Proggers Babe Ruth accidentally become dance music pioneers on First Base

Named after the US baseball icon, Babe Ruth released five albums between 1971 and 1976, experimenting with blues, hard rock and prog. But whilst the quintet hailed from Britain, it was North America that truly embraced them.

The group’s style was built upon the explosive vocals of Janita Haan, who could be described as a hybrid of Janis Joplin and Robert Plant. Haan’s occasionally hoarse delivery was used as a highly effective foil for Alan Shacklock’s guitar playing and a quaintly ingenious array of pianos, saxes, flutes, Mellotrons, trumpets, violins and even flugelhorns.

The debut album’s highlight was The Mexican, the first track Babe Ruth ever recorded, with its funky bass line, driving drum beat and climactic interpolation of Ennio Morricone’s For A Few Dollars More theme. It went on to become popular in hip-hop circles, embraced by New York’s early breakdancers and covered in 1984 by Jellybean Benitez, who took the song to the top of the US dance chart.

“The only awareness I ever had that anything was going on was on tour in Montreal, in 1975,” bassist Dave Hewitt told Classic Rock. “A girl invited me to this nightclub, where they were playing The Mexican. It was mind-boggling, because we saw ourselves as this progressive rock band, and they’re playing the heck out of The Mexican like we’re disco stars.”

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Other albums released in November 1972

• One Man Dog – James Taylor
• Slayed? – Slade
• Europe ’72 – Grateful Dead
• Journey Through the Past – Neil Young
• Transformer – Lou Reed
• Baby James Harvest – Barclay James Harvest
• Homecoming – America
• Seventh Sojourn – The Moody Blues
• Doremi Fasol Latido – Hawkwind
• A Good Feelin’ to Know – Poco
• Boomer’s Story – Ry Cooder
• Don McLean – Don McLean
• Ege Bamyasi – Can
• Ennismore – Colin Blunstone
• For the Roses – Joni Mitchell
• Joe Cocker – Joe Cocker
• The Magician’s Birthday – Uriah Heep
• Old Dan’s Records – Gordon Lightfoot
• Passage – Bloodrock
• They Only Come Out at Night – Edgar Winter Group
• Why Dontcha – West, Bruce and Laing
• The World Is a Ghetto – War
• Steely Dan – Can’t Buy A Thrill

What they said…

“Highlights include the powerful rock number Wells Fargo, the sweet-and-sour Black Dog, and a surprising rendition of Frank Zappa’s King Kong. The strings and oboe arrangements in The Runaways don’t work as well, but at least they don’t get pompous. With its long songs (six to eight minutes) and lush arrangements, First Base seduced both the hard rock and the progressive rock crowds.” (AllMusic)u)

“This team socks pretty hard for the art-rock league, but since they’re English I’d better tell them what I mean by calling them a fungo outfit. That means they’ll find it a lot harder to get a hit in a real game.” (Robert Christgau).

“Babe Ruth are often dismissed as pseudo-prog, and though the group does show signs of the hard rock/pop in acts like Heart or Led Zeppelin, the first two albums are a brilliant and tasteful amalgam of symphonics and good old-fashioned heavy blues. This debut from ’72 is intelligent, clear-headed, direct and incredibly good.” (Prog Archives)

What you said…

Philip Qvist: I will admit that when I first heard of Babe Ruth, I assumed that they came from the US Midwest, rather than Hertfordshire, England. Babe Ruth was also one of those bands that I found difficult to categorise. Were they prog rock, hard rock, soft rock or folk rock?

Who knew, and I suspect that is why they became one of those “What If” bands, one that, with a bit more finesse, a more stable lineup, and better management, the band could have been much bigger than what they were. The ingredients were there: a talented musician and songwriter in the form of band leader Alan Shacklock, backed by a promising young singer and a group of good musicians, all of whom would prove to be pretty decent songwriters in their own right. Inconsistent would be the best way to describe Babe Ruth.

So what about First Base? It is certainly a product of the early 70s but still enjoyable enough. The two most recognisable tracks, Wells Fargo and The Mexican (complete with a riff from For A Few Dollars More, as the song looks at the Alamo from a Mexican perspective), were my highlights on the album. Black Dog (no, not the Led Zeppelin classic) was also a pretty good song, while the cover of Frank Zappa’s King Kong was interesting enough. The Runaways, complete with cellos and piano, was a bit of a curveball, but I rather enjoyed it. The closing track, Joker, was okay without being memorable.

Singer Janita “Jenny” Haan was only 18 at the time, so I will give her a pass, but I think she tried too hard at times when more restraint was needed. Still, she does a more than decent job here.

Follow-up Amar Caballero was a totally different beast to their debut, and not necessarily for the better, while I would argue that Babe Ruth peaked with their 1975 self-titled third album. First Base will never be on my essential list, but it was a fun and enjoyable record. A likely 7 from me.

Robby Jackson: Another nice hidden gem.

Janita Haan is a powerhouse – her vocals have an aggressive, piercing energy that reminds me of Grace Slick. I did have to dial back the upper mid-range on my equaliser a bit just to smooth out some of the harsh “shoutiness” in the mix, but once I let the instruments breathe, the album sounded incredible.

A few standout moments for me:

The Mexican: They lay down an incredible driving funk groove right under the heavy rock (fun fact: I learned this exact track was a foundational beat used for early breakdancing!)

King Kong: A killer one-take live studio cover of Zappa that captures pure, raw energy.

Joker: Features some fantastic conversational vocal trade-offs between Haan and guitarist Alan Shacklock.

Mike Canoe: I stumbled onto Babe Ruth’s cover of Frank Zappa’s King Kong while going through a rock instrumental phase several years back and liked it enough to dig further and was delighted by the album cover and the existence of singer Janita “Jenny” Haan. Discovery of The Mexican soon followed, and it was the lost classic I hoped it would be. Haan is a real firecracker, and the clever inclusion of an Ennio Morricone melody really makes the song shine.

