The Yearlings - Sweet Runaway

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A very good album

I think Sweet Runaway is a very good album indeed. I took a punt on it having heard a few samples and a couple of tracks and I’m very glad I did; The Yearlings write good songs and perform them very well.

The tone is generally pretty sad and yearning and often rather beautiful. Production is excellent – not too heavy, well balanced and thoughtful – and brings out both the quality of the songs and of the singing and guitar work. The overall effect is haunting and rather lovely. I’d recommend listening to some samples and if you like what you hear, don’t hesitate. This is a classy piece of work which I can warmly recommend.

Chris Stapelton - Traveller

Rating: 5/5

Review:
An outstanding album

Just to add my voice to the thousands who have already praised Traveller: this is an excellent album. Chris Stapleton writes exceptionally good songs with a good variety of themes and feel from tender ballads to driving country rock, and he sings quite wonderfully. He has a superb voice which he uses with real skill and emotion to bring out the quality in the material. The band and production are excellent and it’s a first-rate album all round.

This is an outstanding album and very warmly recommended.

Kate Rusby - Holly Head

Rating: 5/5

Review:
More class from Kate Rusby

Christmas albums are almost invariably dreadful, but among the exceptions are Kate Rusby’s wonderful seasonal offerings, of which this is the fifth. Holly Head is as good as its predecessors, which is possibly all that need be said.

Just to elaborate slightly, there is Rusby’s usual mixture of Yorkshire variants of Christmas carols and songs with a scattering of her original compositions. It’s beautifully done, as always; thoughtful production which is atmospheric without straying into sloppy sentimentality, excellent musicianship and Rusby’s lovely, distinctive voice. Personally, I love Lu Lay, a variant of The Coventry Carol, bit it’s all excellent stuff and there isn’t a weak track anywhere.

Kate Rusby is among the best we have. She’s been making quietly classy albums consistently for many years now and this is no exception. Very warmly recommended.

Come On Up To The House - Women Sing Waits

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Outstandingly good

I think this is an outstandingly good album. I know this is sacrilege to many people, but I struggle with Tom Waits; he’s a fantastic songwriter but that I’m-about-to-throw-up-and-then-I’ll-probably-kill-you delivery gets a bit much for me. Here we have some of the finest female Americana/country singers really giving his songs meaning and pathos.

A couple of favourites are Rosanne Cash’s performance of Time, which is quite magical and Ruby’s Arms by the great Patty Griffin, which is spellbinding and heartbreaking. I don’t think there’s a weak track on the album; everything is superbly performed and excellently, sensitively produced. My advice is to listen to a few samples and then snap it up. It’s an album of great songs, performed wonderfully – what more could you want?

Helene Cronin - Old Ghosts and Lost Causes

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A very good album

Old Ghosts and Lost Causes is a very good album. We are exceptionally blessed with some excellent singer-songwriters at the moment and Helene Cronin has produced an album which stands up very well among them.

Cronin’s songs are often very personal and revelatory, but never become self-indulgent. Her lyrics are thoughtful and intelligent, and I often find them rather touching; in God Doesn’t, for example, even though I don’t have a belief I found myself moved by the words. There is a good variety of style from quiet heartbreak in Riding The Grey Line to punchy anger in Mean Bone and Cronin sings them all very well. She has a good voice which she uses very well, and the band and production are excellent.

This is, in short, a classy album. I’m extremely glad I tried it and I’ll be looking out for more of Helene Cronin’s work.

Molly Tuttle - When You're Ready

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A good album from a stunning guitarist

Molly Tuttle is an amazing guitarist; this is a good album but I’m not sure it really shows off her extraordinary talent to the full.

When You’re Ready is a good album of well crafted, nicely varied songs. Molly sings them very well and the band and production are also good. The thing is, I saw her live with Transatlantic Sessions and then again at Bush Hall very recently and she is just phenomenal. Great stage presence, terrific vocal delivery and some guitar work which is just breathtaking. She was the first woman to win Bluegrass Guitarist Of The Year and it was a very well deserved award; some of her playing would have done Doc Watson proud and I that’s about the highest praise I can give. Look on YouTube for her playing White Freightliner Blues and you’ll see what I mean.

