''Stoneground'' is the debut studio album by American rock band

Stoneground Stoneground was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1970 in Concord, California. Originally a trio, Stoneground expanded to a 10-piece band by the time of their eponymous 1971 debut album. The group appeared in two films, ''Medicine Ball ...

, released in 1971 on

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

The album featured seven different

lead vocalist The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

s, including

Sal Valentino Sal Valentino (born Salvatore Spampinato; September 8, 1942) is an American rock musician, singer and songwriter, best known as lead singer of The Beau Brummels, subsequently becoming a songwriter as well. The band released a pair of top 20 U.S. ...

(formerly of

The Beau Brummels The Beau Brummels were an American rock band. Formed in San Francisco in 1964, the band's original lineup included Sal Valentino (lead vocals), Ron Elliott (lead guitar), Ron Meagher (bass guitar), Declan Mulligan (rhythm guitar, bass, harm ...

) on four of the album's ten songs.

Background and composition

During the early 1970s, Stoneground built buzz as a touring act. The band recorded an attempt at a debut album in London for Warner Bros. but it was not released. While in England, the band added Bassist, keyboardist

Pete Sears Peter Roy Sears (born 27 May 1948) is an English rock musician. In a career spanning more than six decades, he has been a member of many bands and has moved through a variety of musical genres, from early R&B, psychedelic improvisational rock ...

to its lineup. For ''Stoneground'', seven different lead vocalists were used, with

singing lead on four of the album's ten songs. Valentino wrote five of the six originals on the album, which also contained covers of songs recorded by

The Kinks The Kinks were an English rock band formed in London in 1963 by brothers Ray Davies, Ray and Dave Davies, and Pete Quaife. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British ...

Reverend Gary Davis Gary D. Davis (April 30, 1896 – May 5, 1972), known as Reverend Gary Davis and Blind Gary Davis, was a blues and gospel singer who was also proficient on the banjo, guitar and harmonica. Born in Laurens, South Carolina and blind since infanc ...

John D. Loudermilk John Dee Loudermilk Jr. (March 31, 1934 – September 21, 2016) was an American singer and songwriter. Although he had his own recording career during the 1950s and 1960s, he was primarily known as a songwriter. His best-known songs include "In ...

and

John Mayall John Brumwell Mayall (29 November 1933 – 22 July 2024) was an English blues and Rock music, rock musician, songwriter and producer. In the 1960s, he formed John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band that has counted among its members some of ...

Critical reception

In a review for the album, ''

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'' wrote: "Stoneground has a lot of advance publicity to live up to, and in light of their first LP the predictions may have been somewhat inflationary, though there's no denying the potential for excitement here." ''

Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Ma ...

'' critic

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

asserted that the album was "certainly the aptest use of Sal Valentino since the Beau Brummels were on

Autumn Autumn, also known as fall (especially in US & Canada), is one of the four temperate seasons on Earth. Outside the tropics, autumn marks the transition from summer to winter, in September (Northern Hemisphere) or March ( Southern Hemisphe ...

." Bob Koch of ''

Isthmus An isthmus (; : isthmuses or isthmi) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea count ...

'' suggested it sounded "more like a compilation album than one band," but that it also "showed the group's promise well; most of the singers are distinctive and the playing is great. The musicians' ability to fluidly mix and match musical styles makes for a more interesting brand of

hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture of the mid-1960s to early 1970s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States and spread to dif ...

rock than is the case for many similarly jammy supersized bands of the era."

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

's Lindsay Planer said the Valentino compositions "bear repeated listens and hint at this group's truly great potential." Author Vernon Joynson complimented Tim Barnes' guitar work and said the album "used several vocalists to good effect."

Track listing

Personnel

*Sal Valentino - lead vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, tambourine *Tim Barnes - lead guitar, backing and lead vocals, bottleneck guitar *Luther Bildt - guitars, backing and lead vocals *Annie Sampson - backing vocals *Deirdre Laporte - backing vocals *Lydia Phillips - backing vocals *Lynn Hughes - backing vocals *Pete Sears - keyboards, bass *Ron Nagle - keyboards, percussion *John Blakeley - bass, rhythm guitar *Mike Mau - drums

References

{{Authority control 1971 debut albums Warner Records albums Parlophone albums Stoneground albums Albums produced by Sal Valentino