NUM042
Album cover

Lou Ragland

I Travel Alone

O’Jays road manager, Don King prison chauffeur, window washer, house painter, Ink Spot, Domino, engineer, label owner, guitorgan technician, and one-time steward of a coveted Jet Magazine delivery route, Lou Ragland is Cleveland’s Eastside success story. Suffocated by Lake Erie’s nitrate-rich waters and the burning oil from a Cuyahoga River fire, between 1967 and 1977 Lou Ragland produced the most thoughtful, hopeful, and downright soulful work to emerge from the Forest City. Bookended by his dynamic Hot Chocolate and Understand Each Other albums, I Travel Alone gathers period singles, collaborations, and an unreleased live album cut in 1973, revealing a Cleveland genius in a musical microcosm of fearless and confident creation. Packaged in an attractive slipcase, the quadruple LP features handsome gatefolds, and a booklet of never-before-seen photos of the Bandmaster at various stages of his career. Detailed liner notes follow renaissance man and storyteller Ragland along the peaks and valleys of a dynamic career that yielded a wealth of innovative music.

  • 4xLP

    4 x 120 gram LPs
    34 tracks totaling 161 minutes
    1 x full color slipcase
    2 x full color gatefold tip-on jackets

Track List

  1. Lou Ragland I Travel Alone
  2. Lou Ragland Big Wheel
  3. Volcanic Eruption Red Robin
  4. Volcanic Eruption I've Got Something Going For Myself
  5. Hot Chocolate Good For The Gander
  6. Hot Chocolate We Had True Love
  7. Hot Chocolate Ain't That A Groove
  8. Hot Chocolate So Dam Funky
  9. Hot Chocolate Sexy Moods Of Your Mind
  10. Hot Chocolate Messin' With Sly
  11. Hot Chocolate We Had True Love
  12. Hot Chocolate What You Want To Do
  13. Hot Chocolate What Should I Do
  14. Lou Ragland Since You Said You'd Be Mine
  15. Lou Ragland I Didn't Mean To Leave You
  16. Wildfire Tend To Your Business
  17. Lou Ragland Understand Each Other
  18. Lou Ragland What Happened To The Feeling
  19. Lou Ragland Since You Said You'd Be Mine (Alt.)
  20. Lou Ragland Just For Being You
  21. Lou Ragland What Should I Do?
  22. Lou Ragland It's Got To Change
  23. Lou Ragland The Next World
  24. Lou Ragland Understand Each Other (Inst.)
  25. Hot Chocolate The World Is A Ghetto (Live)
  26. Hot Chocolate Understand Each Other (Live)
  27. Hot Chocolate It Ain't My Fault (Live)
  28. Hot Chocolate Could It Be I'm Falling In Love (Live)
  29. Hot Chocolate Until I Met You (Live)
  30. Hot Chocolate Spend My Life Loving You (Live)
  31. Hot Chocolate Brother Louie (Live)
  32. Hot Chocolate Good For The Gander (Live)