A George Martin Production: 13 Questions

It seems that the state of album rock radio has gone the way of Top 40 – I swear you hear the same songs over and over. Just last week I was inundated with The Who’s “Baba O’Reilly” (four times) and Steve Miller’s “The Joker” (3 times). Now, I love both songs, but come on – give me a little variety now and then.

With that said, in the last year I discovered WRLF in Fairmont, WV – an automated AOR station in North Central West Virginia. Personally, I would like to shake the hand of the programmer, as not only do you hear the classics, but they have a good bit of variety. Sometime within the last several months, I was driving back from Pittsburgh and was listening to the station and heard Seatrain’s “13 Questions” – a song that I probably hadn’t heard since 1971.

Formerly known as Sea Train, the band altered their name to Seatrain with their second LP, which happened to be produced by George Martin. While some say this album was the first Martin produced since his work with The Beatles, it was not, as he had a couple other clients prior to recording the Seatrain LP.

Richard Greene’s electrified fiddle and Lloyd Baskin’s clavinet make this cut. While Seatrain never became a household name, they made some great music. Unfortunately, “13 Questions” only made it to #49. Even more important than a chart position was the greatness of the music that was framed by their famed producer: Sir George Martin.