Boxer - Absolutely (1977)

Absolutely was the second rock music album recorded by the band Boxer, released during 1977 on the Epic record label. Singer/pianist Mike Patto had assembled a new-look lineup including bassist Tim Bogert from Vanilla Fudge, guitarist Adrian Fisher from Sparks, Chris Stainton from Joe Cocker and many others and drummer Eddie Tuduri from the American band Wha-Koo.
The album was also released in the U.S. with a different cover.
There had been rumours that George Martin was interested in working with Boxer.
The album was eventually produced by Jeff Glixman, who had worked with the Allman Brothers and Kansas.
Patto collaborated with all the band members to write the songs on this album. "Rich Man's Daughter" is a reworking of the same song recorded by the Boxer lineup for Bloodletting, which was recorded in 1976. This album was the last recording made by Patto.
"Absolutely" was Boxer's and Mike Patto's final album.  Mike was the only member of the original lineup on the album.  Chris Stainton, who contributed on the "Bloodletting" from 1976, played most of the keyboards.  Tim Bogert's (Cactus, Beck Bogert & Appice et al.) creative bass playing is prominent throughout the album.  Adrian Fisher had the challenge of filling Ollie's shoes on guitar.  Adrian and Eddie were probably session players primarily.  Adrian played on a Sparks album that was produced by Muff Winwood, the producer of the Patto albums.
Of course, with the completely new band lineup, the "Absolutely" album is very different from the first two Boxer albums.  It moves away from the rawer, straight-ahead rock approach with a slicker production and more finessed instrumentation.  Mike's vocals are still in fine form -- he sounds great throughout the album.  While Adrian and Eddie are solid musically throughout the album, Tim Bogert's bass and Chris Stainton's keyboards perhaps dominate the musical side of things.  Tim Bogert's bass playing is particularly impressive, but it seems a bit too busy on some of the more simple tunes -- maybe too much of a good thing?
Mike collaborated with all the band members to write the album's material.  "Big Lucy", "Red Light Flyer", the Randy Newman-esque "Everybody's A Star...", and "No Reply" (despite the terribly out-of-place musical extravaganza after the first verses) are among the better cuts on the album..  Mike delivers a great vocal on "As God's My Judge".  "Rich Man's Daughter" is a remake of the version recorded by the original Boxer lineup for the 1976 "Bloodletting" album, which was not  released until two years later in 1979.
"Everybody's A Star..." was released as a single in the UK with "Can't Stand What You Do" as the flip side (Cat. # Epic EPC 5540).  A promotional single with a picture sleeve was also issued and contained the "No Reply" track (Cat. # Epic SHOTS 1).

01.  "A Fool in Love" (Tim Bogert, Mike Patto) - 4:08
02.  "Red Light Flyer" (Patto) - 3:54
03.  "Big Lucy"  (Bogert, Chris Stainton, Patto) - 3:58
04.  "No Reply" (Stainton, Patto) - 5:20
05.  "Can't Stand What You Do"  (Bogert, Stainton, Patto, Adrian Fisher, Eddie Tuduri) - 3:58
06.  "As God's My Judge"  (Stainton, Patto) - 3:10
07.  "Rich Man's Daughter"  (Patto) - 4:04
08.  "Everybody's a Star"  (Stainton, Patto) - 2:32
09.  "Hand on Your Heart"  (Bogert, Stainton, Patto, Fisher, Tuduri) - 4:43

Label - CBS Records