 |
|
The guys who almost made it:
The Right Profile, with Clive Davis
of Arista Records |
(mid 1980s)
studio demos
(various dates & studios)
sound quality: VG to VG+
REPERCUSSION: Mitch Easter produced an early session for The Right Profile, which resulted in the group's only official release, the 3-song Let's Pretend single in 1983 (see below). Don Dixon produced subsequent demos for the band, including some of the tracks included in this collection.
CURIOUS? This band reminds me of The Long Ryders, but with more passion and a spirit of abandon that I like.
01 God's Little Acre
CURIOUS? This band reminds me of The Long Ryders, but with more passion and a spirit of abandon that I like.
01 God's Little Acre
02 Cosmopolitan Lovesick Blues
03 Underneath the Window
04 Something New
05 Infatuation
06 Heart & Soul + coda
07 Take a Look at Me Now
08 Who's to Say?
09 Ride My Train
10 True Blue You
11 'Til the Sky Turns Black
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| The RIght Profile (photos by Nelson Penninger) |
Here’s a good overview of the
band by Michael Allen via YouTube:
THE RIGHT PROFILE: (1981 - 1988) The Right Profile was formed in the early 1980s. A long cold winter at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, was the void from which this inexperienced and enthusiastic band was hurled. Playing everywhere from colleges to the chicken wired stages of the South, they found themselves popular by the mid-'80s. Jeffrey Dean Foster, Tim Fleming, and Stephen J. Dubner held it together through a parade of drummers including the rock solid Whitey Foster (brother of Mr. Foster). Jon P. Wurster from Pennsylvania, having written cryptic yet amusing fan letters to the band, seemed the natural choice for the bands permanent drummer. He was relieved from his job at the toothpaste factory and shipped down south.
The Right Profile toured up and down the east coast opening shows for many mid-'80s rock heroes including The Del Fuegos, the Del Lords,and Jason & The Nashville Scorchers. After Clive Davis of Arista Records left his limo long enough to see the band at CBGB's in NYC, The Right Profile signed a record deal with Arista Records in the summer of 1986. Arista was at one time home to many of the bands favorites, including Patti Smith, Graham Parker, and The Kinks. But the many Barry Manilow gold records in the hallways should have been a foreshadowing of the train wreck ahead.
After moving to New Jersey and recording numerous demos with many producers they finally made it back down south to record with the legendary Jim Dickinson in the summer of 1987. Stephen J. Dubner left the band and guitar-wiz Eric Peterson accompanied the band to Ardent Studios in Memphis to record with Dickinson. After these sessions proved unsuccessful, it pretty much was all over but the crying.
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None of the many recordings of this era of The Right
Profile have ever been released. Some earlier recordings done by Mitch Easter
and Don Dixon have seen the light of day. The early 3 song EP Let’s Pretend was released on Vibratune
Records in the fall of 1983. The Dixon-produced sessions piqued major label
interest and the song “Cosmopolitan Lovesick Blues” was later released on the
European compilation LP, Welcome to
Comboland.
FUN FACT: Stephen Dubner from this band is the same Stephen J. Dubner who co-authored the best-selling Freakonomics (and a host of related books, syndicated public radio segments, etc.)
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