Albert Hammond - Orígenes '2018

Tracks list

Tracklist:

CD 1:

01. Albert Hammond : Ansiedad [00:04:00]
02. Albert Hammond : Ruega por Nosotros [00:03:46]
03. Albert Hammond : Quiereme Mucho [00:03:55]
04. Albert Hammond : Yo Creo en el Amor [00:02:32]
05. Albert Hammond : Que Seas Feliz [00:02:52]
06. Albert Hammond : Esperame en el Cielo [00:03:05]
07. Albert Hammond : Fallaste Corazon [00:03:22]
08. Albert Hammond : Nosotros [00:04:03]
09. Albert Hammond : echame a Mí la Culpa [00:02:57]
10. Albert Hammond : Dame un Beso [00:04:56]
11. Albert Hammond : Estrellita [00:01:23]
12. Albert Hammond : Mi Album de Recuerdos [00:03:02]
13. Albert Hammond : Eres Toda una Mujer [00:03:27]
14. Albert Hammond : Enredao [00:03:04]
15. Albert Hammond : Daniela [00:02:58]
16. Albert Hammond : Ella [00:03:02]
17. Albert Hammond : Si Me Amaras [00:04:03]

CD 2:

01. Albert Hammond : Rio de Amor [00:04:07]
02. Albert Hammond : Me Hace Falta Que Me Quieras [00:02:26]
03. Albert Hammond : Un Dia Mejor [00:02:09]
04. Albert Hammond : Terminado [00:03:23]
05. Albert Hammond : Espinita [00:03:03]
06. Albert Hammond : Amor No Me Quieras Tanto [00:03:38]
07. Albert Hammond : Solamente una Vez [00:03:46]
08. Albert Hammond : Fantasma [00:03:04]
09. Albert Hammond : La Paloma [00:03:15]
10. Albert Hammond : Me Voy Pa Chile [00:02:24]
11. Albert Hammond : Luna de Miel [00:02:59]
12. Albert Hammond : Caray Que Pena [00:03:25]
13. Albert Hammond : Volver [00:03:51]
14. Albert Hammond : Aunque Me Cueste la Vida [00:03:09]
15. Albert Hammond : Calabasas, California, 91302 [00:04:54]
16. Albert Hammond : Necesito Poder Respirar [00:03:46]
17. Albert Hammond : Pintame Con Besos (Rock Me Up a Mountain) [00:03:42]

 
Albert Hammond is one of the more successful pop/rock songwriters to come out of
England during the 1960s and 1970s, and has also enjoyed a long career as a
recording artist, his work popular in two languages on three continents across
four decades. Hammond was born in London in 1944 -- his family actually came
from the British colony on Gibraltar, but wartime considerations caused his
mother to be evacuated to London, where she gave birth. He spent his childhood
and youth on Gibraltar, where he became fluent in both English and Spanish --
that bilingual ability would serve him well in his later career. His family
lived modestly on his fathers firemans pay, and one of his early diversions was
music -- he sang in church and became head choir boy. He also became interested
in popular music, sang for his own enjoyment, and also took up the guitar.

Hammond reached his teens just as rock & roll was taking hold on British youth.
By his own account, at the outset of his performing career Hammond played and
sang in a Moroccan strip club. In an interview with John Tobler, he recalled
performing in front of audiences of American servicemen, singing Dion repertory
such as The Wanderer. In 1958 he and a friend, Richard Cartwright, began
performing as a duo on the island and in Spain. Hammond become reasonably
proficient on the guitar and was a more than fair singer, and they were good
enough as a duo that they eventually became the core of a band called the
Diamond Boys. By then, Hammond had done something that was the worst fear of
most parents -- left school to embark on a music career, which for Hammond soon
came to include writing songs. The Diamond Boys, whose vocal influences included
the Everly Brothers, the Kalin Twins, and the Brook Brothers, mostly did English
and Spanish rock & roll songs, and cut Hammonds first two songs, New Orleans and
Fools in Love, which were good enough to get issued together as a Parlophone
single. Even at this early point in his career, Hammond displayed his facility
for writing songs with a distinctly American feel, though New Orleans had an
added twist, showing the heavy influence of Johnny Kidd & the Pirates Shakin All
Over in its accompaniment and arrangement. The Diamond Boys were good enough to
make a steady living of sorts playing clubs in Casablanca and were regarded as
hot up-and-coming stars in Spain and on Gibraltar. Their winning of the Circo
Prize in Madrid got them a recording contract with RCA Records, which led to the
release of an EP that included their cover of Whatd I Say. The group disbanded
soon after and Hammond and Cartwright eventually headed for England, where they
briefly became a part of a band called Los Cincos Ricardos, through which they
cut one single, Most Exclusive Residence for Sale b/w Its All Over Now, the
latter written by Hammond. One of the members contributing to that bands
repertory was Mike Hazelwood -- Hammonds contact with Hazelwood caused him to
push his songwriting harder than his performing for the first time in his life,
and it completely altered the focus and direction of his early career. Hammond,
in collaboration with Hazelwood and others, including Scott English (Frisco
Annie) and future star producer/songwriter Tony Macaulay, made a particular
specialty out of writing American-style songs, trading in images and references
from the United States. One Macaulay-Hammond song, Oklahoma Sunday Morning, was
even recorded by Glen Campbell in his pre-stardom days. Hammond and Hazelwood
found their first success on a British television series entitled Oliver in the
Overworld, for which they wrote all of the songs, among them a novelty tune
called Gimme Dat Ding. Not much happened with that song at first, and it became
part of a backlog of Hammond/Hazelwood tunes that was growing rather large
toward the end of the decade.

