'One Hit Wonder' is an
epithet usually pinned on artists whose entire catalog is one song deep.
But the term is sometimes applied to those whose lifelong artistry finds but
momentary alignment with popular taste - the flashbulb of acclaim
illuminating only the surface of a deep reservoir of music. Such was the
case for Brewer & Shipley. Their breakthrough hit, "One Toke Over the
Line," catapulted them to fame, yet their music careers neither began
nor ended with this success.
While "One
Toke Over The Line" was their only top-ten song, Brewer & Shipley had
several other
songs on the Billboard charts including "Tarkio Road", "Shake Off The
Demon" and "Yankee Lady".
Fellow musician Mitch Jayne explains:
"'One Toke Over The Line' became a hit single record, but that was a
small measure of the impact of Brewer and Shipley had on people who
listened to the sound they had created. Album buyers understood
that these men were designers, not pop music freaks, and as prolific as
they were, they didn't write songs to any formula. Each album,
from Down In L.A. to Heartland, was a
meticulously
woven tapestry of fabric they had invented one song at a time."
In Michael
Brewer's own words,
"We were never
about singles. Every song on our albums was just as important as the
next one. All of our albums, we meant to be whole packages."
