Mixed Bag
Encyclopedia
Mixed Bag is a 1967 album by Richie Havens
. Although often mistaken as his debut, this was actually Havens's third record. It followed two earlier, lesser-known releases on Douglas Records. This was Havens's first record after signing on with manager Albert Grossman
which led to this recording on a new folk music
section of Verve Records
.
Mixed Bag is frequently cited as the singer's best work, and was his first album to appear on Billboard's
charts (appearing on both the jazz and pop
charts). The recording was the first to introduce a wider audience to Havens's rich baritone
vocals and the full-sound of Havens's distinct guitar style (thumb-chorded and played in open D tuning
).
in 1967 on Verve Forecast, a newly formed folk
section at the Verve
division of MGM Records
. It was re-released as a compact disk in 1993 on Polygram. In 2004, Mixed Bag was combined with two other Havens albums on a double CD titled, Flyin' Bird: The Verve Forecast Years, a limited edition release of 3000 individually numbered copies.
Richie Havens
Richard P. "Richie" Havens is an African American folk singer and guitarist. He is best known for his intense, rhythmic guitar style , soulful covers of pop and folk songs, and his opening performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.-Career:Born in Brooklyn, Havens was the eldest of nine children...
. Although often mistaken as his debut, this was actually Havens's third record. It followed two earlier, lesser-known releases on Douglas Records. This was Havens's first record after signing on with manager Albert Grossman
Albert Grossman
Albert Bernard Grossman was an American entrepreneur and manager in the American folk music scene and rock and roll. He was most famous as the manager of Bob Dylan between 1962 and 1970.-Biography:...
which led to this recording on a new folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
section of Verve Records
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
.
Mixed Bag is frequently cited as the singer's best work, and was his first album to appear on Billboard's
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
charts (appearing on both the jazz and pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
charts). The recording was the first to introduce a wider audience to Havens's rich baritone
Baritone
Baritone is a type of male singing voice that lies between the bass and tenor voices. It is the most common male voice. Originally from the Greek , meaning deep sounding, music for this voice is typically written in the range from the second F below middle C to the F above middle C Baritone (or...
vocals and the full-sound of Havens's distinct guitar style (thumb-chorded and played in open D tuning
Open D tuning
Open D tuning is an open tuning for the acoustic or electric guitar. The open string notes in this tuning are: D A D F♯ A D. It uses the three notes that form the triad of a D major chord: D, the root note; A, the perfect fifth; and F♯, the major third...
).
Track listing
- "High Flyin' Bird" (Billy Edd WheelerBilly Edd WheelerBilly Edward "Edd" Wheeler is an American songwriter, performer, writer and visual artist. He has written songs performed by over 90 different artists including Judy Collins, Jefferson Airplane, Bobby Darin, The Kingston Trio, Johnny Cash, Neil Young, Kenny Rogers, Hazel Dickens, and Elvis Presley...
) – 3:35 - "I Can't Make It Anymore" (Gordon LightfootGordon LightfootGordon Meredith Lightfoot, Jr. is a Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music, and has been credited for helping define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s...
) – 2:48 - "Morning, Morning" (Tuli KupferbergTuli KupferbergNaphtali "Tuli" Kupferberg was an American counterculture poet, author, cartoonist, pacifist anarchist, publisher and co-founder of the band The Fugs.-Biography:...
) – 2:17 - "Adam" (Havens) – 3:34
- "Follow" (Jerry MerrickJerry MerrickJerry Merrick is an American singer-songwriter. His songs have been recorded by Richie Havens, B.J. Thomas, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Susan Tedeschi....
) – 6:22 - "Three Day Eternity" (Havens) – 2:15
- "Sandy" (Jean Pierre Cousineau) – 3:12
- "Handsome Johnny" (Lou Gossett, Havens) – 3:53
- "San Francisco Bay BluesSan Francisco Bay Blues"San Francisco Bay Blues" is an American folk song and is generally considered to be the most famous composition by Jesse Fuller. Fuller first recorded the song in 1954 for a small label called World Song. The song was brought into wider popularity in the early 1960s by club performances by...
" (Jesse FullerJesse FullerJesse Fuller was an American one-man band musician, best known for his song "San Francisco Bay Blues".-Early life:...
