''Vertical Smiles'' is the seventh studio album by

Southern rock Southern rock is a subgenre of rock music and a genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from rock and roll, country and blues, and is focused generally on electric guitars and vocals. History 1950s and 1960s: origin ...

band

Blackfoot The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'', or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or " Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Bl ...

. It is the second and last album to feature former Uriah Heep keyboardist

Ken Hensley Kenneth William David Hensley (24 August 1945 – 4 November 2020) was an English musician, singer, songwriter and producer, best known for his work with Uriah Heep (band), Uriah Heep during the 1970s. He wrote or co-wrote the majority of ...

and the first without guitarist Charlie Hargrett who left during the recording of the album over disagreements with the rest of the band and management.

Critical reception

Eduardo Rivadavia of Allmusic largely detested the album, citing it as having "one of the most misogynistic title/cover tandems...since Montrose's equally tasteless and musically inadequate '' Jump on It'' eight years earlier." Though he conceded that "die-hard Blackfoot fans may be able to tolerate partially convincing hard rockers like 'Get It On' and 'Young Girl'," he concluded by stating "the surrounding embarrassments are simply too painful to warrant anyone else being exposed to the torment and disappointment that is ''Vertical Smiles''."

Track listing

;Side one # "

Morning Dew "Morning Dew", also known as "(Walk Me Out in the) Morning Dew", is a Contemporary folk music, contemporary folk song by Canadian singer-songwriter Bonnie Dobson. The lyrics relate a fictional conversation in a post-nuclear holocaust world. Ori ...

" (

Bonnie Dobson Bonnie Dobson (born November 13, 1940, in Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada)"Bo ...

cover) - 5:27 # "Living in the Limelight" (

Peter Cetera Peter Paul Cetera Jr. ( ; born September 13, 1944) is a retired American musician best known for being a frontman, vocalist, and bassist for the American rock band Chicago from 1967 until his departure in 1985. His career as a recording artist ...

cover) - 4:02 # "Ride with You" - 3:33 # "Get It On" - 4:29 ;Side two # "Young Girl" - 4:24 # "Summer Days" - 3:19 # "A Legend Never Dies" (

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

cover) - 3:03 # "Heartbeat and Heels" - 3:15 # "In for the Kill" - 3:50

Personnel

Rickey Medlocke Rick Medlocke (born February 17, 1950) is an American musician, best known as the frontman/guitarist for the Southern rock band Blackfoot and a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd. During his first stint with Lynyrd Skynyrd from 1971 to 1972, he played dru ...

- lead and rhythm guitars, lead and backing vocals, guitar synthesizer *

- keyboards, backing vocals * Greg T. Walker - bass, backing vocals * Jakson Spires - drums, backing vocals, percussion * Sherri Jarrel - backing vocals Production * Engineered by

Eddy Offord Edward Offord is an English retired record producer and audio engineer who gained prominence in the 1970s for his work on albums by the progressive rock bands Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Yes. Life and career Offord studied physics at university, an ...

at Eddy Offord Studios, Atlanta, Georgia * Mixed by Eddy Offord and Rick Medlocke *Mastered at Atlantic Studios by Dennis King *Front cover photography: Gary Heery, Bob Defrin *Art Direction: Bob Defrin *Produced by Al Nalli and Eddy Offord for Al Nalli Productions, INC.

Charts

References

1975 albums Blackfoot (band) albums Albums produced by Eddy Offord {{1970s-rock-album-stub