Mixed Bag Explained

Mixed Bag
Type:	studio
Artist:	Richie Havens
Cover:	Havens-Mixed_Bag.jpg
Released:	Late 1966
Recorded:	July 7, September 12 & 20, 1966
Genre:	folk, jazz, singer-songwriter
Length:	37:54
Label:	Verve
Producer:	John Court
Next Title:	Something Else Again
Next Year:	1968

Mixed Bag is the debut studio album by Richie Havens, released in 1966. Although it was Havens' first album release, Douglas Records later issued two unauthorized albums of material that had been recorded prior to the Mixed Bag recording sessions—Electric Havens (1968) and Richie Havens' Record (1969). Mixed Bag was released after Havens signed on with manager Albert Grossman and was released on Verve Folkways, a new folk music imprint of Verve Records.^[1]

Mixed Bag is frequently cited as the singer's best work, and was his first album to appear on Billboard's charts (appearing on both the jazz and pop charts). The recording was the first to introduce a wider audience to Havens's rich baritone vocals and the full-sound of Havens's distinct guitar style (thumb-chorded and played in open E tuning). Electric Havens and Mixed Bag were two of the records reported among the personal collection of Havens' one-time Greenwich Village buddy, Jimi Hendrix.^[2]

Track listing

1. "High Flyin' Bird" (Billy Edd Wheeler) – 3:35
2. "I Can't Make It Anymore" (Gordon Lightfoot) – 2:48
3. "Morning, Morning" (Tuli Kupferberg) – 2:17
4. "Adam" (Havens) – 3:34
5. "Follow" (Jerry Merrick) – 6:22
6. "Three Day Eternity" (Havens) – 2:15
7. "Sandy" (Jean Pierre Cousineau) – 3:12
8. "Handsome Johnny" (Louis Gossett Jr., Havens) – 3:53
9. "San Francisco Bay Blues" (Jesse Fuller) – 2:30
10. "Just Like a Woman" (Bob Dylan) – 4:46
11. "Eleanor Rigby" (John Lennon, Paul McCartney) – 2:42

Personnel

• Richie Havens – guitar, sitar, vocals
  • Harvey Brooks – bass Paul Harris – organ, piano, keyboards
• Bill LaVorgna – drums
• Howard Collins – guitar
• Joe Price – tabla on "Adam"
• Paul "Dino" Williams – acoustic guitar on "Follow"

Technical personnel

• Cover photo – Barry Feinstein
  • Director of engineering – Val Valentin Produced by Groscourt Productions, Inc.
• Production Supervisor – Jerry Schoenbaum
• Arranged by Bruce Langhorne for "I Can't Make It Anymore"
• Arranged by Felix Pappalardi for "Morning, Morning"
• Mastered for Compact Disc by Dennis M. Drake at PolyGram Studios

Releases

The album was initially released on vinyl in 1966 on Verve Folkways, a newly formed folk section at the Verve division of MGM Records. It was re-released as a CD in 1993 on PolyGram Records. In 2004, Mixed Bag was combined with two other Havens albums on a double CD titled Flyin' Bird: The Verve Forecast Years, a limited-edition release of 3,000 individually numbered copies.^[3]

year	format	label	catalog #
1966	LP	Verve Folkways	FTS-3006
1967	LP	Verve/PolyGram	2317 002
1967		Polydor/PolyGram	835 210
1970	LP	MGM	SE 4698
	CD	Verve/PolyGram	835 210
1993	CD	Verve/PolyGram
2004	2CD	Verve/Hip-O Select/Universal	^[4]

Notes and References

1. Ellen Geisel, "Richie Havens: Seeker of Change", Dirty Linen, 65, August–September 1968, p. 44-47
2. James Rotondi, "Listening Experience: Jimi Hendrix' Personal Record Collection", Guitar Player, 30:4, April 1996, p. 37-42
3. Brian Mathieson, Richie Havens Recordings(link)
4. This is the double CD release, High Flyin' Bird: The Verve Forecast Years (Hip-O Select/Universal), which combines Mixed Bag with Something Else Again and Richard P. Havens, 1983. The release was limited to 3,000 individually numbered copies (link at Hip-oselect.com).