Babe Ruth was formed in 1971 in Hatfield, England, and adopted their name after the legendary American baseball player. The band, lead by Alan Shacklock (guitars, vocals) and consisting of Dave Hewett (bass),
Jenny Haan (vocals), and
Ed Spevock (drums), was signed to the Harvest label and released their debut album,
First Base, in 1972. The album didn't make much impression in England, but went gold in Canada and was a strong seller in the U.S. The band's second album,
Amar Caballero, also released on Harvest in 1973, was a repeat of the debut and sold similarly well in North America, but not in England despite aggressive marketing. In 1975, the band went through some lineup changes and released the self-titled, album early in the year. Later in 1975, Shacklock left the band to be replaced by
Bernis Marsden on guitars and vocals and the group recorded a second album that year,
Stealin' Home. It was released on the U.S. Capitol Records label. This reissue on the British-based B.G.O label pairs the two 1975 albums together on a single CD. While both albums are not the band's strongest works,
Babe Ruth contained some memorable moments, including a delightful version of
Morricone's "Fistful of Dollars," as well as the hard rock song "Jack O'Lantern" that was a concert favorite. For the
Stealin' Home album, the band moved away from the hard rock experimentation of their early works and into a more commercial driven hard rock blues based sound. The band would record one more album,
Kids Stuff, in 1976 with yet another lineup before breaking up later that year. This set has been remastered from original master tapes, and the package contains an in-depth essay on the history of the band along with photos and reproductions of the original album graphics.
