Missouri Welcome Two Missouri Polydor 1979

Missouri Welcome Two Missouri Polydor 1979 CAT# PD-1-6206

Meh, nothing but a bunch of meh-ness from this Kansas City band on their major label debut.  And, it's kind of hard to figure out all the MOR numbers on this album.  Was it the labels fault?  The band?  What was the reason for virtually no excitement on this record.

The first album was decent bar-band stuff.  This however, it's still bar-band stuff, but it's a bit more polished and lost some of the appeal in the process.  Some of the numbers have flashes of something that would at least got people off their ass, but the band keeps it at a medium pace; they aren't about to rock you despite that their tunes could have.  I'm just confused, did they walk into the studio and say, "Hey, we got some rockin' tracks for Polydor."  To which Polydor replied, "That's great, sure they rock, but do the tracks sound like the Eagles?"

To me, the album sounds like a dirty bar band trying to sound like the Eagles.  There's a smoothness to this entire record that would have been better served without.  Either way, this album marked the end of the band, Missouri.  The album features a re-recorded version of the band's surprise hit, "Movin' On," it's not any better and it's really not worse, although, people seem to cite the first version as superior.  It's just meh, the entire album is bland. devoid of color, and boring (however, second to last song, "Love on the Run", cool drum intro and synths begging to be sampled, but still, meh).

A collection of tunes

Missouri S/T Panama Records 1977

Missouri S/T Panama Records 1977 CAT # PRS-1022

Missouri was a Kansas City band led by Ron West. In the late 60's, West fronted a fairly cool garage band called the Chessman.  He and his brothers played the local scene relying on British Invasion covers and a few originals.  After the garage scene ended, Ron couldn't quite the music business.  Like many former garage rockers, when AOR gained favor, West went in the same direction.  His brother, Gary West, actually did the same helping to form the band Shooting Star.

The album Ron West created is a nice little success story.  It was put out by Panama Records in Kansas City.  It doesn't appear Panama Records did much outside a handful of local releases, however, despite being independent in a time where major labels dominated, the song "Movin' On" became a modest hit on AOR stations in the late 70's.  While most the success was regionally based, it got the band onto Polydor records for the second album and on national tours as a supporting artist.

Another thing the lack of major label money did was create an enjoyable album from start to finish.  In an era of progressive rock and overly produced studio rock, Missouri sounds like roots rockers.  The recording sounds organic and live.  Gives the LP a timeless feel and wins over the likes of other KC bands like Shooting Star and Morningstar.  The band would get a slicker sound on their major label LP, however, the didn't completely lose touch with the sound on this album.

What I can't stand about the album is the cover.  I get that the Arch is a Missouri landmark, but the Kansans and Missourians in Kansas City can usually agree on two things and two things only; Kansas City is great and St. Louis sucks.  Missouri is a Kansas City band, not cool to try to sell yourself as a St. Louis act.  And, where the hell are those mountains from?  Oh wait, they're from fucking Arizona.  I suppose, I could make the connection as the last in the lower 48 to become a state, Arizona represents Manifest Destiny better than any other state, but that's a lot of explaining for an album cover and probably isn't right.

Movin' On
I'm Still Tryin'