AWB (album)

AWB is the second studio album by the Scottish funk and soul band Average White Band, released in August 1974.

AWB
Studio album by The Average White Band
Released	August 1974
Recorded	1973–1974
Studio	Atlantic, New York City Criteria, Miami
Genre	Funk, soul
Length	40:24
Label	Atlantic
Producer	Arif Mardin
The Average White Band chronology
Show Your Hand (1973) AWB (1974) Cut the Cake (1975)
alternative cover
Expanded 2CD re-issue cover

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Christgau's Record Guide	A−[2]
Tom Hull – on the Web	B+ ()[3]

AWB topped Billboard's Pop Albums and Black Albums charts. Its million-selling single "Pick Up the Pieces" knocked Linda Ronstadt's "You're No Good" out of #1 on Billboard's Hot 100. In Canada, the album was #2 for 3 weeks to Elton John's Greatest Hits.

A 2004 expanded re-issue from Sony/Columbia in the UK includes a bonus CD with several demo session recordings made before the group joined Atlantic Records – taken from the so-called "Clover Sessions," recorded at Clover Studios, Los Angeles, CA, in 1973.^[4] This album was eventually released as How Sweet Can You Get?

Track listing

Side one

1. "You Got It" (Roger Ball, Hamish Stuart, Alan Gorrie) – 3:38
2. "Got the Love" (Stuart, Ball, Robbie McIntosh) – 3:52
3. "Pick Up the Pieces" (Average White Band) – 3:58
4. "Person to Person" (Average White Band) – 3:38
5. "Work to Do" (O'Kelly Isley, Ronald Isley, Rudolph Isley) – 4:21

Side two

1. "Nothing You Can Do" (Gorrie, Stuart, Ball) – 4:06
2. "Just Wanna Love You Tonight" (Ball, Gorrie) – 3:57
3. "Keepin' It to Myself" (Gorrie) – 3:52
4. "I Just Can't Give You Up" (Stuart) – 3:24
5. "There's Always Someone Waiting" (Gorrie) – 5:38

All songs arranged by Average White Band. All horn parts arranged by Roger Ball.

Bonus track on 1995 Rhino re-issue (Rhino 71588)

11. "Pick Up the Pieces" – 21:40 (from The Atlantic Family Live at Montreux)^[5]

Expanded 2CD re-issue (2004)

Disc one

Original release

Disc two – The Clover Sessions / How Sweet Can You Get?

1. "Person to Person"
2. "Keepin' It To Myself"
3. "There's Always Someone Waiting"
4. "McEwan's Export"
5. "Got the Love"
6. "Work to Do"
7. "Just Want to Love You Tonight"
8. "Pick Up the Pieces"
9. "I Just Can't Give You Up"
10. "How Sweet Can You Get (Mark 1)"

Bonus tracks on 2005 Columbia-Europe re-issue (Columbia 520204)

11. "How Sweet Can You Get (Mark 1)"

12. "McEwan's Export"^[6]

Personnel

Average White Band

• Alan Gorrie – lead vocals (on "Keepin' It To Myself" and "There's Always Someone Waiting"), co-lead vocals (on "You Got It", "Work To Do", "Nothing You Can Do", and "Just Wanna Love You Tonight"), background vocals, bass, guitar (on "You Got It")
• Hamish Stuart – lead vocals (on "Got The Love", "Person To Person", and "I Just Can't Give You Up"), co-lead vocals (on "You Got It", "Work To Do", "Nothing You Can Do", and "Just Wanna Love You Tonight"), background vocals, lead guitar, bass (on "You Got It")
• Roger Ball – keyboards, alto & baritone saxophones
• Molly Duncan – tenor saxophone
• Onnie McIntyre – background vocals, guitar, guitar solo on "Work To Do"
• Robbie McIntosh – drums, percussion

Additional musicians

• Ralph MacDonald – congas, percussion
• Michael Brecker – tenor saxophone
• Randy Brecker – trumpet
• Marvin Stamm – trumpet
• Mel Davis – trumpet
• Glenn Ferris – trombone
• Ken Bichel – mellotron (on "Just Wanna Love You Tonight")^[7]

Other musicians

(Live at Montreux bonus track)

• Sonny Fortune – alto saxophone
• Jaroslav Jakubovič – baritone saxophone
• David "Fathead" Newman – alto saxophone
• Dick Morrissey – tenor saxophone
• Herbie Mann – flute
• Don Ellis – trumpet
• Lew Soloff – trumpet
• Gil Rathel – trumpet
• Barry Rogers – trombone
• Alan Kaplan – trombone
• Jim Mullen – guitar
• Richard Tee – electric piano
• Raphael Cruz – percussion
• Sammy Figueroa – percussion

Production

• Gene Paul – mixing, engineering (NYC)
• Lewis Hahn – engineering (NYC)
• Karl Richardson – engineering (Miami)
• Steve Klein – engineering (Miami)
• Ron Albert – engineering (Miami)
• Howard Albert – engineering (Miami)
• Jimmy Douglass – engineering (additional recording)
• Bobby Warner – engineering (additional recording)
• Dennis King – mastering engineer
• Arif Mardin – production, mixing
• Alan Pariser – direction
• Alan Gorrie – logo concept
• Tim Bruckner – front cover drawing
• Barry Feinstein – design & photography

Other Album Notes

"AWB would like to express their deep appreciation to Jerry Wexler, Alan Pariser and Bruce McCaskill."

Chart positions

Billboard Music Charts (United States)

Album

Year	Chart	Position
1975	RPM Canada 100[8]	2
1975	Billboard 200	1

Singles

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1974	"Pick Up The Pieces"	Disco Singles	10
1974	"Work To Do"		10
1975	"Pick Up The Pieces"	Pop Singles	1
1975	"Pick Up The Pieces"	Black Singles	5

See also

• List of Billboard 200 number-one albums of 1975
• List of Billboard number-one R&B albums of 1975

References

1. AllMusic review
2. CG Book '70s: A
3. Hull, Tom (3 May 2021). "Music Week". Tom Hull – on the Web. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
4. 2CD expanded re-issue listing at amazon.uk
5. Rhino.com Archived 1 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine
6. swapacd.com link
7. "discography at www.averagewhiteband.com". Archived from the original on 2 April 2009. Retrieved 29 March 2009.
8. "RPM Top 100 Albums – March 1, 1975" (PDF).

• Atlantic SD 7308
• Average White Band at AllMusic