''Ro Sham Bo'' is the first and only studio album by

The Grays The Grays were a professional independent baseball team. They were a traveling team which played in the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball, an independent league not affiliated with Major League Baseball. The team started play ...

, released on February 22, 1994 by Epic Records. The album was supported with a single and music video for the song, “Very Best Years”, alongside promotional singles for “Same Thing” and “Not Long for This World”.

Background

According to

Jason Falkner Jason Falkner (born June 2, 1968) is an American songwriter, musician, and guitarist who was a member of the bands Jellyfish (band), Jellyfish, the Three O'Clock, and the Grays (band), the Grays. Since 1996, he has released six solo albums, start ...

Jon Brion Jon Brion is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and composer. He performed with the Excerpts, the Bats, 'Til Tuesday and the Grays before becoming an established producer and film score composer. Brion has ...

initially got into contact with him after listening to a

mixtape A mixtape (alternatively mix-tape, mix tape or mixed tape) is a compilation of music, typically from multiple sources, recorded onto a medium. With origins in the 1980s, the term normally describes a homemade compilation of music onto a cassette ...

of the album ''

Odessey and Oracle ''Odessey and Oracle'' is the second studio album by English rock band the Zombies. It was originally released in the UK in April 1968 by CBS Records. The album was recorded primarily between June and August 1967. The sessions took place at EM ...

'' by the

Zombies A zombie (Haitian French: , ht, zonbi) is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. Zombies are most commonly found in horror and fantasy genre works. The term comes from Haitian folklore, in whic ...

he had compiled for his then-girlfriend. Brion called Falkner to invite him to an informal jamming session with musicians Buddy Judge and Dan McCarroll. This however led to a record label bidding war for a supposed band composed of the four musicians. Feeling pressured to join the supposed band, Falkner reluctantly joined and the band signed with

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

in 1993. The intention of the band was to be a democratic collective of musicians, rather than a hierarchical group with a leader and backing musicians. This was due in part to the group's dissatisfaction with being in a band—particularly Falkner who had just come out of a tumultuous period with the band

Jellyfish Jellyfish and sea jellies are the informal common names given to the medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animals with umbrella- ...

. The band members would often swap instruments depending on the need of the individual song and would contribute to each other's songs.

Release and reception

Release and promotion

''Ro Sham Bo'' was released on February 22, 1994 on

. The album's lead single was the song “Very Best Years”. The single included the song “Outdoor Miner” (which was not originally included on the album) and a cover of

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

song “Complicated”. “Very Best Years” was accompanied by a music video; it was the only song to receive a promotional video. The album was also supported with promotional singles for the songs “Same Thing” and “Not Long for This World”.''Not Long for This World''
at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

(list of releases). Retrieved September 28, 2018.

Critical reception

The album received highly positive reviews upon release from critics. In a retrospective analysis, Troy Carpenter of AllMusic called the album “a very eclectic pop record, stemming from the fact that the different songwriters bring distinct styles to the table.” He notes that Judge's and McCarrol's tracks were “more rhythmically focused jams” whereas Falkner's and Brion's songs “stick to ultra-cool '70s-style pop/rock”. He calls the instrumentation “thick and hearty” and notes that each of the band members come together to create a “nice musical stew, none of the ingredients outshining the others in contribution to the overall taste.”

Aftermath

Despite glowing reviews from critics, ''Ro Sham Bo'' was a commercial disappointment and was the only album released by the band. The album would eventually go out-of-print. In retrospect, Falkner reflects that the band was not truly a democratic collective as he felt he was the true leader of the group. This was due in part to the fact that the album's producer,

Jack Joseph Puig Jack Joseph Puig is an American audio engineer, A&R executive, and record producer. He has worked with Tonic, Hole, Jellyfish, The Black Crowes, John Mayer, Weezer, Fiona Apple, Roger Hodgson, Taxiride, Green Day, Counting Crows, No Doubt, Klaxo ...

, admitted to enjoying Falkner's tracks the most, giving him one more song than the others on the album. This created animosity amongst the members, specifically Brion, who was the first to leave the group. This coupled with the band's lack of commercial success led to their breakup shortly thereafter.

Track listing

UK CD: 475839 2

# "Very Best Years" (

) – 3:26 # "Everybody's World" (Buddy Judge) – 5:42 # "Same Thing" (

) – 4:01 # "Friend Of Mine" (Falkner) – 5:16 # "Is It Now Yet" (Buddy Judge/Dan McCarroll) – 4:03 # "Oh Well Maybe" (Falkner) – 3:43 # "Nothing Between Us" (Brion) – 3:55 # "Both Belong" (Falkner) – 4:25 # "Nothing" (Judge) – 3:30 # "Not Long For This World" (Brion) – 4:52 # "Spooky" (Falkner) – 5:07 # "All You Wanted" (Judge) – 4:30 # "No One Can Hurt Me" (Brion) – 6:28

Personnel

Musicians

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

s, bass,

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

– vocals, guitars, keyboards, bass * Buddy Judge – vocals, guitars * Dan McCarroll –

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

Additional musicians

Lenny Castro Lenny or Lennie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Lenny (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Lennie (surname), a list of people * Lenny (singer) (born 1993), Czech songwriter Arts and entertainment Music * ''L ...

– additional percussion * Martin Tillman –

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

Production

* Produced by

* Recorded at Grandmaster Recorders Ltd.,

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

, CA * Assisted by

S. Husky Höskulds S. Husky Höskulds (born in Iceland) is an audio engineer based in Los Angeles, California. Biography Husky Höskulds moved to Los Angeles in 1991 to study audio engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles. He began his career wo ...

* Mixed at

Ocean Way Studios Ocean Way Recording was a series of recording studios established by recording engineer and producer Allen Sides with locations in Los Angeles, California, Nashville, Tennessee, and Saint Barthélemy. Ocean Way Recording no longer operates record ...

, Hollywood, CA * Assisted by Ken Allardyce * Recorded and mixed by Jack Joseph Puig * Mastered by Doug Sax at The Mastering Lab

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1994 debut albums Epic Records albums The Grays (band) albums