Rabbitt – A Croak & A Grunt In The Night

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Rabbitt – A Croak & A Grunt In The Night

Tracks

  1. T.C. Rabin In D-Minor (Rabin) [0.24]
  2. I Sleep Alone (Rabin) [2.52]
  3. A Croak And A Grunt In The Night (Rabin/van Blerk) [2.37]
  4. Everybody’s Cheating (Rabin/van Blerk) [4.10]
  5. Sugar Pie (Rabin) [3.22]
  6. Searching (Rabin) [4.13]
  7. Working For The People (Rabin/Robot/Faure/Cloud) [4.21]
  8. Pollyman (Rabin) [2.23]
  9. Schumann (Trad. arr. Rabin) [0.21]
  10. Hold On To Love (Rabin/van Blerk) [4.06]
  11. Dingley’s Bookshop (Faure) [2.10] theme from The Dingleys TV series
  12. Never Gonna Ruin My Life (Rabin) [0.56]
  13. Tribal Fence (MacKay) [3.51] featuring Margaret Singana; read more →
  14. Gift Of Love (Rabin/van Blerk/Robot) [3.44]
  15. Lonely Loner Two (Rabin/Faure) [3.35]
  16. Take It Easy (Rabin) [3.40]
  17. A Love You Song (Faure) [1.46]

Bonus track on 2006 CD reissue

  1. Morning Light (Rabin) [3.09]
Rabbitt – A Croak & A Grunt In The Night
Rabbitt – Morning Light (single and EP 1977)
Rabbitt – Auld Lang Syne Rock (b-side of Morning Light single 1977)

Musicians

  • Trevor Rabin: Vocals, guitars, piano, electric piano,harmonica, tubular bells, string arrangements, producer
  • Neil Cloud: Drums, percussion
  • Duncan Faure: Vocals, rhythm guitar, organ, piano
  • Ronnie Robot: Bass

  • Margaret Singana: Guest vocals on “Tribal Fence”
  • Patric van Blerk: Producer
  • Julian Laxton: Remix engineer
  • Peter Thwaites and Greg Cutler: Engineers

Release information

KEY
Format: Year, Label, Catalogue Number (Country)

LP: 1977, Jo’Burg Records, TJL 13014 (South Africa)
LP: 1977, Capricorn, CP 0190 (USA & Canada)
CD: 2004, Voiceprint, VP313CD (UK & USA)
CD: February 2005, United States Of Distribution, 475 (USA)
CD: September 2006, Fresh Music, FRESHCD 154 (South Africa)

Comments

Re-recordings

The Rollers re-recorded ‘Working For The People’ in 1980 (on ‘Voxx’). Similarily, Rabin re-did ‘Hold On To Love’ as ‘Hold On To Me’ for his 1989 solo album ‘Can’t Look Away’, which featured Duncan Faure on backing vocals.

Hannes, Bay City Rollers Discography website
The Rollers – Working For The People
Trevor Rabin – Hold On To Me (1989 reworking of Rabbitt’s Hold On To Love)

Review

I was a little young when Rabbitt were at their peak and had not yet developed an interest in music. All I remember about them was my grandmother complaining about the racket these long haired boys were making when they appeared on Pop Shop. So when I came across “A Croak..” about a year back, I though I’d better check out what the fuss was all about.

My initial reaction was that they are not as hard rock as I expected. There are hints of Jazz in the intro to “Everybody’s Cheating” but the over all feel of the album is one of 70’s glam rock which I suppose it was. The use of the piano on a number of tracks is reminiscent of Billy Joel and Elton John of the same era.

There are some nice rock ballads and some quite tuneful pop numbers some almost Beatles-esque. One highlight for me is the cover of Freedoms Children’s “Tribal Fence” where they are joined by Margaret Singana. It is a up tempo version and one I find less “busy” than the Freedoms Children version, but does not have the same depth as the original.

“A Love You Song” is the vehicle for a great guitar work out for (I presume, as the album I bought didn’t have any sleeve notes) Trevor Rabin and is the other highlight of the album. You can see why supergroup Yes took him on.

Overall this is a solid album but I must say that I was a little disappointed. I guess you had to be there to have really appreciated this, or maybe my grandmother just psychologically scarred me for life.

~ John Samson, July 2000

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