and mournful romance lyrics. All of the material is solid; Furay's is as good as ever ("The Flight Of The Dove"), and Souther provides audible sincerity (the epic "Deep, Dark And Dreamless") matched with creative, Eagles-style tunefulness - his "Border Town" even features that band's trademarked, sardonic commentary on the Me Decade's party scene. The band is pretty high-powered: Jim Gordon (drums), Paul Harris (keyboards), Joe Lala (percussion on two tracks), and Al Perkins (pedal steel; his dobro plays excellently off of Hillman's mandolin on "Rise And Fall").
Quality: 320 kb/s ripped from CD.

Trouble in Paradise was the second and last from this band (1975).
Check out the cover of the album. J.D. Souther stares towards the ground, Richie Furay has his hands in his pockets, shrugging - and Chris has a no-nonsense stance, as if he was fed up with the proceedings. They were unhappy because they were forced to sound like CSN and the Eagles. If Souther, Hillman and Furay had had time to coalesce, to jell, write songs together, be a band they would have knocked the Eagles on their asses. Souther did not want to be in a group, did not want to be a team player. And S-H-F fell apart at the seams. Souther preferred to fly solo. Furay's two efforts are satisfying but nothing like "Falling in Love" or "Believe Me" (a song he originally recorded for Poco) off the first album.
Quality: Sorry don't know, because I got this from a friend. If you've a better one please submit.

Firefall is a band from the Byrds family tree. Two of it's founders are Michael Clarke and Rick Roberts. On this 1994 album Richie do background vocals on two tracks.

Quality: 320 kb/s ripped from CD.