One Hit Wonder: Stories

Welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm today's host, Jumpin' John McDermott.  In this edition of the One Hit Wonders series on Rock and Roll Flashback I will discuss the band Stories, their chart topping 1973 hit, "Brother Louie", and their underappreciated album Traveling Underground.

All podcasts on the Rock and Roll Flashback Podcast are produced by brothers-in-law Bill Price and "Jumpin' John" McDermott.  The Podcast Theme Song, "You Essay", was written by John.  It was initially recorded by Bill and John on April 1, 2004 with several revisions since then. 
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Transcript

Thank you for that introduction, and welcome to Rock and Roll Flashback!  I'm today's host, Jumpin' John McDermott.  In this edition of the One Hit Wonders series on Rock and Roll Flashback I will discuss the band Stories, their chart topping 1973 hit, "Brother Louie", and their underappreciated album Traveling Underground.

Peter Buonconsiglio and Harry Lookofsky had worked together for many years as session violinists.  Their young sons were also accomplished musicians, and Peter and Harry introduced their sons to each other.  Lloyd Buonconsiglio was classically trained on piano and violin, was a recorded singer, and was known professionally as Lloyd London.  Michael David Lookofsky, who was known professionally as Michael Brown, was a keyboardist and successful songwriter.  As a teenager Michael Brown had been the primary songwriter for the New York City band that called themselves The Left Banke, and he had written two Top 20 hits for them.  The Left Banke's "Walk Away Renee" reached #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and "Pretty Ballerina" reached #15 on the Hot 100.  Rock and Roll Flashback podcasts plans to air a future podcast about the forgotten rock band The Left Banke.

Lloyd London became Ian Lloyd, started playing bass in addition to singing, and he and Michael Brown formed a band they called Stories.  They envisioned their band sounding somewhat like the Beatles Revolver album.  In 1971 they recruited New Yorkers Steve Love on guitar and Brian Madey on drums, and began recording at Bell Sound Studios.  The result was a debut album called Stories, which was released by Kama Sutra Records in May 1972.  The album contains ten originals co-written by Michael Brown and Ian Lloyd, including “Winter Scenes,” “Saint James,” “Nice to Have You Here,” and the single “I’m Coming Home”.  Guitarist Steve Love harmonizes with bassist Lloyd, who sings all leads while Brown plays piano, harpsichord, organ, and Moog synthesizer.  The songs “You Told Me” and “Kathleen” feature the founders violinist fathers, Harry Lookofsky and Peter Buonconsiglio, and the back cover pictures both father and son pairs.  Unfortunately the album didn't chart well, only reaching #182 on the Billboard 200 album chart.  The single "I'm Coming Home" reached #42 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972.

Later that year, working with renowned producer Eddie Kramer, the four band members recorded a second album called About Us.  Rock and Roll Flashback podcasts plans to air a future podcast about the influential engineer and producer Eddie Kramer.  Recording sessions spanned from October 1972 through January 1973 in New York at Bell Sound and in London at Olympic Studios.  The album, as originally released in early 1973, contained twelve songs.  Eleven songs were co-written by Michael Brown and Ian Lloyd, including the “Hey France”, “Please, Please”, and the baroque ballads “Love Is In Motion” and “What Comes After.”  Brown plays piano, harpsichord, and mellotron on About Us, which features dual guitar and sitar by Steve Love, who wrote the Side B opener “Changes Have Begun.”  Stories self-produced eight songs on the album.  Four of the songs, “Darling,” “Hey France,” “Please, Please,” and “Changes Have Begun”, were recorded with Eddie Kramer producing.

Between the album’s completion and release, MIchael Brown abruptly left Stories.  The remaining Stories band members recruited bassist Kenny Aaronson and pianist Ken Bichel to replace Brown.  Having Aaronson on board freed up Lloyd to concentrate on singing.  The original About Us LP was not very successful on the charts.

However, the new five member band saw the success that the band Hot Chocolate was having in the United Kingdom with their hit "Brother Louie".  Stories recorded their version of the song, and Kama Sutra issued it, backed with "What Comes After", in May 1973 as the Stories' fifth single.  "Brother Louie" became a huge hit, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 25th, 1973.  The song remained on the Billboard chart for 18 weeks and was awarded an RIAA gold disc on August 22nd, 1973.  It also reached #1 on the Cashbox chart, #22 on the R&B chart, and #1 in Canada.  "Brother Louie" would end up being ranked #13 on 1973's year-end Billboard Hot 100.

