High On A Ridge Top
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Album Summary
High On A Ridge Top came rolling out in 1972 on RCA Records, a swan song of sorts for one of the most soulful, free-spirited bands to ever come out of the late 1960s New York scene. The Youngbloods — Jesse Colin Young, Jerry Corbitt, Banana, and Joe Bauer — laid down a set of covers and familiar material that showed the group leaning into their roots, wrapping themselves in the warm textures of country-rock, folk, and blues that had always been beating underneath their music. The album captured a band that had relocated to the California hills and was living as much as they were recording, and that easy, lived-in quality breathes through every groove. It was a document of men who loved music more than they loved the machine, and RCA let that spirit find its way onto wax.
Reception
- The album posted modest numbers on the Billboard 200, reflecting a band whose commercial moment had crested but whose devoted following kept them in the conversation.
- Critical response was measured, with reviewers acknowledging the warmth and sincerity of the performances while noting that the record arrived at a time when the rock landscape was pushing toward harder and more experimental territory.
Significance
- High On A Ridge Top stands as a testament to The Youngbloods' deep reverence for American and roots music traditions, drawing on blues, Tex-Mex, folk, and early rock and roll by way of tracks like La Bamba, She Caught The Katy, and Running Bear — a band paying honest tribute to the music that made them.
- The album captured the country-rock sensibility that was flowering across the California hills in the early 1970s, placing The Youngbloods firmly within a broader movement of artists who were trading amplifiers for acoustics and city lights for ridge tops.
- As the final chapter of the classic Youngbloods lineup, High On A Ridge Top carries the weight of a farewell that never announced itself as one — a quiet, dignified close to a run that had given the world Get Together and so much more.
Tracklist
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A1 Speedo 104
3:19
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A2 She Caught The Katy & Left Me A Mule To Ride —
3:29
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A3 Going By The River 71
4:59
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A4 Running Bear 112
3:52
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A5 I Shall Be Released 116
5:08
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B1 Dreamboat 124
3:14
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B2 She Came In Through The Bathroom Window 87
3:35
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B3 Donna 99
3:56
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B4 La Bamba 141
3:52
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B5 Kind Hearted Woman 96
6:10
Artist Details
The Youngbloods were a beautiful, free-spirited rock and folk-rock outfit that came together in New York City around 1965, eventually planting their roots in the California counterculture scene and delivering a sound that blended blues, folk, jug band grooves, and psychedelic rock with a warmth that just made your soul smile. Led by the soulful Jesse Colin Young, this band gave the world "Get Together," one of the most powerful anthems of peace and unity the '60s ever produced, a song that became the heartbeat of the entire love generation. Their laid-back, organic sound and genuine message of togetherness made them not just musicians but true spiritual ambassadors of a generation hungry for harmony and hope.
