Brewer & Shipley-Weeds (1969)

Linked to the American counterculture of the late 1960s, Brewer and Shipley are one of the most respected duos in melodic folk rock. With a style reminiscent of another great American duo, the legendary Seals and Crofts, their music was imbued with catchy, reflective melodies, with recurring themes of human rights, the American Dream, and drug references, as evidenced in their controversial 1970 song "One Toke Over The Line". In 1968, under the A&M Records label, they debuted with the album "Down in L.A. ", for which the label provided them with a number of talented musicians such as Leon Russell, Jim Messina, and Jim Gordon, among other prominent artists from the Californian music scene. "Weeds", released a year later, was notable for being released on a new record label, Karma Sutra Records, and featured collaborations with Mike Bloomfield and Nicky Hopkins. This second release featured several folk-rock covers, such as Bob Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower" and Jim Pepper's "Witchi-Tai-To". However, it was with their third album, "Tarkio" (1970), that they achieved their best work, a collection of energetic and vibrant folk-rock songs like the aforementioned "One Take Over the Line", or the highly accomplished "Song From Platte River" and "Fifty States of Freedom", where they recount, among other things, the loss of personal freedoms, all performed excellently with great, harmonious vocal work. "Shake Off The Demon" (1971) and "Rural Space" (1972) were their subsequent albums, where they continued to produce brilliant folk-rock collections, although without contributing any major hits, but with some commendable covers such as Jackson Browne's "Rock Me On The Water" and "Blues Highway" by Electric Flag guitarist Nick Gravenites. With all these albums, Brewer and Shipley managed to place themselves among the greats of American folk rock, just when the style was at the peak of its popularity, creating an exquisite musicality, with refined, harmonious melodies, very attractive to the general public.