Search - Tom Fogerty :: Deal It Out / Precious Gems

Fogerty's last solo LP and a grab bag of Ruby's

Audio Obscurica | Spectrum of Sound | 12/25/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This European release couples two LPs issued on the Fantasy label, Tom Fogerty's 1981 LP "Deal It Out", with a 1985 compilation, entitled "Precious Gems", which is made up of recordings from the two LPs that Tom and his band, Ruby, cut between 1976-78.

The first 10 tracks on this disc make up the "Deal It Out" LP. After Ruby, his band from the late 70's, was history, Tom Fogerty retired to the hills of California, and gave up on music. During his time in seclusion, he was approached by a band called "Festival", who asked him about the possibilty of recording together. As it turned out, they would be offering their services as a backing band, on what resulted in the "Deal It Out" LP, released in 1981.

"Deal It Out" used many musicians, as opposed to Tom's earlier LPs, which featured basic units built around local players. In addition to Festival, members from Van Morrison's band were on board to help out. Unfortunately, they also decide to take care of post-production work, and Festival's members assert that the finished product doesn't resemble the preliminary mixes at all.

Enough nit-picking, "Deal It Out" starts off with a Clifford/Fogerty composition - "Champagne Love", which we assume materialized during the CCR reunion at Tom's wedding the year previous. Who knows? This track could have passed for a country single in its day, in light of Tom's voice and what passed as country... but it wasn't promoted and disappeared promptly. "Why Me" is a slow track, I generally don't listen to it so much, but the "slow groovers" might catch it. "Real Real Gone" is a Van Morrison cover, and it's entertaining to hear Tom emulate Morrison's voice. "Tricia Suzanne" is about Tom's 2nd wife, whom he had just married the year previous, and would remain with for the rest of his life. "Mystery Train" is a decent, if not remarkable cover of the Elvis staple. The title track, "Deal It Out" resembles, lyrically, Tom's work of old, although it was written by one of the backing musicians. "Open The Window" would have made a decent single cut, and a second Morrison cover is found in "You Move Me", another number done competently. "The Secret" is Tom's only other track as sole writer, and he addresses in short order, how he feels about his relation in the spotlight to his brother. Alas, it's a secret! "Summer Night" is another good track, slow and quiet, but it works better than "Why Me", and it an excellent closer. Success!

"Deal It Out" disappeared and never made a dent in the charts. It would be the last of his LP's Tom would see released in his life. A final LP, recorded in 1988 under the name "Rainbow Carousel" would not be issued until 1992, two years after Tom's death, as "Tom Fogerty & Randy Oda - Sidekicks".

"Precious Gems" is a compilation of cuts from Ruby's two LPs, "Ruby" and "Rock 'n' Roll Madness", issued in 1976 & 1977, respectively, on the small PBR International label, whose only claim to fame is that they issued the illegit David Wigg "Beatles Tapes" set here in the US.

Ruby was a sort of rock-disco-funk band comprised of Tom Fogerty, asian Randy Oda, and two black musicians, Bobby Cochran, drummer, and Anthony Davis, on bass. All of the members shared vocal duties. Perhaps one of the things about Ruby, is that the view is generally shared that it was Tom's band, but most of the highlights don't come from him. The compilation doesn't draw on some of those stronger tracks ("Starry-Eyed" comes to mind), but does, in all fairness, show the talents of the other members, allowing such 'gems' to shine.

Oddly enough, the tracks here haved been drastically remixed! Quite unusual, considering that in '84 this band had been gone for six years... Still odd is the fact that such an obscure band would be chronicled with a comp in the first place...

The music on this album would probably been an acquired taste, but I like it, however, anyone who bought the other Tom Fogerty albums might be disappointed in the music of Ruby, it does reak strobe lights, mirror balls and platform shoes...

And this CD includes, as a bonus track, the first Ruby single, "Judy Lee", which was issued on Tom's "Ginseng" label, which quietly died after said release.

This CD is pricey, and quality doesn't compensate. Someone was careless with the cheapo, PC-based noise reduction functions. However, despite the fact that it totally destroyed the other Tom Fogerty CDs, it doesn't really get in the way here. Digital recordings, I guess, produced results that needed little tweaking...

Liner notes? A measly (and incorrect) discography and whoever pressed these reissues felt the urge to credit Tom's late-70's band Ruby as the backing musicians on every album Tom ever did... All of the CDs in the Tom Fogerty reissue series suffer the same fate, but apparently someone did correct the error, and a very informative credit listing appears on the back of some copies...

Artwork? Front covers, only. What you see on here is all you get... All of the Tom Fogerty reissues from ZYX suffer the same fate. Repetitive packaging.

Buy it for the music, nothing else..."