I was not a tyke in 1975. “Heavy” IIRC, was an all purpose approval word. Like “cool”, just slang of the day, sorta. It was like, “frosty, man, frosty…” - which I think was a closeout phrase from a snack bar commercial during intermission at the drive in (movies - yeah, that was a thing then…)
Great spotlight on a little-remembered ladies man with a handful of hits (and, far too much hair...everywhere)!😁My ticket for entry, MK: I was 20 in 1975, and while Gino's songs could've (and might've!) been played on my daily soft rock/MOR afternoon shift at the U of Houston radio station, the next year, his albums wouldn't have even darkened the doorway to the control room at the commercial FM-rocker, Houston's KLOL, where I managed to gain employment!
As for his use of "heavy" in the song, I don't think I would've thought it was grossly out of place. He's not rhyming it with anything, and it does set up an awkwardly forced rhyme with "hungry," so, there's that curiosity, but "cool" or an "intense interest" is what I'd think, and that would be consistent with the hip'n'happenin' mid-'70s! I think if asked (if this was a concern), he'd likely say that if anyone was reading into the lyric a possible notion of a chunky lady, he likely wouldn't disagree, and might sign off on that interp!
Never heard "Mama Coco" before....really just his hits: "People Gotta Move," "I Just Wanna Stop," and "Powerful People," which leads us to this album's title. It's all about semantics...and, yes, sales or lack of 'em! The Eagles could have "The Eagles Greatest Hits." So could many hundreds of artists whose chart successes and sales earned them that right.
But, if your label wants to pad your catalog with product (or, if you, as the artist, have a contract to fulfill, and you wanna split), and you don't have an Eagles-like cache o' hits, then you default to the next "best" thing: "The Best of Any Given Artist Who in No Way Deserves to Have a Collection of Greatest Anything, Much Less Hits"....So, while those 3 Gino songs I mentioned were A) singles and B) hits to varying degrees, he just didn't have the sheer volume of singles and/or hits to warrant a "Greatest Hits" album.
Now, how'd A&M pad the LP? With any artist where the intent is to have a "Best Of" 'cause actual "greatest" hits are noticeably absent, the artist and label heads (likely the A&R guy/gal) will get together, and assemble what can easily be agreed upon as "best of" a certain catalog (including a small amount of legit hits there may have been)....in this case, "Mama Coco," officially a 7-incher or not, was an obvious agreed-upon popular album cut by fans/critics, etc, or had become known as a popular song played in Gino's concerts....hence, "Best Of" without running afoul of "truth in advertising laws" that might rate a guffaw or two at things like "The Shaggs Greatest Hits"!
I'd argue the compilation was geared to the Canadian market, where thanks to CanCon regulations he was a staple on the radio. If you look at his list of singles on wiki, you'll see that all of them charted in Canada, albeit not always top 30. And yes, there's usually always filler but on that album I count 6 songs that I remember hearing on the radio. It's possible some of the others got airplay as well.. What's really interesting about Mama Coco was that as far as I can tell, it was almost never played live. Maybe it was being spun in the dance clubs and that's why it's there, or maybe because he was really proud of how that song came together.
That makes sense. I should've led with "my opinions are from the U.S. perspective"! I think the album has the same configuration worldwide as it did in Canada, so it makes sense that, with a Canadian artist, A&M/Canada would take the lead on a "Best of" track listing.
I was not a tyke in 1975. “Heavy” IIRC, was an all purpose approval word. Like “cool”, just slang of the day, sorta. It was like, “frosty, man, frosty…” - which I think was a closeout phrase from a snack bar commercial during intermission at the drive in (movies - yeah, that was a thing then…)
There were a lot of crazy things in the 70s. Thanks for the clarification.
Great spotlight on a little-remembered ladies man with a handful of hits (and, far too much hair...everywhere)!😁My ticket for entry, MK: I was 20 in 1975, and while Gino's songs could've (and might've!) been played on my daily soft rock/MOR afternoon shift at the U of Houston radio station, the next year, his albums wouldn't have even darkened the doorway to the control room at the commercial FM-rocker, Houston's KLOL, where I managed to gain employment!
As for his use of "heavy" in the song, I don't think I would've thought it was grossly out of place. He's not rhyming it with anything, and it does set up an awkwardly forced rhyme with "hungry," so, there's that curiosity, but "cool" or an "intense interest" is what I'd think, and that would be consistent with the hip'n'happenin' mid-'70s! I think if asked (if this was a concern), he'd likely say that if anyone was reading into the lyric a possible notion of a chunky lady, he likely wouldn't disagree, and might sign off on that interp!
Never heard "Mama Coco" before....really just his hits: "People Gotta Move," "I Just Wanna Stop," and "Powerful People," which leads us to this album's title. It's all about semantics...and, yes, sales or lack of 'em! The Eagles could have "The Eagles Greatest Hits." So could many hundreds of artists whose chart successes and sales earned them that right.
But, if your label wants to pad your catalog with product (or, if you, as the artist, have a contract to fulfill, and you wanna split), and you don't have an Eagles-like cache o' hits, then you default to the next "best" thing: "The Best of Any Given Artist Who in No Way Deserves to Have a Collection of Greatest Anything, Much Less Hits"....So, while those 3 Gino songs I mentioned were A) singles and B) hits to varying degrees, he just didn't have the sheer volume of singles and/or hits to warrant a "Greatest Hits" album.
Now, how'd A&M pad the LP? With any artist where the intent is to have a "Best Of" 'cause actual "greatest" hits are noticeably absent, the artist and label heads (likely the A&R guy/gal) will get together, and assemble what can easily be agreed upon as "best of" a certain catalog (including a small amount of legit hits there may have been)....in this case, "Mama Coco," officially a 7-incher or not, was an obvious agreed-upon popular album cut by fans/critics, etc, or had become known as a popular song played in Gino's concerts....hence, "Best Of" without running afoul of "truth in advertising laws" that might rate a guffaw or two at things like "The Shaggs Greatest Hits"!
I'd argue the compilation was geared to the Canadian market, where thanks to CanCon regulations he was a staple on the radio. If you look at his list of singles on wiki, you'll see that all of them charted in Canada, albeit not always top 30. And yes, there's usually always filler but on that album I count 6 songs that I remember hearing on the radio. It's possible some of the others got airplay as well.. What's really interesting about Mama Coco was that as far as I can tell, it was almost never played live. Maybe it was being spun in the dance clubs and that's why it's there, or maybe because he was really proud of how that song came together.
Thanks for clarifying the use of "heavy"!
That makes sense. I should've led with "my opinions are from the U.S. perspective"! I think the album has the same configuration worldwide as it did in Canada, so it makes sense that, with a Canadian artist, A&M/Canada would take the lead on a "Best of" track listing.