Being born and raised in a musical household, a young Phoebe Laud would be shaped by the sounds of Delta blues, Broadway show tunes, Dixieland jazz, classical music, and folk music recordings which were played around the clock. It was these sounds that would lead her to picking up the guitar, and learning to play.
After graduating high school, she could be found on the campus of Shimer College, where she would go from place to place with her guitar. Rather than focusing on graduating, Laud would instead go to local clubs at any opportunity to perform on amateur nights.
It was in 1972 at The Bitter End club that co-owner of Shelter Records, Denny Cordell, would see her perform. Immediately impressed, he convinced his partner, Leon Russell to sign her. Adopting the stage name, Phoebe Snow, she would release her self titled debut in 1974.
The single, Poetry Man would become a top five hit in 1975, and garner a Grammy Award nomination for Best New Artist. This success would be followed by a tour as the opening act for both Paul Simon and Jackson Browne. She would also appear on Saturday Night Live with Simon and Linda Rondstadt that same year, where she would perform both solo and duet songs.
Legal conflict and battles with Shelter Records would lead to Snow signing with Columbia Records to release her next two albums, Second Childhood, and third entry, It Looks Like Snow. Both were released in 1976, and while the first would meet with the same gold certification as her debut, the latter would not fare as well.
1977 would see the release of the album, Never Letting Go, and be followed by Against The Grain in 1978. However, stresses of having to jugle a musical career with being a parent ultimately resulted with her leaving Columbia, unable to focus on music.
It wouldn't be until 1981 that she would return to the studio, signing with Mirage, to release today's Retro Spin, Rock Away. For me personally, Phoebe Snow didn't land on my radar until sometime in 2023, when I heard the tune, Games. It intrigued me enough that I wanted to track down the album.
I knew going into it, based on Games, that the album was going to be a departure from the genere norm I was more accustomed to. I expected a blues rock album, and Rock Away certainly delivers this in spades.
Unfortunately, what it doesn't deliver is too many hits. Of the ten tracks, Shoo-Rah Shoo-Rah was the only other song, in addition to Games, which piqued my interest. Even then, I wouldn't say it was necesarily a powerhouse of a track.
The album is a bit to ballad driven for my tastes, and in reading the original reviews upon its release, I appear to not be alone in this aspect. Many felt that Snow's departure from her prior styles of music hindered her ability to have any impact. Having not personally heard anything prior to her 1981 album, I have to take their word when they say she shines when she moreso replicates the stylistic vocals of Bonnie Raitt.
Overall, for me, Rock Away didn't resonate, and this was kind of disappointing. I was really expecting something powerful, a good blues rock album with hard hitting guitar work, which I simply didn't get. But, again, I don't appear to be alone in this impression.
After its lackluster reception, Snow would take a long hiatus from the studio, not returning until 1989's Something Real. In between this, she would focus her talents instead on singing commercial jingles for the likes of AT&T, General Foods International Coffees, Salon Selectives, Stouffer's, and Hampton Bay Ceiling Fans. She would also provide the vocals, typically only for the first season, of popular shows such as A Different World, and 9 to 5.
I'm honestly not very interested in listening to her final album of the 80's, but at the same time, I kind of want to jump into it just to get beyond it. That's not a very strong lead in. I don't know, maybe I will be pleasantly surprised.
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| THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS May 15, 1982 |
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