The third studio album by Folk/Rock singer Jim Croce, You Don't Mess Around With Jim, contains three of his most famous hits; Time in a Bottle, Operator and the Title Track.   This is a good album, one I quite like, sounds a little like Gordon Lightfoot in places and Bread in others, but mostly like Jim Croce. On ABC/Dunhill ABCX 756, released in 1972 here is Hey Tomorrow:

Life and Times, released in 1973 had a number one hit in Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.  This is his fourth studio album, and second with ABC/Dunhill. Croce's first album, Facets, was self published with a $500 wedding gift from his in-laws.  The plan was that having a record published ,would get the idea of making a living as a musician out of his system.  Having pressed only 500 copies, everyone copy sold and today they are very collectible!  This is also a very good album, sort of reminds me of James Taylor, but I prefer the previous release a bit.  My pick from this album would be Roller Derby Queen:

 I Got A Name, is Jim Croce's fifth and final studio album.  Released in December 1973, a few short months after he was killed in a plane crash.  The song Salon and Saloon, written by his guitarist Maury Muehleisen, was the last song Croce recorded.  Photographs & Memories is a compilation of Jim Croce's greatest hits and would be a good start for any casual listener looking for his radio hits. Quite a lot of hits for 2 years of recording! Here is his final song:

Bad Manors, is the second release by Canadian Rock band Crowbar, on Daffodil Label SBA-16004. This is the second release by the Hamilton band, from 1971, in a cool gold foil album cover with a die cut crowbar at the top. I guess I would describe this music as roots rock or boogie rock.  You may recognize this song Oh, What a Feeling, but probably not the next one (unless you have this album) Mountain Fire:

Perhaps they couldn't come up with a title, so they just used the catalogue number for the name.  Crowbar on Epic KE 32746, was released in 1973 and is the fifth release by the band.  Bad Manors is a good album with some really good songs, but this album has very little going for it! I don't know what happened in the two years between these albums, but they kind of lost it. This is a strange mix of styles from bad ballads, to hard rock to reggae to hillbilly music. Here is the one song sort of worth playing All The Living Things: