The “Golden Hits Of The 70s”
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SILVER
“WHAM-BAM (SHANG-A-LANG)”
(Rick Giles)
Arista 0189
No. 16 October 2, 1976
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Singer/guitarist John Batdorf was entranced with the sounds of country-rock from the moment of its
birth. In the late ’60s, Batdorf met up with Mark Rodney. Both were situated in Los Angeles, and fans of
Crosby, Stills & Nash. For five years, starting in 1971, the Atlantic, Asylum, and Arista labels issued
unsuccessful singles and albums featuring the dudes acoustic music. Rodney, discouraged by the critical
and commercial drubbing, dropped out of sight.
Batdorf bounced back in 1976. John had met keyboardist Brent Mydland at an Eric Andersen recording
session, and the two agreed to join forces. Guitarist Greg Collier, bassist Tom Leadon, and drummer
Harry Stinson were added to form Silver, a country-rock out fit. Tom Sellers–a member of Daryl Hall’s
’60s group Gulliver–who had produced the final Batdorf & Rodney album, was brought in for Silver’s first
and only album; Sellers had produced hits for the ELECTRIC INDIAN and the ASSEMBLED MULTITUDE.
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“Wham-Bam,” an atypically pop-oriented number, clicked, unlike Silver’s two subsequent singles. By
year’s end, Batdorf and company were finished. Stinson went on to play with the Shot in the Dark band
and to do session work for Jay Ferguson, Peter Frampton, Juice Newton, and the Pointer Sisters.
Mydland, for several years, has been with THE GRATEFUL DEAD.