Sealed LP: Michael Stanley: Ladies' Choice

$

30

Michael Stanley

Ladies' Choice

FACTORY SEALED LP

Format: Sealed Album

Country: U.S.A.

Record Company & Release Number: Epic: PE 33917

Original release date: 1976

Bar Code: NONE

Condition of the cover: Mint

Condition of this sealed album: Sealed - Assumed Mint

My inventory number: 209361D

Shipping Weight: 1 pounds, 1 ounces

Notes:

This Sealed Album came from a record store in Allentown, Pennsylvania called "Phantasmagoria" which went out of business in 1978. I purchased most of their unsold inventory several years later when I owned "Music Madness" - a new & used record store in Catasauqua, Pennsylvania.

Since this Sealed Album was part of Phantasmagoria's inventory when they closed in 1978, it cannot be any newer than a 1978 pressing. Being a Sealed Album, I cannot tell specifically what pressing it is prior to 1978. In some cases, hype stickers might help to determine if it is a first pressing, but I cannot be any more specific.

Phantasmagoria used round colored stickers to indicate the price of their inventory. They had a sign on the wall with the color sticker combinations for the customers to use so they knew the price of what they were purchasing. Some of the Sealed Albums still have these stickers on them, and in some rare cases, the stickers are written on. Some of the Sealed Albums have prices on them. This is the price you would have paid for this Sealed Album in 1978 if you had bought it at Phantasmagoria. If this Sealed Album has a price on it, please don't confuse the price with the current value for this Sealed Album.

- - -

• Ladies' Choice
• Calcutta Auction
• Strike up the Band
• Heavy Weight
• One Good Reason
• Let It Slide
• Blue Jean Boy
• Old Dancin' Fool
• Edge of the Sky
• Love Hasn't Been Here
• Choice and Sanborn
• 1976

• Dan Pecchio: Bass, Vocals
• Bill Szymczyk: Producer
• Michael Stanley Band: Performer
• Tommy Dobeck: Percussion, Drums, Vocals
• Jonah Koslen: Guitar (Acoustic), Slide Guitar, Guitar (Electric), Vocals
• Michael Stanley: Guitar (Acoustic), Vocals, Liner Notes, Main Performer, Guitar (Electric), Guitar

Album Review for "Ladies' Choice"

The Michael Stanley Band's skills were obviously increasing by its second album, 1976's Ladies' Choice. It also leaned more toward rockers than ballads, whereas the material on the previous year's You Break It, You Bought It! was a more even split. Once again, Bill Szymczyk handled production duties and Ladies' Choice also continued Stanley's practice of having high-profile guest musicians sit on some sessions. "Ladies' Choice" has a country-rock and MOR feel, but Stanley says in the Razor & Tie reissue liner notes that Szymczyk viewed it as a reggae number. "Calcutta Auction" is slinky funk-rock highlighted by Stanley's gritty vocals and lead guitarist Jonah Koslen's buzzing, overdriven solos. Koslen's infectious anthem "Strike up the Band" immediately became a live favorite that the band included in its set for years. "Heavy Weight" is mid-tempo hard rock, and Seth Justman of the J. Geils Band is featured on organ. "One Good Reason" is one of the most creative songs the Michael Stanley Band ever recorded. Bassist Daniel Pecchio and drummer Tom Dobeck drive the song with a slow, funky, and off-kilter beat while guest David Sanborn contributes alternately smoky and scalding alto saxophone lines and guest Albhy Galuten's pulsating synthesizer accents add the perfect touch. According to Stanley's liner-notes comments, the bright rocker "Let It Slide" was a rip-off of the Eagles' "Already Gone." Koslen's piano-driven ballad "Blue Jean Boy" is a clever rumination about road life and settling down; it's the kind of song that Elton John and Bernie Taupin would write. Stanley cheerfully admits that the short instrumental "Choice and Sanborn" was simply an excuse to have Sanborn stick around the studio and play some more. ~ Bret Adams, All Music Guide

Michael Stanley biography by Bret Adams

Cleveland native Michael Stanley became a regional phenomenon, but the singer/songwriter/guitarist and his Michael Stanley Band deserved more national success than they achieved. Stanley, whose real name was Michael Stanley Gee, played bass with the folk-rock group Silk in the late 1960s. He then went solo and released two solo albums in the early '70s that fit right in with the singer/songwriter era. His talent attracted the likes of producer Bill Szymczyk and guest musicians Joe Walsh, Todd Rundgren, and David Sanborn from the beginning.

He formed the Michael Stanley Band (aka MSB) in 1975 and pursued a more straightforward rock direction. The group recorded a string of albums through the late '70s and early '80s that were modest successes nationally but major hits in Ohio. In fact, the Michael Stanley Band was such a sensation at home that they held attendance records at major concert venues for many years. 1980's Heartland included the hit single "He Can't Love You" (sung by vocalist/keyboardist Kevin Raleigh) and the minor hit "Lover" (sung by Stanley and featuring blistering saxophone by Clarence Clemons). MSB's second and last Top 40 hit was Stanley's anthem "My Town" in 1983. After recording for Epic, Arista, and EMI, the band independently released two albums on their own before breaking up in 1987.

The Michael Stanley Band were a reliably consistent, meat-and-potatoes enterprise responsible for superb Midwestern rock & roll. Stanley went on to become a popular television and radio personality in Cleveland, regularly releasing albums -- solo and in the one-off group project the Ghost Poets -- and performing annual summer and New Year's Eve shows along with occasional acoustic dates with MSB alumni and other Cleveland musicians. Razor & Tie reissued most of the group's catalog and two excellent best-of collections on compact disc. Michael Stanley died on March 5, 2021, while in treatment for lung cancer; he was 72 years old.

This sealed album is being sold as a collector's item and cannot be returned due to manufacturer's defects. It may be almost impossible to replace many of the sealed albums I am selling. If I am aware of any defects, I will list it in the notes and pictures above.

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All album reviews, credits and artist biographies are from AllMusic Guide. If you haven't been to their web site, you should check it out. It's one of the most comprehensive music references on the internet. In some cases, credits may include reissue (CD) information. Obviously any credits referenced to CDs might not apply to this release.

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