Black Sheep (Lou Gramm) : Black Sheep

I KNOW ONE THING,

I SURELY AM

GOING INSANE

BUT TOMORROW,

I'LL START IT

ALL OVER AGAIN

 Black Sheep

 The American Version

 of

 Bad Company,

 featuring future

 Foreigner 

Front man 

Lou Grammatico 

(aka Lou Gramm)

 from behind

 the microphone. 

Black Sheep’s 

ten song blues rock

 self-titled LP

 opens with the defiant

 “Payin’ Yer Dues”. 

The four-minute opener

 from the 

New York based group

 immediately showcases

 Grammatico’s

 impressive vocals, 

which are on display

 throughout the entire

 Black Sheep recording. 

Penned by 

Grammatico, 

guitarist 

Dan Mancuso 

and bassist 

Bruce Turgon, 

“A Little or a Lot” 

sounds so much like a

 Bad Co song, 

that the track comes off

 like a lost cut

 from 

Paul Rodgers, 

Mick Ralphs, 

Boz Burrell 

and 

Simon Kirke. 

Before Rodgers

 and Kirke, 

joined

 Ralphs and Burrell

 in 1973, 

the singer and drummer

 were members of

 Free. 

Black Sheep

 close out their

 ‘75 release 

Even

with a

 competent

 cover of 

Free’s 

“Woman”,

 the longest cut 

 from the LP

Lou Gramm

 pre-Foreigner days

 were rather great, 

working with an 

All-American group

 meant no

 progressive rock influences

 from

 Mick Jones

 (Spooky Tooth) 

and

 Ian McDonald

 (King Crimson/

McDonald & Giles). 

Here Blacksheep 

delivers leisurely 

blues based rock.

 Typical sluggish guitars 

and the 

powerhouse

 vocal delivery

 from the 

midget version of 

Robert Plant:

Every track 

kinda plows along 

never reaching

 any closure.

 The first FOREIGNER lp 

was at times based 

on the delivery 

Blacksheep did. 

Mick found out

 about Lou 

through his 

management 

and this album.

TRACKLIST

Payin’ Yer Dues

Broken Promises 
Woman Back Home 
Piano Prelude 
Let Me Stay 
Power To Heal 
Far Side Of The Sun 
A Little Or A Lot 
Freight Train 
Woman 

LINK