Rock Archeologia

The Glass Bottle - Glass Bottle (1970 Avco Embassy Revords)

Ⓟ & © 1970 Avco Embassy Revords

Catalog#: AVE-33012

• The Glass Bottle was an American pop band fronted by Gary Criss, whose song about bitterness and heartbreak, "I Ain't Got Time Anymore," was recorded in 1970, and reached #36 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in September 1971. The band was co-produced by Dickie Goodman. Goodman had an advertising deal with a PR firm that was trying to save the glass industry from losing soda pop clients to plastic bottles, so Goodman and partner Bill Ramal formed a group, called them "The Glass Bottle," and produced their album. The group produced two hits, "I Ain't Got Time Anymore" and "The Girl Who Loved Me When," before breaking up and drifing into obscurity.

• This LP is worth owning simply for the hysterical cover showing six happenin' folks decked out in their hippest threads. Love the hippy beads two of the guys are wearing and the scarf the more conservative geek is sporting.

• Co-produced by Bill Ramal and the late Dickie Goodman, musically 1970's "The Glass Bottle" is kind of a disappointment. Apparently a studio outfit, the album doesn't even provide full performance credits. Gary Criss is credited with handling most of the lead vocals, with Dennis Dees (I'm guessing the black guy) and Carol Denmark (I'm guessing she's the black lady) handling a couple of tracks. No idea who the three other folks were. In spite of their young and cool look, this largely anonymous outfit are in fact a pretty conventional pop outfit - exemplified by material such as 'Sorry Suzanne' if you think along the lines of England's Brotherhood of Man you'll be in the right area. Sure, there are a couple of nice moments, including the bubblegum-ish 'Honey Do' and the atypically rocking 'Red River Sal'. Unfortunately, too much of the set is given over to insipid over-orchestrated ballads such as 'Pretty Thing', 'Love for Living' and 'Velvet'. Elsewhere the track 'Wonderwheel' was featured in an AVCO Embassy movie entitled "The People Next Door".

               • Side 1

              1. Sorry Suzanne (Macauley - Stephens) 2:44
              2.  Pretty Thing (Jeff Barry - Ellie Greenwich) 2:52
              3.  Honey Do (Jeff Barry - Sanders) 2:15
              4. Red River Sal (Levitt - Raisin) 3:42
              5. Velvet (Appel - Cretecos) 3:15
               • Side 2
              1. Love for Living (C. Terry) 3:01
              2. Wonderwheel (English - Weiss) 2:56
              3. The First Time (Dayton Callie) 2 :49
              4. Make Me a Woman (Chuck Gordon) 2:58
              5. Boys In the Band (Leiber - Stoller) 2:54

• A follow-up single 'I Ain't Got Time Anymore' b/w 'Things'

(AVCO Embassy catalog number AVE-4574) went top-40.

There may also be a sophomore LP with the same title, but I've never seen or heard it.

In case anyone cares, Criss recorded a couple of pre-Glass Bottle solo efforts.

 He also briefly reappeared in the mid-1970s on the disco-oriented

Salsoul label, enjoying a couple of dance hits with material

such as 'Rio De Janeiro' and 'Brazilian Nights'.

• Band members:

Gary Criss - lead vocals

Dennis Dees - vocals

Carol Demark - vocals

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