Death In Buzzards’ Gulch was recorded at September Sounds Studio, situated in the small village of Golcar, near Huddersfield. It’s where The Brighouse and Rastrick Brass band recorded their unlikely chart hit Floral Dance although this isn’t thought to have been the main reason Gags chose it. Apparently, the studio is now a care home.
The recording set the band back around £1000, most of it borrowed from Gerry’s brother, John.
Using the sixteen-track studio the band laid down ten tracks over a five-day period. Penn Roberts, of CBS in Manchester, acted as producer. Bob Whitely engineered. A (poorly-spelled) press release from the time states that Boar’s Head Blues, ‘an old favourite from early Gag’s (sic) days’, is included in the track listing, but it was dropped at the last minute.
The LP was available from Virgin, Black Sedan and Pandemonium Records in Manchester and you could also buy it direct from the band (£2.99 plus 25p post and packing). Death in Buzzards’ Gulch (Look Records LK-LP 6312) can still be found for sale online, a mint condition version going for around £100.
Steve Forster of the New Manchester Review gave the album a lukewarm review, starting his downbeat assessment with the words: ‘It’s time to make myself unpopular.’ He certainly did. Brendan was so incensed with the review he and roadie Nigel Youl sought out the hapless journalist in a local bar and threatened to break his fingers. As Brendan remembers, 'He handled it brilliantly, and before long I was agreeing with him that we should have done a better job of the sound reproduction.' Steve would later go on to book the band at the Band on The Wall, an engagement that endured for many years.
Full, final, track listing is:
Side 1
- Mr Stiletto 4.10
- Easy Lay 3.10
- Light Another Cigarette 3.45
- Tell Mama 5.45
Side 2
- Moneymakers 5.25
- On Your Way 3.30
- Rocks Of Old 4.05
- It Doesn’t Matter 8.50
The band published their compositions under their own banner, Fried Egg Publications.