Here is the Stories 1973 chart topping hit, "Brother Louie":

In July 1973 Kama Sutra re-released a new version of the About Us LP with a thirteenth track: “Brother Louie”.  The re-released version quickly moved up the charts and peaked at #29 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart. 

[play intro to the Stories version of "Traveling Underground"]

That was the intro to the Stories song "Traveling Underground".  It was the closing track on the B side of Stories third album, Traveling Underground.  For their third album the band was now being billed as Ian Lloyd & Stories.  For the Traveling Underground LP sessions Ian Lloyd fronts the reconfigured five-piece lineup with recent recruit Kenny Aaronson on bass, co-founders Steve Love on guitar and Bryan Madey on drums, and session keyboardist Kenneth Bichel playing a mellotron and an ARP synthesizer.  Stories recorded the album at Bell Sound, with additional work at the LA studios Crystal Sound and United Sound.  They co-produced Traveling Underground with Aaronson’s ex-Dust bandmate Richie Wise.  The resulting Traveling Underground LP contains three songs by Lloyd (“Bridges,” “Stories Untold,” and the title track), two by Love (“Hard When You’re So Far Away" and “I Can’t Understand It”), and the co-written “Soft Rain.”  Lloyd and Bichel co-wrote “Earthbound / Free Fall,” an epic medley inspired by the band Genesis.  Side A contains covers of Climax's “If It Feels Good, Do It” and the much-covered Europop hit “Mammy Blue.”

When Kama Sutra released the Traveling Underground album in December 1973 I purchased a vinyl copy.  Maybe I was high at the time, but I was fascinated by the variety of songs and by their use of keyboards and synthesized effects on the LP.  I still cannot understand why Traveling Underground only reached #208 on the Billboard Albums chart.

From the Traveling Underground LP, here is Stories version of "Soft Rain": 

For the LP the band had recorded the song "Mammy Blue" in 1973 as the follow up single to their #1 hit "Brother Louie".  "Mammy Blue" was released as a single in October 1973.  It sold well regionally, ranking in the Top Ten in Chicago, but only managed to reach a Billboard Hot 100 peak of #50.

Here is an excerpt from the Stories version of "Mammy Blue":

The other single released from the Traveling Underground album was "If It Feels Good, Do It".  Released in February 1974, it only reached #88 on the U.S. pop chart.  

So unfortunately the band Stories would ultimately be remembered as a one hit wonder.  After the release of 1973's Traveling Underground album, Ian Lloyd left the group.  With Lloyd's departure, bassist Kenny Aaronson and keyboardist Ken Bichel stepped in to fill the void.  For the ensuing tour guitarist Steve Love would be replaced by Richie Ranno.  However, by 1975 the band Stories was no more.

All of the Stories band members would go on to further their careers in music.  Starting with his self-titled 1976 debut solo album on Polydor, Ian Lloyd would go on to record several solo albums.  Lloyd also did studio work for Ian McDonald, Gregg Diamond, Foreigner, Fotomaker, and Peter Frampton.  After leaving Stories, Michael Brown went on to form a band called The Beckies, which released a self-titled album in 1976.  Steve Love did session work with Ian Lloyd, Gregg Diamond, Garnet Mimms, Phyllis Hyman, Hall & Oates, and Evelyn "Champaign" King.  In 1982, Love joined the English electro band Landscape .  Brian Madey, after a two album stay with the Earl Slick Band, provided accompaniment for Peggy Lee.  Kenny Aaronson was co-founder of the band Axis, and he did sessions for Hall & Oates, Billy Squier, Leslie West, Foghat, Bob Dylan, and Rick Derringer.  Ken Bichel has done session work, and Richie Ranno recorded four studio albums with the band Starz. 

Thank you for listening to another episode of Rock and Roll Flashback podcasts!  In this episode of One Hit Wonders I reviewed the band Stories, their #1 1973 hit, "Brother Louie", and their third album, Traveling Underground.  At 8 minutes and 15 seconds, the song "Earthbound/Free Fall" was a perfect match for FM radio in 1974.  I will conclude this podcast with the Stories version of "Earthbound/Free Fall" from the Traveling Underground LP. 

So fellow travelers, may your path be smooth and your music always be rockin'!  And until next time...Rock On!