My thoughts on the 1973 album Lions Share:
For starters, it’s under rated. But that’s the story of my life!
Lions Share came after Hellbound Train so that was a tough act to follow. It didn’t do so well as its predecessor, I think partly because there wasn’t a block buster song on the record and also because it was a more purist recording.
My camp of people thought I had got away from the blues roots on Hellbound Train and so it was back to a more straight forward approach on Lions Share.
I dropped the Fender Stratocaster in favor of a 355 ( I used to have a few of those!). The 355 is a great blues guitar and I figured that instrument would get me in the right mood. And I believe I played through an old Fender Twin amp.
My personal life was complicated through the 70’s and this was the last album of that decade that I think I really played really well on. My life became too difficult as those years unfolded and I ended up in a pretty bad place.
On a brighter note! The album cover was great…..nice original flap design on the vinyl issue.
My favorite song? I’d have to play the album again now to remind myself of what was recorded! I do play Shot in the Head live on stage these days and I think that’s an excellent song. It was thought at the time that the song had some of the qualities of a previous hit for the band Tell Mama……nice chorus hook, slide guitar etc. But, in finality, it was no Tell Mama……..
I can’t believe Lions Share was recorded so long ago. I much preferred that time, musically, to where we all are at now. But there again, I prefer society as it was in the 1940’s so I’m just a Luddite!
All the best,
Kim Simmonds