Rock Archeologia

Michael Parks - Closing The Gap (1969 Vinyl Rip) 

Artist: Michael Parks
Album: Closing The Gap
Label: MGM Records
Catalog#: SE-4646
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album
Country: US
Released: 1969
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Duration: 00:38:32

• Like every tune that's in the album. I didn't have to sing any song I didn't like, which is nice because I was raised on country music. I think it's authentic. I think every tune comes from somewhere—you know there's a story in every tune. They're all valid, including the five new tunes that are in the album. The rest of them my mother sang to me when I was on her knee and she used to sing me to sleep with them, she even sings "My Little Buckaroo" with me on this album. (Photo lower left). The five new tunes are: "Softly and Tenderly," and "Ride 'Em, Cowboy" written by James Hendricks. "Pretty Piece of Paper" and "Sneakin' in the Back Door of Love" were written by Buddy Biglow, and "MidnightWind" was written by Foy Willing. When I was a kid: used to sing to myself. In this album, I felt like singing and sang. I made a tape of a song to see if I could sing. James Hendricks heard it and said he would like to produce the album for me (Photo top left).
• Country is very simple to me. The music is uncluttered—it's something that I think, well, I don't know, there isn't a tune that you don't relate—that you can't relate to somewhere. I don't believe in the abstract. Take "OklahomaHills,"forexample.There is a history behind every song—behind that one—Woody Guthrie was sitting in Washington Square in New York during the Depression—flat broke—busted, in other words, when he wrote "Oklahoma Hills." He was sitting in Washington Square in New York and he wrote "Oklahoma Hills" whe're he was born. The song has a lot of feeling.
• Everything, everything is subjective, and once in a great while subjectivity is a sham. Now that may not sound simple, but as long as the feeling is good, I think it's simple. I don't like to see anything cute on the back of an album. Either you like the thing or you don't like the thing. I hope that you do. I think the tunes all tell a story. That's one thing I like about it. There's nothing abstract in any of the tunes. If you can't relate to them I'm sorry and I wish you better listening somewhere else. I hope people who listen to the album look at the back and the notes, and I say to them I really hope you enjoyed it. - Michael Parks.

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 • Side One:
A1. Oklahoma Hills 04:00
A2. Pretty Piece of Paper 03:33
A3. Midnight Wind 03:28
A4. San Antonio Rose 02:44
A5. Soldier's Last Letter 03:08
A6. Wayfarin' Stranger 03:26
 • Side Two:
B1. Ride'Em, Cowboy 02:20
B2. Softly and Tenderly 03:08
B3. Tie Me To Your Apron Strings Again 02:55
B4. Won't You Ride in My Little Red Wagon 02:00
B5. Treasure Untold 02:37
B6. Sneakin' in the Back Door of Love 02:39
B7. Little Buckaroo 02:29

     Arranged and produced by James Hendricks
     String arrangements by Mike Rubini
     Recorded at Sunset Sound Studios, Hollywood, California
     Director of Engineering: Val Valentin
     Engineer for the album: Douglas Botnick
     Design: Camera 5 / Photography: Ivan Nagy

Personel:
Jim Burton - lead guitar and dobro
Mike Rubini - piano
John Guerin, Jim Gordon - drums
Bob West - bass
Carl Walden - steel guitar and harmonica
Glenn Keener - rhythm guitar
Michael Parks - vocals

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