Looking Glass

To outside observers, Looking Glass ranked among the most fortunate acts to emerge in the early 1970s, particularly for hailing from New Jersey in 1972 with a chart-topping single well before Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band entered the picture, allowing the track to maintain steady rotation through subsequent oldies and nostalgia formats. The members themselves, however, remained dissatisfied with both the hit and the form of fame it generated, since the recording failed to capture the band’s authentic sound.

Elliot Lurie, a guitarist, singer, and songwriter born in Brooklyn, joined bassist Pieter Sweval and pianist Larry Gonsky while all three attended Rutgers University in New Jersey. In their initial late-1960s configuration, the group built a following at college parties and regional venues before disbanding after graduation in the early 1970s. Lurie and Gonsky later rejoined Sweval along with drummer Jeffrey Grob, formerly of the band Tracks, to revive Looking Glass. Now operating as a technically proficient hard-rock ensemble, they turned professional, secured steady East Coast club bookings, and devoted intensive rehearsal time to newly composed material. Columbia Records president Clive Davis took notice and placed the group on the Epic Records roster, leading to an initial recording date.

Two unsuccessful studio efforts, one of them overseen by guitarist Steve Cropper in Memphis, preceded their breakthrough with producer Bob Liftin on Lurie’s composition “Brandy.” Multiple takes preceded the final version, which featured understated string and horn overdubs plus more prominent group harmonies than usual. Issued in early 1972 as the B-side of “Don’t It Make You Feel Good,” the track went unnoticed until Washington, D.C., disc jockey Harv Moore turned it over and championed it personally. The single first caught on locally in the capital, then spread nationwide, reaching the top of the charts six months after release. A self-titled debut album appeared that spring and more accurately reflected the quartet’s style; although its sales trailed those of the single, it still logged sixteen weeks on the charts. Looking Glass never repeated the commercial impact of “Brandy,” and subsequent singles went nowhere until “Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne” entered the Top 40 the following year.

These successes proved less advantageous than expected, because neither hit resembled the band’s live presentation. High-energy rock & roll numbers such as “Jenny-Lynne” and “Don’t It Make You Feel Good” better conveyed their stage identity, creating a stark contrast with the string- and horn-laden singles familiar to radio listeners. As a result, audiences often left concerts disappointed when the group emphasized its harder-rocking repertoire. Lurie, frustrated by the mismatch, departed in 1974 to pursue a brief solo career that produced one album and several non-charting singles. He also performed locally in the New York–New Jersey region, including a Bottom Line appearance alongside Al Kooper. After Clive Davis established Arista Records following his departure from Columbia, Lurie signed with the new label yet failed to score another hit.

The remaining members continued briefly as “Lookinglass” without a recording contract and with dwindling crowds before disbanding in the middle of the decade. By the late 1970s Lurie had left performing behind and entered the film industry as a music supervisor, overseeing scores that included The Last of the Mohicans and contributing music to Night at the Roxbury, Alien 3, Mary Katherine Gallagher: Superstar, Perfect, Die Hard 2, Dying Young, and the remake of Miracle on 34th Street, among other projects. In 2003 Lurie and Sweval reactivated Looking Glass for live work, assembling sets that mixed the group’s hits and album tracks with covers of rock and pop standards spanning multiple eras.