Hammond also picked up work as a session singer in London, appearing on the work
of such acts as Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich. In 1967, with Hazelwood and
their friend Steve Rowland, they formed Family Dogg, which managed to make some
noise in the press and chart one single, A Way of Life, in 1969, but never quite
lived up to their publicity, and broke up after a disappointing debut album
release. Hammond and Rowland also wrote and recorded several singles together,
issued under various aliases, without making any impact on the charts. Hammond
enjoyed a string of hits as a songwriter as the 1960s drew to a close, however:
Little Arrows by Leapy Lee in 1968; Make Me an Island and Youre Such a Good
Looking Woman by Irish singer Joe Dolan in 1969 and 1970, respectively; Good
Morning Freedom by Blue Mink in 1970; Gimme Dat Ding, in a recording credited to
the Pipkins in 1970, which hit on both sides of the Atlantic; and Freedom Come,
Freedom Go by the Fortunes in 1971. Hammond also found time to sing on Michael
Chapmans fourth album, Wrecked Again, in 1971 and worked briefly with the Magic
Lanterns on recordings of his and Hazelwoods songs and other material.

By sheer chance, he and Hazelwood ended up in the United States in connection
with a theatrical show (Welcome Home) that was never produced, and in the course
of deciding his next move, Hammond tried knocking on the doors of various record
companies in Los Angeles. He underwent a frustrating period of rejection, his
string of chart hits as a songwriter either failing to impress executives
sufficiently to take him seriously as a performer or, in at least one case, at
A&M Records, getting him rejected by one songwriter-turned-artist who saw a
competitor in the wings. He was finally signed to a new label, Mums, co-founded
by ex-Dunhill Records partner Bobby Roberts within the Columbia Records
organization, on the strength of a brace of new songs that he brought to the
audition. A series of demos impressed all concerned, enough to get them released
as singles, but it was It Never Rains in Southern California, finished in
California with some of the top session musicians in Los Angeles, that broke
Hammond as a recording artist around the world. Ironically, it had been sitting
around unheard, part of that huge Hammond/Hazelwood song bag/backlog, for years,
based on a melody by Hammond and inspired by a photo book owned by Hazelwood.

The song reached number five in America and became a million-seller around the
world, the first in a string of eight charting singles that Hammond enjoyed over
the next five years. Also introduced on that album, along with Down by the River
and If You Gotta Break Another Heart -- which was recorded by Cass Elliot in a
slightly rewritten version -- and The Air That I Breathe. The latter was
Hammonds favorite song on the album, and it was later to become the last major
international hit by the Hollies (and that groups last significant U.S. single
for more than a decade). Meanwhile, Hammonds follow-up album, The Free Electric
Band (its title track salvaged from the unproduced musical), was nearly as
impressive musically as its predecessor, although it sold far fewer copies
without a huge hit to drive its sales. His next hit, Im a Train, came amid a
flurry of activity surrounding Hammonds career. He produced records by Johnny
Cash (Praise the Lord and Pass the Soup, a Hammond-Hazelwood composition),
collaborated with Richard Carpenter and John Bettis (I Need to Be in Love),
wrote songs with Art Garfunkel, and, growing out of the latter project, recorded
a self-titled third album produced by Garfunkel producer Roy Halee. By the
mid-70s, he was working with producer/engineer Phil Ramone and collaborating
with lyricist Hal David, generating a number one single on the adult
contemporary charts with 99 Miles from L.A. The label, however, resisted
releasing the accompanying LP or its successor, When I Need You, the latter only
getting released in America after Leo Sayer generated a hit single with his
version of the title song (which was also later cut by Perry Como).

By the end of the 1970s, Hammond was one of the busiest men in music,
maintaining two full-fledged recording careers -- not only his string of
English-language hit singles and albums, but also a late-70s series of releases
aimed at Spanish-speaking audiences, which gave him a new round of hits -- and a
songwriting career that included material recorded by Starship (Nothings Gonna
Stop Us Now) and Chicago (I Dont Wanna Live Without Your Love), in collaboration
with Diane Warren, and a monster hit for Willie Nelson and Julio Iglesias in To
All the Girls Ive Loved Before (with Hal David). Hammond has continued working
into the 21st century, including a new album, Revolution of the Heart, in 2005.
It was around that time that his classic 70s albums began getting reissued on CD
for the first time. He has been followed into music during the first decade of
the new century by his son, guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr., a member of the
Strokes. ~ Bruce Eder

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