''Straight Shooter'' is the second studio album by the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

Bad Company Bad Company are an English rock supergroup that was formed in 1973 by singer Paul Rodgers, guitarist Mick Ralphs, drummer Simon Kirke and bassist Boz Burrell.Bad Company ''AllMusic'' Peter Grant, who managed the rock band Led Zeppelin, also ...

. The album was released on April 2, 1975, a month after the release of the album's first single, " Good Lovin' Gone Bad", and four months before the second single, " Feel Like Makin' Love" (see

1975 in music This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1975. __TOC__ Specific locations * 1975 in British music * 1975 in Norwegian music Specific genres * 1975 in country music * 1975 in heavy metal music *1975 in jazz Event ...

). The album reached number 3 on both the

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and the US ''Billboard'' 200."Bad Company Chart history"
Official Charts Company. Retrieved 21 August 2014 It was certified gold (500,000 units sold) by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

a month after its release.RIAA Certification Search
Type "Straight Shooter" under ''Title'' for search results. The album was remastered and re-released in 1994. The track "Shooting Star" (written by lead singer

Paul Rodgers Paul Rodgers (born 17 December 1949) is a British singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He was the lead vocalist of numerous bands, including Free, Bad Company, The Firm, and The Law. He has also performed as a solo artist, and co ...

) was lyrically inspired by the drug and alcohol-related deaths of guitarist

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

and other rock musicians.

Background

In June 1974, Bad Company released their self-titled debut album. Three months later, the band and

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

Ron Nevison Ron Nevison is an American record producer and audio engineer. He started his career in the early 1970s as an engineer on ''Quadrophenia'' by the Who and Bad Company's debut album. He eventually became a producer, working with artists including M ...

recorded at least eight songs at

Clearwell Castle Clearwell Castle in Clearwell, the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, is a Gothic Revival house constructed from 1727. Built by Thomas Wyndham to the designs of Roger Morris, it is the earliest Georgian Gothic Revival castle in England predating ...

in Gloucestershire, England. Sometime later Nevison mixed the songs for ''Straight Shooter'' at Air Studios in London. The sleeve for the album was designed by

Hipgnosis Hipgnosis were an English art design group based in London, that specialised in creating album cover artwork for rock musicians and bands. Their commissions included work for Pink Floyd, T. Rex, the Pretty Things, Black Sabbath, UFO, 10cc, Ba ...

, who also designed their debut album. The first single from the album, " Good Lovin' Gone Bad", was released in March 1975 and reached No. 36 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The album was released in April. The album's final single " Feel like Makin' Love" was released in August and reached No. 10 on the Hot 100.

Critical reception

''Straight Shooter'' received different reviews from different music critics. Gautam Baksi's review of the album for

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

said that the album's popularity was attributed to the acoustic ballads "Shooting Star" and "Feel like Makin' Love", while the two songs written by Simon Kirke—"Anna" and "Weep No More"—as well as the album not having enough supporting songs and follow-up singles, were what made the album less successful than its predecessor.

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

felt that although ''Straight Shooter'' was better than its predecessor, it should not be labelled

because Paul Rodgers did not have a strong voice, which is needed to be a rock singer. Ed Naha's feeling of the album, as stated in ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' magazine, was much more favourable than Christgau's. Naha thought that, with their second album, Bad Company was proving that they would not end up like

Mott the Hoople Mott the Hoople were an English rock band formed in Herefordshire. Originally known as the Doc Thomas Group, the group changed their name after signing with Island Records in 1969. The band released albums throughout the early 1970s but fail ...

, Free, or

King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...

—bands that Bad Company's members used to be part of. Naha also thought that Simon Kirke's "Anna" was as bad as it was when it was first recorded, but that "Weep No More" showed that he was progressing as a writer, while Boz Burrell was also making progress on the bass.

Track listing

Non-album tracks

# "Whisky Bottle" (Rodgers, Ralphs, Kirke, Burrell) – 3:45 #*Released as the b-side to the "Good Lovin' Gone Bad" single.

Personnel

;Bad Company *

– vocals, guitar, piano * Mick Ralphs – guitar, keyboards *

Boz Burrell Raymond "Boz" Burrell (1 August 1946 – 21 September 2006) was an English musician. Originally a vocalist and guitarist, Burrell is best known for his singing with King Crimson (1971–1972) and bass playing in Bad Company (1973–1982, 1998� ...

– bass *

Simon Kirke Simon Frederick St George Kirke (born 28 July 1949) is an English rock drummer best known as a member of Free and Bad Company. He has been the only continuous member of Bad Company since their inception. Life and career Kirke was born in L ...

– drums ;Production * Produced by Bad Company * Mastered by

George Marino George Marino (April 15, 1947 – June 4, 2012) was an American mastering engineer known for working on albums by rock bands starting in the late 1960s. Biography Marino was born on April 15, 1947, in the New York City borough The Bronx. He at ...

Charts

;Weekly charts ;Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

External links

Lyrics of live cover of "Shooting Star"
by Queen + Paul Rodgers from ''

Live in Ukraine ''Live in Ukraine'' is a double live album and video and also last release by British rock collaboration Queen + Paul Rodgers. It was recorded in September 2008 during the Rock the Cosmos Tour at Freedom Square in Kharkiv, Ukraine and was relea ...

'', from Queen official website
Bad Company - ''Straight Shooter'' (1975) album review by Stephen Thomas Erlewine, credits & releases
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Bad Company - ''Straight Shooter'' (1975) album releases & credits
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 ...

Bad Company - ''Straight Shooter'' (1975, Deluxe Edition, 2015 Remaster) album to be listened
as stream on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

{{Authority control 1975 albums Albums with cover art by Hipgnosis Bad Company albums Island Records albums Swan Song Records albums