Saturday, May 29, 2010

greg copeland - revenge will come



The ballad of the reluctant troubadour. Copeland became a published songwriter around 1967 along with Orange County high school pals Jackson Browne and Steve Noonan, hitting paydirt with the latter when the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band covered their Buy For Me The Rain. Eventually, Browne, who says watching Copeland write songs inspired him to start writing his own, secured his mentor a record deal with Geffen, producing this 1982 debut in the bargain. But the left-leaning Copeland's disinclination to capitalize on his good fortune, refusing to appear in public to promote himself, led him to sign on as a paralegal at a good-hearted friend's law firm, eventually becoming a lawyer himself. He released his follow-up album, the bleak and wondrous Diana & James, in 2008, a mere quarter century after the first, and is apparently hard at work on a third. Good things come to those who wait. And wait.

greg copeland
revenge will come
geffen records ghs 2010 (1982)
01 Used 3.04
02 Starting Place 3.14
03 Full Cleveland 2.27
04 Eagleston 3.17
05 That'll Never Be The Same 4.58
06 Richard Hill 4.59
07 At The Warfield 3.33
08 Wrong Highway 2.49
09 El Salvador 3.38
10 Revenge Will Come 4.38

Distance and boredom, dragging you down
Nowhere to go but an Air Force town
Nowhere to heal these feelings in you
Nowhere to hide when the medicine came through
Fire on the water, fear in the land
Gather ye children, the time is at hand
Any ten dollar bill and you can fly like the dove
From Eagleston, Texas, to somewhere you love

In his own words.

vinyl @320

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

THANKS FOR THIS!!! I had this on vinyl and haven't heard it in over 20 years. I have been looking to buy this for years, but it looks like it will be forever out of print, so thanks for this wonderful public service!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

God bless! I can only thank you from the bottom of my heart with the same sentiment the previous thanksgiver has conveyed. Have this album on vinyl and its one of the best albums that I know (out of thousands). It's a crime that this has not being reissued till date. Thanks and thanks again...

Mark Lansing said...

Thanks so much for posting this album. It has long been one of those albums that I've loved and no one else seems to even know exists. Even worse, my copy was a promotional cassette that didn't even have a j-card, and while I finally scored a vinyl copy about ten years ago, it wasn't in much better shape than that tape, and I've despaired of ever finding a better sounding copy. Being able to have a decent sounding copy in my iTunes makes my day -- thanks so much for your efforts. Very interesting blog, too -- plenty of fascinating stuff here.

reservatory said...

I was stuck in the cellar of a record store for a few weeks in the
eighties, sorting dozens of moldy boxes of 12" disco mixes. When I
found actual LPs, I'd slap 'em on a crappy plastic stereo
under the stairs. This and Meat Puppets II were the only albums I
cared to take home. You might look up Copeland's website, where he
posts songs every month. Take care.
https://gregcopelandmusic.net/

Anonymous said...

Thank you! This is likely the last lost treasure of my LP buying years that I finally have in a digital format. Why hasn't Jackson Browne released this on his label? Thanks again!

Anonymous said...

The album is something very special - it is amazing that Greg Copeland choose the wrong way. I haven’t listen to it for 30 years, but it really strikes me. Every single track is so great, the lyrics, the rhythms. But he has a great team supporting him.

To bad Greg didn’t continue the way he did on this album. But as Jackson Browne is a friend of him, he can give him a kick in the but, so he will get back in the studio. I will by the new album. if you don’t want the money, I can transfer them to people in need.

Hans Lindh, Gothenburg

Psychfan said...

Thanks, looking forward to this.