Bad Company – Straight Shooter(1975)

Biography
Bad Company are an English hard rock supergroup formed in Westminster, London, in 1973 by two former Free band members—singer Paul Rodgers and drummer Simon Kirke—as well as Mott the Hoople guitarist Mick Ralphs and King Crimson bassist Boz Burrell. Peter Grant, who managed the rock band Led Zeppelin, also managed Bad Company until 1982. Bad Company enjoyed great success throughout the 1970s. Their first three albums, Bad Company (1974), Straight Shooter (1975), and Run With the Pack (1976), reached the top five in the album charts in both the UK and US. Many of their singles, such as “Bad Company”, “Can’t Get Enough”, “Good Lovin’ Gone Bad”, and “Feel Like Makin’ Love”, remain staples of classic rock radio.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Company

Album & Cover
Straight Shooter is the second studio album by British supergroup Bad Company. The album was released in April 1975, a month after the release of the single “Good Lovin’ Gone Bad” and four months before the album’s second single “Feel Like Makin’ Love”. The album reached number 3 in the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200. It was certified gold (500,000 units sold) by the Recording Industry Association of America a month after its release. Mick Ralphs and Simon Kirke revealed on In the Studio (which devoted an episode to Straight Shooter) that the track “Shooting Star” (which told the story of a rock star who died early) was lyrically inspired by the drug and alcohol-related deaths of Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Jim Morrison.

According to Aubrey Powell the band were into the western cowboy look, with Stetsons, boots, rhinestone belts, and Levi jeans- blue of course. Hence the title of the album has a double meaning, a gunslinger and a gambler and a good roll of the dice… The photograph is a collage of two photos, the background and the red dice which has a high score of eleven. This collage was achieved by using a process called ‘dye transfer printing’ which Hipgnosis recently discovered…saving work and time. Richard Manning describes the process: These were ‘R’ Type prints of the Dice and the Table. It was not necessary to go to the expense of Dye Transfers as no major retouching was needed. The base print was mounted onto double weight mount board and the top of the print was darkened by airbrushing Black Photo Dye. The Dice were cut out with a scalpel just half way through the print so as to carefully strip the back and feather the cut edge. The white dots were masked with Transpaseal and a watery Scarlet Photo Dye sprayed over the rest of the Dice to brighten them, montaged in position with Columbia Cement following an accurate positional trace. Then a watery white airbrushed at the back edge of the Dice to give a hint of movement. http://www.richardmanning.co.uk/hipgnosis-album-cover-art/bad-company-straight-shooter–1975/35

Cover Location: Hipgnosis Studio, London, UK
Who Did What: Photography – A. Powell
Label: Swan Song SS8413(US), Island ILPS9304(UK)
Source: Vinyl. Album. Cover. Art – The Complete Hipgnosis Catalogue By Aubrey Powell

Tracklist

Credits
Mixed By – Ron Nevison
Recorded By – Ron Nevison
Simon Kirke – Drums
Mick Ralphs – Guitars, Backing Vocals, Keyboards
Paul Rodgers – Lead Vocal, Guitar, Keyboards, Harmonica.
Boz Burrell – Bass, Backing Vocals.