From Rats to Riches

From Rats to Riches
Studio album by
Good Rats
Released1978
GenreRock
LabelPassport (original US & Canadian release)[1]
Radar Records (UK)
Harvest (Germany & Australia)
Mercury (Greece)
ProducerFlo & Eddie
Good Rats chronology
Ratcity in Blue
(1976) 		From Rats to Riches
(1978) 		Rats, The Way You Like 'Em
(1979)

From Rats to Riches is an album by the American rock band Good Rats, released in 1978.[2][3] It was produced by Flo & Eddie.[4] Joe Franco's drumming was influenced primarily by Tony Williams and Carmine Appice.[5]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music[7]
The New Rolling Stone Record Guide[8]

The Poughkeepsie Journal deemed From Rats to Riches "East Coast urban rock," writing that "underlying all of these darkly decadent circumstances is a determination to get out from under the crowd."[9] The Morning News labeled it "solid, blues-based hard rock from a Zappa-like group."[10]

AllMusic called the album "strong but overlooked."[3] Chuck Eddy, in Terminated for Reasons of Taste, wrote: "Heavier than I would have guessed, and more lyrically and structurally eccentric ... than I figured from supposed bar-band hacks, with sonic influences running the gamut from doo-wop to prog to maybe even punk."[11] Noting a 1993 reissue, Newsday deemed Good Rats "the tri-state area's greatest bar band."[12] The Encyclopedia of Popular Music considered it Good Rats' best album.[7]

Track listing

  1. "Taking It to Detroit" – 3:36
  2. "Just Found Me a Lady" – 2:50
  3. "Mr. Mechanic" – 3:39
  4. "Dear Sir" – 3:12
  5. "Let Me" – 4:45
  6. "Victory in Space" – 3:06
  7. "Coo Coo Coo Blues" – 4:37
  8. "Don't Hate the Ones Who Bring You Rock & Roll" – 3:18
  9. "Could Be Tonight" – 2:54
  10. "Local Zero" – 5:08

Personnel

  • Mickey Marchello - Guitar and Vocals
  • Joe Franco - Drums
  • Peppi Marchello - Lead Vocals, Songwriting
  • John "The Cat" Gatto - Guitar and Keyboards
  • Lenny Kotke - Bass and Vocals

References

  1. ^ "Home". Good Rats.
  2. ^ Ames, Lynne (7 May 1978). "'The Cradle for a Certain Kind of Rock Scene': The 'Farm Leagues' of Rock". The New York Times. p. LI31.
  3. ^ a b "The Good Rats Biography & History". AllMusic.
  4. ^ Robins, Wayne (3 Feb 1978). "Blunt sound of 'Rats'". Newsday. p. 17A.
  5. ^ D'Amore, Jon (7 Apr 1978). "The Music Scence". Herald News. North Jersey. p. D11.
  6. ^ "Rats to Riches". AllMusic.
  7. ^ a b Larkin, Colin (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music. Vol. 3. MUZE. p. 815.
  8. ^ The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. Random House. 1983. p. 202.
  9. ^ Sleight, Peter (10 Feb 1978). "'Good Rats' tucked away in a storm". Poughkeepsie Journal. p. 2.
  10. ^ Mullinax, Gary (26 Mar 1978). "Good Rats: solid". The Morning News. p. D2.
  11. ^ Eddy, Chuck (August 25, 2016). Terminated for Reasons of Taste: Other Ways to Hear Essential and Inessential Music. Duke University Press. ISBN 9780822373896 – via Google Books.
  12. ^ Robins, Wayne (12 Dec 1993). "The '70's from A to Z: Good Rats". Fanfare. Newsday. p. 10.