BANDERA - KNIGHTS (USA '81 SOUTHERN ROCK)

Bandera "Knights" (MCA Records, 1981) (LP)

(Produced by Leon Tsilis & Pat Higdon)
A little-known Southern rock band formed by California-born jack-of-all-trades Lawrence Shoberg (aka Lore Orion) (1949-2013) who started the band while struggling in late-'70s Nashville. These guys tried to go national but fell short, despite signing with MCA and recording their lone album, which is pretty much just a rock record. There isn't much country in their sound, which is mainly build around shrill vocals, a sludgy rhythm section and Allman-esque twin guitars that rarely show a glimmer of originality or a distinctive tone. Fans of .38 Special or Rossington/Collins, et. al., might enjoy this rather workmanlike album, but nothing here really moved me. One of the band's principal songwriters, Lore Orion, was also a visual artist who apparently designed album covers for the New Riders Of The Purple Sage (as well as the one for this album) and also wrote children's books before concentrating on music. He had modest success pitching songs in Nashville, initially with a Top Ten hit for Bill Anderson in 1976 ("That's What Made Me Love You") and again after Bandera broke up, when Chris Ledoux and Tim McGraw covered a few tunes (though nothing that wound up as a single...) One of these songs, "Illegal," is on this album in its original form as a sort of clunky redneck reggae. All in all, a pretty negligible disc, but the iceberg-tip of a remarkable career.

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