CoronaVinyl Day 265 (F): Firefall by Firefall

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Today's CoronaVinyl category is "F," and I do, in fact, have two albums by late '70s/early '80s soft rockers Firefall.  Let's go with their 1976 self-titled debut album.

Firefall was formed in 1974 by former members of The Flying Burrito Brothers (guitarist Rick Roberts and drummer Michael Clarke), Spirit (bassist Mark Andes), Zephyr (guitarist Jock Bartley), and guitarist Larry Burnett.

I'd describe their music as a mixture of soft rock, country rock, and folk rock, with a smidgen of southern rock.  It's kind of like a mixture of The Eagles, America, CSN, and Neil Young.  Frankly, it's better and a little harder rocking than I thought it would be.

Their self-titled debut did pretty decently, going to #26 on the Billboard album chart.  It was, at the time, the quickest record to go gold in Atlantic Records history, and it has since gone platinum in the U.S.  The album spawned the group's biggest hit, "You Are The Woman," which is decidedly yacht rocky (and is a staple on SiriusXM's Yacht Rock Radio) and went to #9 on the Billboard Hot 100.  In addition, "Cinderella" went to #34 and "Livin' Ain't Livin'" went to #42.

The band's next two albums both went to #11 on the Billboard album chart, and the band had four more Top 40 hits, including two that went to #11 on the Billboard Hot 100.  Eleven was apparently their number, which makes sense if you consider that the two els at the end of Firefall look like an eleven.

Anywho, as tends to happen in rock and roll, the band had various lineup changes over the years, their style of music lost favor in the early '80s, and they broke up in the late '80s.  They reformed in the mid '90s and released an album, but then didn't release another album until 2007 (a Beatles tribute album) and then didn't release another album until 2020.  Bartley has been the only constant member of the band for the last four plus decades.

Favorite song on Side 1:  "No Way Out"
I don't know how to describe this song other than country disco funk rock.  Whatever it is, I like it.

Favorite song on Side 2:  "Mexico"
This is another of the more rocking songs on the album, with a nice interplay between the electric and acoustic guitars, including a solid solo.