The rest of the album is more of a mixed bag. Wells Fargo and Joker are OK, but The Runaways nearly tanks the album with its gloomy vibe, and Black Dog is almost as big a downer. When the album’s only six songs long, a third of it being a bummer makes a big difference. Nonetheless, I am glad that an album like First Base by Babe Ruth can be a club pick. My ears are always open to lost albums from the early ’70’s and/or female singers. Cool to have them on the same album.

Adam Ranger: It’s always good to review an album and a band that I am not familiar with. It means listening with no preconceived ideas.

Opener Wells Fargo is a strong start. Driving bass and guitar licks. I’m not sure about the vocals. Next up is a total change. The Runaways is a seven-minute slow song. I’m not sure about this one, but it does prove the singer can sing. The rest of the album is a bit of a jam session. Most songs are too long: a nice driving bass intro, then keyboard and guitar noodling for too long.

I liked the For A Few Dollars More reprieve on The Mexican and was glad of a return to a rockier sound for the closer Joker. Although, again, it goes on for too long. Extended prog jams are not really my thing. 6 out of 10

Mark Herrington: Never judge an album by its cover, especially in the case of Babe Ruth’s First Base, where the comic book/sci-fi artwork doesn’t convey the semi-progressive and blues rock within.

Opener Wells Fargo is a hard-rocking number with a great sax solo that gives few clues to the rest of the album. Janita Haan’s vocals were raw at times on the opener, where she strains, and I felt myself urging her on and standing by with the throat lozenges.

The sound then pivots into a more expansive mood, where the vocals are much more at ease with the music. I preferred this part of the album onwards: The Runaways, King Kong, Black Dog and The Mexican. Enjoyable soundscapes of semi-progressive rock, jazz, blues rock and a bit of Spaghetti Western too, ending on Joker, complete with some strained, wincing vocals again but mercifully less than the opener. This was mostly ok.

Overall, I enjoyed the central part of the album most, but not enough to rush to listen to it again.

Nigel Mawdsley: I’ve never heard anything by Babe Ruth before, or should I say, if I had, it just passed me by.

I really enjoyed this album but was wondering if Babe Ruth were the ‘influencer of’ or ‘influenced by’ other artists around that time.

The opener, Wells Fargo has a Shaft-esque vibe to it whilst also reminding me of The Doobie Brothers or The Eagles’ Life In The Fast Lane, released four years after the First Base album. The second track, The Runaways, is a gorgeous folk track that is in total contrast to the rest of the album. This is an epic, atmospheric track that suits the season of autumn that the UK is fast approaching. It reminds me of Midlake, who of course came to prominence four decades later.

The Runaways is my favourite track on the album, but the other tracks are pretty good too, more in keeping with the first track. Other influences I can hear are Vinegar Joe and Steeleye Span, but we also have progressive rock/jazz fusion on the instrumental King Kong.

Thanks to Philip Qvist for recommending this album for review, I’ve played it three times in a day! 8 out of 10.

Keith Jenkin: Although I was always aware of the band during the seventies, I never got to see them live or properly check out their music. The discovery came later when I noticed their track The Mexican had been adopted and often remixed by various names connected to the hip-hop and rave cultures due to the song’s drum break and driving bass line.

I took a punt on a second-hand copy 20 years or so ago. The two standouts are The Mexican and Wells Fargo, which both carry an almost Morricone-esque Old West feel, but the remainder of the album is still enjoyable (if now slightly dated) seventies rock. As primarily a fan of that era, this record proved a decent discovery and one I can recommend exploring if, especially like myself, you have played the accepted classics from fifty odd years ago well into over-familiarity.

John Davidson: Another week, another Roger Dean cover and another album I’ve never really heard before. Three listens in and its grown on me quite quickly.

The album starts off with Wells Fargo, a funky hard rock number with Janita Haan doing her best Janis Joplin impression. Its a great song that captures the 1970s vibe very effectively.

The Runaways brings the mood right down with a reflective ballad that builds to a piano led crescendo by the end. It sounds a bit dated, particularly in the opening section but is otherwise fine. King Kong is a decent instrumental – a bit proggy but thats ok. Black Dog is thankfully not a cover of the Led Zeppelin song, but is instead a languid, bluesy rock song. It reminds me of Wishbone Ash but with the added piano.

The Mexican incorporates some familiar refrains from For A Few Dollars More into the instrumental section, which works pretty well. The final track, Joker, sees Janita use a more throaty, harder tone in the vocal that doesn’t work so well as on other tracks, but the psychedelic blues guitar and keyboards are great.

Greg Schwepe: “This was a bit of a head scratcher for me.” Sometimes the Copy + Paste feature on your iPad comes in real handy. That was the first line from last week’s review I wrote. And strangely enough, seemed to describe how I felt after I listened to Babe Ruth’s First Base this week.

The album started out strong with the rocking Wells Fargo. And then after the seven-and-a-half meandering minutes of The Runaways, with its strings and way different vibe than the opener, it left me with a “Um, what kind of band is this?” feeling.

The instrumental King Kong had a nice guitar tone, but again, I was still not getting what Babe Ruth was about. Or trying to be. The jaunty keyboards throughout were OK to listen to but also gave me a, “OK, what are we trying to be here?” feeling once again.

Black Dog and The Mexican were a little bit of the same. And the closer, Joker, seemed to be a nice rocking bookend to Wells Fargo.

6 out of 10 on this one for me. Oh, and I didn’t care for the Roger Dean cover this week as much.

Final score: 6.96 (30 votes cast, total score 209)

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