Several web pages mention that Brewer & Shipley's debut album Down In L.A. was made up of
demos that A&M records then decided to release as an album, insinuating
that it was done without Brewer & Shipley's permission.
This
misinformation appears to have been started by Brewer & Shipley's second
label Kama Sutra, and later propagated by their third label Capitol.
In a 1971 press release, Kama Sutra incorrectly claimed that Brewer &
Shipley disavowed Down In L.A. as made up of old demos. In reality, several
songs on the album were originally written as demos for other artists, but Brewer &
Shipley have set the record straight that their
demos exhibited such a sound and style of their own that A&M suggested
they record their songs themselves. Down In L.A. was produced as
an album, not a package of demo tapes released as an album.
One look at the musicians on that album
(known as the Wrecking Crew) will
convince the musically savvy that these were not demos, as you don't
hire the best studio
musicians in the country to record demos. No, Down In L.A.
was not a compilation of demos... it was Brewer & Shipley's brilliant
debut album.
