Biography
Twin Engine captured roughly a full album’s worth of country-rock material flavored by pop and Beatles influences during 1971, although the recordings remained unreleased until a self-titled compact disc appeared in 2004. While the songs echoed the approach of prominent California groups such as Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and the Flying Burrito Brothers, the performances stood out for their solid execution and effective two-part vocal harmonies. Prospects for broader exposure at the time evaporated when an anticipated contract with a major label collapsed. The Los Angeles duo Twin Engine consisted of singer-songwriters Constantine Gusias and Randy Naylor, who split songwriting duties evenly across the twelve tracks that finally surfaced more than three decades after they were laid down. Naylor had previously played guitar, keyboards, and vocals in the minor late-1960s Los Angeles folk-pop-rock outfit the Poor, which issued four singles and counted among its members a pre-Poco/Eagles Randy Meisner along with future New Riders of the Purple Sage musicians Allen Kemp and Patrick Shanahan. Following the Poor’s dissolution, Naylor joined forces with local guitarist and singer-songwriter Constantine Gusias, attracting the interest of songwriter, performer, and producer Joey Stec, formerly of the Millennium. Together with Ralph Scala of the Blues Magoos, Stec oversaw 1971 sessions featuring Twin Engine—Gusias and Naylor—plus contributions from Southern California folk, country, and rock stalwarts Clarence White, Chris Hillman, and Sneaky Pete Kleinow. Because Stec and Scala held a production arrangement with United Artists, the possibility existed for Twin Engine to issue recordings on that label, yet the opportunity vanished when the two producers were dismissed by the company and the duo disbanded. Gusias later recounted declining an invitation to join a new group being assembled by Randy Meisner, thereby forgoing a potential spot in the Eagles. The project had advanced as far as the acetate stage, and a surviving copy discovered years afterward among Naylor’s belongings prompted its 2004 appearance on Rev-Ola.
Albums