) – 2:30 - "Just Like a WomanJust Like a Woman (song)"Just Like a Woman" is a song written by Bob Dylan and first released on his 1966 album, Blonde on Blonde . It was also released as a single in the U.S. during August 1966 and peaked at #33 on the Billboard Hot 100...
" (Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
) – 4:46 - "Eleanor RigbyEleanor Rigby"Eleanor Rigby" is a song by The Beatles, simultaneously released on the 1966 album Revolver and on a 45 rpm single. The song was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney...
" (John LennonJohn LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
, Paul McCartneyPaul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
) – 2:42
Credits
- Richie HavensRichie HavensRichard P. "Richie" Havens is an African American folk singer and guitarist. He is best known for his intense, rhythmic guitar style , soulful covers of pop and folk songs, and his opening performance at the 1969 Woodstock Festival.-Career:Born in Brooklyn, Havens was the eldest of nine children...
- guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, sitarSitarThe 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
, vocals - Harvey BrooksHarvey BrooksHarvey Brooks is an American bassist. He has played in many styles of music...
- bassBass (instrument)Bass describes musical instruments that produce tones in the low-pitched range. They belong to different families of instruments and can cover a wide range of musical roles... - Paul HarrisPaul Harris (musician)Paul Harris is a keyboards player and session musician.Harris appears on several albums of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s by leading artists such as Stephen Stills, B. B. King, Judy Collins, Al Kooper, ABBA, Eric Andersen, Rick Derringer, Nick Drake, John Sebastian, Joe Walsh, Seals & Crofts and Dan...
- organOrgan (music)The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, pianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, keyboardsKeyboard instrumentA keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments... - Bill Lavorgna - drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Howard CollinsHoward CollinsHoward Collins is a Welsh master of Kyokushin karate based in Sweden. He holds the rank of 7th dan and the title of Shihan. Collins learned directly from Masutatsu Oyama, founder of Kyokushin karate, and was a prominent competitor in world karate tournaments through the 1970s...
- guitar - Joe Price - tablaTablaThe tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
on "Adam" - Paul "Dino" Williams - acoustic guitar on "Follow"
- Cover photo - Barry FeinsteinBarry FeinsteinBarry Feinstein was an American photographer who was reputed to have produced over 500 album covers. Barry Feinstein began in his youth as a photographer. In 1955 he was engaged as an assistant at Life magazine...
- Director of engineering - Val ValentinVal ValentinVal Valentin is an internationally renowned recording engineer whose large discography includes such legendary albums as Freak Out!, the first The Velvet Underground record, Ella and Louis, Night Train , Getz/Gilberto, Absolutely Free and the film The Color Purple ...
- Produced by Groscourt Productions, Inc.
- Production Supervisor — Jerry Schoenbaum
- MasteredAudio masteringMastering, a form of audio post-production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device ; the source from which all copies will be produced...
for Compact DiscCompact DiscThe Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
by Dennis M. Drake at PolyGram Studios
Charts
| year | chart | peak |
|---|---|---|
| 1967 | Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... Jazz Albums |
18 |
| 1968 | Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... Pop Albums |
182 |
Releases
The album was initially released on vinylGramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
in 1967 on Verve Forecast, a newly formed folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
section at the Verve
Verve Records
Verve Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Norman Granz in 1956, absorbing the catalogues of his earlier labels, Clef Records and Norgran Records , and material which had been licensed to Mercury previously.-Jazz and folk origins:The Verve...
division of MGM Records
MGM Records
MGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946, for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films. Later it became a pop label, lasting into the 1970s...
. It was re-released as a compact disk in 1993 on Polygram. In 2004, Mixed Bag was combined with two other Havens albums on a double CD titled, Flyin' Bird: The Verve Forecast Years, a limited edition release of 3000 individually numbered copies.
| year | format | label | catalog # |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1967 | LP | Verve/Forecast | FTS-3006 |
| MGM | 4698 | ||
| 1967 | LP | Verve | 2317002 |
| 1967 | Polydor | 835 210 | |
| CD | Verve | 835210 | |
| 1993 | CD | Polygram | |
| 2004 | 2CD | Universal/Hip-O Select |
Trivia
- Electric Havens and Mixed Bag were two of the records reported among the personal collection of Haven's one-time Greenwich VillageGreenwich VillageGreenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
buddy, Jimi HendrixJimi HendrixJames Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
. - In 1974 Havens released Mixed Bag II