Mixed Bag

by Richie Havens

Overview

Richie Havens' finest recording, Mixed Bag captures the essence of his music and presents it in an attractive package that has held up well. A close listen to lyrics like "I Can't Make It Anymore" and "Morning, Morning" reveals sadness and loneliness, yet the music is so appealingly positive that a listener actually comes away feeling uplifted. In fact, on most of the songs on this album, it's the sound of Havens' distinctive voice coupled with his unusual open-E guitar tuning, rather than the specific lyrical content of the songs, that pulls the listener in. The six-and-a-half minute "Follow" is structured like a Dylan composition in the "Hard Rain" mode, with its memorable verse-ending refrain, "Don't mind me 'cause I ain't nothin' but a dream." Both "Sandy" and "San Francisco Bay Blues" have a jazzy feel, while the aforementioned "I Can't Make It Anymore" would not have been out of place in a movie soundtrack or pop radio playlist of the time. "Handsome Johnny," one of Havens' best known songs as a result of the Woodstock film, is a classic anti-war ballad, stoked by the singer's unmistakable thumb-chorded guitar strumming. Mixed Bag winds up with a soulful cover of Dylan's "Just Like a Woman" and an electric piano-propelled take on the Lennon-McCartney classic, "Eleanor Rigby." ~ Jim Newsom

Product Details

Release Date:	01/24/2025
Label:	Elemental
UPC:	0600753996287

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Richie Havens   Primary Artist,Sitar,Guitar,Vocals
Val Valentin   Director
Harvey Brooks   Bass,Guitar (Bass)
Howard Collins   Guitar
Paul "Dino" Williams   Guitar,Guitar (Acoustic)
Bill Lavorgna   Drums
Joe Price   Drums,Tabla,Percussion
Paul Williams   Guitar
Paul Harris   Organ,Piano,Keyboards,Piano (Electric)

Technical Credits

Val Valentin   Engineer
Jerry Schoenbaum   Producer,Supervisor
Jesse Fuller   Composer
Bruce Langhorne   Arranger
Gordon Lightfoot   Composer
Billy Edd Wheeler   Composer
Tuli Kupferberg   Composer
John Court   Producer
Dennis M. Drake   Mastering
Barry Feinstein   Photography
Louis Gossett, Jr.   Composer
Lou Gossett   Composer
Jean Pierre Cousineau   Composer
Paul McCartney   Composer
Bob Dylan   Composer
Felix Pappalardi   Arranger
Jane Wheeler   Composer
John Lennon   Composer
John Mayall   Composer
Richie Havens   Composer
Jerry Merrick   Composer