| Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Jimmy Buffett | ||||
| Released | January 20, 1977 | |||
| Recorded | November 1976 at Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida and Quadraphonic Sound Studio in Nashville, Tennessee | |||
| Genre | Rock/country/gulf and western | |||
| Length | 41:28 | |||
| Label | ABC AB-990 (U.S., 12") |
|||
| Producer | Norbert Putnam | |||
| Jimmy Buffett chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [1] |
| Robert Christgau | (B+) [2] |
| Rolling Stone | [3] |
Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes is the breakthrough 1977 album by American popular music singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. The album, his eighth, remains the best-selling album of Buffett's career, and contains his biggest single, "Margaritaville". It was initially released in January 1977 as ABC AB-990 and later rereleased on its successor label, MCA.
Changes was very popular and critically well received and was a transitional album on several levels for Buffett. In a commercial sense, it ushered in Buffett's greatest period of chart and airplay popularity - changing him from an FM cult favorite and minor hitmaker to a top-draw touring artist whose albums sold in the millions, receiving regular AM airplay at the time. Changes would be followed by equally popular and more grandiose expressions of Buffett's "Caribbean Soul" on Son of a Son of a Sailor (1978) and Volcano (1979). All of these albums would combine pop, bar-band rock, country, folk, and reggae influences with the professional production of Norbert Putnam.
Changes also represented the beginning of the end of the "Key West Albums": the Don Gant-produced A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean (1973), Living & Dying in 3/4 Time (1974), A1A (1974), and Havaña Daydreamin' (1975). It is these four albums that capture the feel of early 1970s Key West, Florida and Buffett's experiences as a struggling musician and storyteller. Although the albums are not exclusively about Key West, they detail the laid back island ethos of the small island city and its pre-"condo commando" status as an American Casablanca...a place where no one knows your name and would not care if they did. At the time, Key West was a derelict navy town looking for a direction and was filled with small bars and restaurants craving troubadours like Buffett, Steve Goodman, Jerry Jeff Walker, and others who would play for bar money. The albums document life in the Gulf of Mexico Region ("Biloxi", "Banana Republics", "Wonder Why We Ever Go Home") with displays of touring craziness ("Miss You So Badly"). After Changes, Buffett's scope grew to include the entire Caribbean and, later, the vast expanse of what would become "world music." Buffett's Key West experiences would pepper his later work (even recording his albums in Key West's Shrimpboat Sound), but not like it did in the 1973-1977 period. It is this period, along with the 1978 and 1979 albums that created the mythos Jimmy Buffett has parlayed into icon status as a performer, restaurateur, entrepreneur, author, and celebrity.
Contents |
Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes reached #12 on the Billboard 200 album chart and #2 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. The album was also certified "Platinum" by the RIAA.
Two singles from the album charted including "Margaritaville" (#8 on the Billboard Hot 100; #13 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart; #1 on the Billboard Easy Listening chart) and "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes" (#37 Hot 100; #24 Country; #11 Easy Listening).
The songs on the album were written or co-written by Buffett except for two covers: Steve Goodman's "Banana Republics" and Jesse Winchester's "Biloxi."
Two of the songs on the album had also previously been recorded by Buffett himself. A shorter version of "Wonder Why We Ever Go Home" appeared on the Rancho Deluxe soundtrack under the title "Wonder Why You Ever Go Home" and a different version of "In the Shelter" was originally released in 1970 on High Cumberland Jubilee and yet another on 2002's Meet Me in Margaritaville: The Ultimate Collection making it (with "The Captain and the Kid") one of only two Buffett songs with three different studio versions.
Aside from "Biloxi", all songs appear at least once on a live album, making "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes" the LP with the most live appearances.
The line "good times and riches and son-of-a-bitches; I've seen more than I can recall" was changed to "good time and riches, some bruises and stitches; I've seen more than I can recall" for the single release of the title-track.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes" | Buffett | 3:15 |
| 2. | "Wonder Why We Ever Go Home" | Buffett | 3:51 |
| 3. | "Banana Republics" | Burgh/Goodman/Rothermel | 5:11 |
| 4. | "Tampico Trauma" | Buffett | 4:35 |
| 5. | "Lovely Cruise" | Jonathan Baham | 3:54 |
| 6. | "Margaritaville" | Buffett | 4:09 |
| 7. | "In the Shelter" | Buffett | 4:00 |
| 8. | "Miss You So Badly" | Buffett/Taylor | 3:41 |
| 9. | "Biloxi" | Winchester | 5:38 |
| 10. | "Landfall" | Buffett | 3:14 |
The Coral Reefer Band:
1977 saw Jimmy catch a big wave as he opened for The Eagles for several dates in March and a few in July. “Margaritaville” flew up the charts in the summer, helping the summer tour grow to the amphitheatres that Jimmy still plays today. Amazing Rhythm Aces opened for a few shows in California in May, while the Little River Band was picked up in June to open. Jennifer Warnes also opened some shows. In late June, Jimmy added new drummer Kenneth Buttrey to the band and they rehearsed for three nights in Sarasota, FL before embarking on a tour of the south that included a couple of shows opening for The Eagles again in Florida and Texas. The August 2nd show in New York was broadcast along the east coast on the Radio, Jimmy’s first broadcast since 1975. A special show was played in September as Jimmy opened for Fleetwood Mac at County Stadium in Milwaukee, WI. For the fall, Jimmy drafted Jesse Winchester to open shows throughout the south and along the east coast.[4]
Set lists changed nightly, mainly during an acoustic set which took place between "Makin' Music for Money" and "Margaritaville", but the structure was pretty consistent. The shows typically opened with the title track and ended with "Tampico Trauma". "This Hotel Room" (Steve Goodman cover) and "Dixie Diner" (Larry Raspberry And The Highsteppers cover) were played during the encore, with the band occasionally coming back out on stage after "Dixie Diner" to perform "Lovely Cruise" as a second encore.
An average set list:[5]
Encore:
Encore 2: