Album · Blues Image
Open by Blues Image
Open is an album by Blues Image, released in 1970. 1 song from it has charted on rock radio countdowns, with 10 countdown appearances in total. The biggest is “Ride Captain Ride”, on 10 lists with a best position of #97.
Open, the second and most acclaimed album from Blues Image, came out on Atco in April 1970 with Richard Podolor producing, and it caught a band with plenty of club miles behind it. They'd formed in Tampa in 1966 around singer and guitarist Mike Pinera, moved to Miami in 1968 to become house band at Thee Image, a club that booked the likes of Cream and the Grateful Dead, then headed for Los Angeles and a deal with Atco.
The sound mixes hard rock muscle with blues-rock grit, and the prize is "Ride Captain Ride", written by Pinera and keyboardist Skip Konte, with Kent Henry firing off the guitar solo and fills before Pinera takes the last word at the end. It went to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was the band's only charting hit. Robert Christgau, reviewing the album when it came out, heard a great single sitting on an improved but still mediocre LP.
Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.
Songs from Open on radio countdowns
| # | Song | Strength | Lists | Best | #1s | Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ride Captain Ride | 10 | #97 | – | 1997–2025 |
Only songs that appear on at least one countdown are listed. Release data from MusicBrainz.