The “Golden Hits Of The 70s” 

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SANFORD/TOWNSEND BAND

“SMOKE FROM A DISTANT FIRE”

(SANFORD, TOWNSEND, Stewart)

Warner Bros. 8370

No. 9   September 17, 1977

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Aspiring songwriters Eddie Sanford (keyboards, vocals) and Johnny Townsend (lead vocals, keyboards)

met in Los Angeles in the mid-’70s and decided to form a band.  John was an old pro, having played in the

mid­ ’60s psychedelic group Dead Sea Fruits.  He had also done session work, most notably with Loggins &

Messina and Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel.  With sea­soned studio players like Otis Hale (guitar, wood­

winds), Roger Johnson (guitar), Jim Varley (bass), and Jerry Rightmer (drums), the Sanford/Townsend

Band was complete.  Expectations were high.  For their first LP, the two writers had a bag full of tunes,

Jerry Wexler and Barry Beckett as producers, and access to the famed Muscle Shoals recording studio.

“Smoke From a Distant Fire,” the catchy opening track on their debut album, was a very 70s-sounding

moment.  Two other less-inspired LPs–Duoglide (1977) and Nail Me to the Wall (1979), minus both

Wexler and Beckett–followed, as did several singles.  Nothing gathered much notice, and the band folded

in late 1979.  Sanford has since worked as a back-up for Michael McDonald; Townsend was a charter

member in Cher’s short-lived hard-rock experiment, Black Rose, and later did studio work for LAUREN

WOOD.