Extraction 1971 Album

Gary Wright

It's difficult not to compare this to Mike Harrison's solo debut from the same year, even though it is quite different in tone. Whereas Mike stuck with the tried-and-true 'Tooth formula and put his own idiosyncratic spin on it, Gary went the other way - probably because he met all sorts of famous people of the era, like George Harrison - and got all pop and inspirational with his solo stuff. And this would be the pattern he followed for the rest of his career. Extraction is energetic, has some OK hooks, a full cast of background singers, Wright bopping away on the keys constantly with lots of generic proclamations, but not one moment of it feels anywhere near as memorable as his entire career with Spooky Tooth thus far. He brought in a mid-level celebrity session cast to help him record this one (Mick Abrahams, Trevor Burton, and Mike Kellie from Spooky Tooth), but it was the next album which really endeared him to George Harrison and the Beatles' circle of friends in the early 70's.