Richard Harris - A Tramp Shining

Rating: 2/5

Review:
Pretty dull

Like a lot of people, I tried this album because MacArthur Park is a fantastic track and I thought I’d see what the rest was like. The answer is that it’s not very good.

A Tramp Shining is an album of Jimmy Webb songs. Webb certainly wrote some genuine classics (MacArthur Park among them) but he also wrote a colossal amount of pretty generic, forgettable stuff and that’s what makes up the bulk of this album. Richard Harris was a singer of real character and he does a decent job, but the material combined with some pretty schmaltzy 1960s production really doesn’t make a good listen for me.

Other reviewers plainly like this album but my personal advice is to buy MacArthur Park and don’t bother with the rest.

Kate Wolf - Back Roads

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Well worth hearing

This album was my introduction to Kate Wolf. It’s not bad; it does get a bit samey after a while, but she is worth persevering with.

Kate Wolf wrote and sang nice, quite tuneful songs, often with a strong story. They are on the border between folk and country; she sings very well and the production is good and the overall sound is very pleasing. I do find, though, that after a while I feel I could do with a bit of variety and the whole album gets a bit much. I’m glad I found her, though, because this was good enough to persuade me to try An Evening In Austin, her live album which is very good indeed and shows rather better than this what a fine singer and songwriter she was.

So, overall this is decent but not great, but I would strongly recommend An Evening In Austin. You may well want to come back to Back Roads after hearing it.

Little River Band - Little River band

Rating: 4/5

Review
Still a good album

This is Little River Band’s first album from 1975 and it has held up pretty well.

The album was never a real classic, but it’s good. It does sound pretty derivative in places; the opener, It’s Long Way There is a good song with some very nice West-Coast sounding harmonies, but it bears more than a passing resemblance to David Crosby’s Long Time Gone from Crosby, Stills & Nash. I get this sense throughout the album – that it sounds rather like stuff I’ve already heard. However, it’s all well done, with good vocals and some nice guitar work so it’s still an enjoyable listen.

There’s nothing strikingly memorable here, but if you like that CSN sort of sound then you’ll probably like this.

Leathercoated MInds - A Trip Down The Sunset Strip

Rating: 3/5

Review:
Probably for JJ Cale fans only

This is JJ Cale in a band before his solo career began with Naturally. A Trip Down The Sunset Strip it’s a pretty undistinguished mix of covers and some instrumentals written for the band. There’s nothing actually wrong with any of it and bits of it are quite good - Non-Stop sounds rather like a sort of precursor to The Allman Brothers’ Jessica, for example – but there’s nothing worth getting very excited about either.

I wouldn’t have bothered with this if it didn’t feature JJ, and frankly, I wouldn’t have missed much. If you’re a JJ Cale fan you’ll probably want it and do what I did: you’ll probably listen to it once and most likely not bother again but be obscurely pleased that it’s in your collection. That’s sometimes what being a fan is about and that’s fine; just don’t expect a long-lost classic. Naturally or Okie, this ain’t.

Bruce Springsteen - Springsteen On Broadway

Rating: 4/5

Review: 
Great music, rather too much chat

Springsteen On Broadway is recorded from his live almost-one-man show of monologue and stripped-back songs. It’s great in many ways; Bruce is a great performer, his long, personal spoken pieces are engaging (if rather obviously scripted in a lot of places) and the music is terrific. For me, the ratio of music to talk is too low, though.

I saw Bruce live just once (Wembley Stadium, 1985, since you ask) and even there some of the introductions dragged on a bit, but the excitement and brilliance of the live performances more than compensated. Not actually being present makes a lot of difference here, and, excellent though the music performances are, it gets a little tedious at times.

This is a show I’d love to have seen and which I’m glad to have heard. I’m not sure it’s one that I’d want to listen to repeatedly, though. Springsteen fans like me will want this in their collections but I’m not sure how often I’ll be playing it.

Stefan Grossman - Black melodies On A Clear Afternoon

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Brilliant

This is just great. All that really need be said is that it’s a brilliant guitarist at the top of his game playing great music.

Just to elaborate slightly, Grossman here plays 34 mainly ragtime tracks with some blues influences, and it’s just a delight. The playing is simply brilliant and the whole thing just makes me smile.

How can you not like this? It’s a cracker, and warmly recommended.