So, this is a good album which is well worth hearing and which I listen to with pleasure, but if you get the chance to see her live, grab it with both hands. Molly Tuttle is something really special.

Pine Hill Project - Tomorrow You're Going

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Good, not great

This is an album of covers by two very fine but underrated artists. Lucy Kaplansky and Richard Shindell are excellent musicians and they create a lovely sound together, well balance between the two of them and with some fabulous harmonies and the instrumental excellence you would expect from both. The band are very good, too, as is the production and there are some fine tracks – notably for me, Making Plans. Overall, though, this is a good album rather than a great one. I’m not sure why – possibly it’s the choice of material, but whatever the reason, this doesn’t quite stand out as albums like Careless or Over The Hills do. It’s still well worth getting, but I don’t think it’s among the best work of either Lucy or Richard.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Colorado

Rating: 2/5

Review:
Another substandard album from Neil

I’m afraid Colorado isn’t very good. It’s not as bad as The Monsanto Years, but that’s really not saying much.

Frankly, I only tried this because Neil was back with Crazy Horse. They’re good, of course, but the material really isn’t up to much, with disjointed, unfocussed lyrics, very little in the way of melody and too much directionless, tedious noodling. Neil’s singing isn’t great these days, and there’s a sense of him just blurting out thoughts a lot of the time – a lot of them about environmental issues, of course – rather than crafting a song and performing it with skill and care, which is what used to make him so great.

Colorado does have its moments – Olden Days is a good, touching song in places for instance – and it’s at least recorded in a way which makes it bearable to listen to (A Letter Home, anyone?), but overall it’s the sort of rather rambling mess that has characterised Neil’s recent albums. After half a century of loving him, I keep thinking that this is my last Neil Young album and then trying just one more, in the hope of a flash of the old genius, I guess. Well, it’s not in evidence here, I’m afraid, and even as a long-term fan I can’t recommend Colorado.

Lucy Kaplansky - Over The Hills

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A little gem

I think this is a cracking album. I was only dimly aware of Lucy Kaplansky through her work with Eliza Gilkyson but I heard Manhattan Moon on a Putamayo compilation, loved it and took a punt on this album. I’m very glad I did.

Lucy Kaplansky has a lovely voice and can really bring a song to life. Her own material is good, and often excellent, with good tunes, intelligent lyrics and fine production which does the material real justice. She has also recorded a handful of covers here, all of which are good, and her version of Roxy Music’s More Than This is just wonderful, I think. It’s a prime example of how to do a worthwhile cover version, bringing a wholly new take on the song while preserving its original quality and making a great track in your own right.

I’m delighted to have discovered Lucy Kaplansky’s work and I’ll be looking into more of her albums. In the meantime, I can recommend this very warmly; it’s a little gem.

Danny Kortchmar - Kootch

Rating: 3/5

Review:
Disappointing

I’m a huge admirer of Danny Kortchmar’s work with people like Carole King, James Taylor and all those others, but I’m afraid that this is another of those albums which show that a lot of brilliant sidemen (and women) don’t make great solo artists in their own right.

There’s no doubting Kootch’s brilliance as a guitarist and the whole thing is very competently performed and produced, but the material is pretty ordinary and as an album it’s no more than OK. Some other reviewers plainly think it’s terrific, but it really doesn’t do much for me and the overall effect is rather generic and a bit dated – and not in a good way. I might have quite liked it in 1973, but I can’t say it’s aged well.

You may like this more than I do, but personally I can’t really recommend it.

Ragged But Right; Great Country String Bands of the 30s

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Terrific stuff

This is an absolute joy of a disc. I didn’t know any of these bands or songs before, but I’m very, very glad that I do now. There is some truly fantastic music here, with real instrumental brilliance and an utterly joyous approach. There are great songs, some fantastic instrumentals like Hawkin’s Rag, terrific talking blues like Go Easy Blues and so on.

