Inside the Session: 'Don't Pull Your Love' by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds
- edgarstreetbooks
- Jul 29
- 2 min read
‘200 Greatest 70s Rock Songs’ Book Excerpt
Frank Mastropolo
The early 1970s was a period when horn rock bands like Blood, Sweat & Tears and Chicago were popular and spawned bands like the Ides of March, Lighthouse, and Chase. Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds were a Los Angeles trio who incorporated the sound into “Don’t Pull Your Love,” a №4 hit in 1971.
“Don’t Pull Your Love” was first recorded by Country Store, a group produced by the song’s writers Brian Potter and Dennis Lambert. The pair later offered the song to the Grass Roots, who declined. Dan Hamilton, Joe Frank Carollo, and Tommy Reynolds were at an audition at Dunhill Records when they heard the demo.
“Tommy had a connection at ABC-Dunhill so we got a chance to go over and do a little thing in the studio for them,” Carollo explained on Sandy Kaye Presents. “We didn’t do anything original, we actually did a Creedence Clearwater medley and while we were singing they brought us a demo of ‘Don’t Pull Your Love.’
“They played it for us three or four times and then they took us in the studio and we sang it and before we finished singing it, the president of ABC-Dunhill had come in there and wanted to sign us to a record deal that day. We were in there singing, they said, ‘Hold it.’
“They brought us into the studio and said, ‘Here, would you guys be interested?’ Of course, we went, ‘Yeah.’ First, we did ‘Don’t Pull Your Love’ to get a single out and we were working on the album about the same time. The song was released in April and by July it had sold a million copies.”
Frank Mastropolo is the author of 200 Greatest 70s Rock Songs, part of the Greatest Performances series. For more on our latest projects, visit Edgar Street Books.
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