I defy anyone to listen to this without smiling. It’s terrific.

David McWillams - Lord Offaly

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Still a very good album

This remains a very good album. I can’t quite regard it as a classic as some other reviewers have done, but it’s full of very nice songs, well sung and well produced.

There is some truly lovely stuff here in places – the instrumental Spanish Hope is a prime example – and all the songs have a very nice sound to them. McWillams had quite a distinctive style, especially in his use of minor chords, and that comes through here, giving the whole album a slightly mystical, melancholy air but it’s never depressing or turgid. Somewhere between folk and early-70s pop, it’s an album which has lasted much better than many from that era and I can recommend it warmly.

Doc Watson - Live at Club 47

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Brilliant

This is a fine live recording of the great Doc Watson. His playing is, of course, superb and quite jaw-droppingly brilliant in places (how does he DO that?) and his singing is very good, too. The sound quality is good and it’s a pleasure to have a good quality recording of Doc performing so well.

I have to say that the down-home, folksy chat in between songs gets a little much for me in places, but that’s a tine, personal niggle. This is a very good disc of a true genius of the guitar playing magnificently and I can recommend it very warmly.

Robbie Robertson - Sinematic

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Patchy but some very good stuff

This is a bit of a mixed bag of an album. I have liked and sometimes loved Robbie Robertson’s solo work and still play his self-titled 1987 album with great pleasure. Some of this is up to that standard and some isn’t.

The production is very good, and quite reminiscent of that 1987 album in that Robertson’s voice sounds very similar here. The sound is lush and full much of the time, which works very well for most tracks. The material itself is very variable, I think; for example, Walk In Beauty Way is an excellent, very beautiful track, while Shanghai Blues seems like characterless filler to me.

It’s an expensive package, which will rightly put a lot of people off – there’s no need for it and it’s annoying. Musically, I think it’s worth having; in spite of its weaknesses there is some very good stuff here and especially for Robbie Robertson fans like me I can recommend it with some reservations.

Putamayo Presents - South Africa

Rating: 5/5

Review:
An excellent compilation

I am shamefully ignorant about South African music, having heard very little beyond Ladysmith Black Mambazo, so this was a great introduction for me. There is a fine mixture of styles, some excellent musicianship and a lot of very enjoyable music. Like all the Putamayo compilations, it is very well presented with good information, making it a good pace to start investigating further as well as being a really good listen in itself. Very warmly recommended.

Claire Hamill - Over Dark Apples

Rating: 3/5

Review:
Good performance and lyrics, but musically disappointing

I’ve listened to a couple of Claire Hamill’s albums from the 70s recently, and they still stand up well. Sadly, I’m not so keen on Over Dark Apples.

It’s great that Claire is still writing and performing, and she can certainly still put a song over very well. Her voice has darkened and deepened with the years and she’s a good performer with a very decent band and solid production. My problem is the material; some of it’s pretty good (I like the opening track, Love Has A Mind Of Its Own, for example) and the lyrics are generally engaging and sometimes very striking, but musically it’s pretty ordinary. Melodies are bland and almost nursery-rhyme-like in character a lot of the time and however good the lyrics and performance, it gets a bit dull, I’m afraid.

I don’t want to be too critical and others may well enjoy this more than I did, but in spite of its good points I can only give Over Dark Apples a very qualified recommendation.

Amy Speace - Me And The Ghost Of Charlemagne

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Another fine album from Amy Speace

This is another very fine album from Amy Speace. I have admired her work for some years now – so much so that I contributed to the crowdfunding of Me And The Ghost Of Charlemagne, which means that I’ve had a copy for some months now and have listened to it a lot.

Amy Speace turned 50 fairly recently, but she continues to mature as both a songwriter and a performer. The songs here have lyrics which are even more thoughtful and well crafted than before, think – which is really saying something. The title track, for example, is remarkably atmospheric and a long way from your average singer/songwriter fare. She has a lovely, pure voice which she uses to give real meaning to her lyrics and writes a very good tune.

The album is beautifully produced by Neilson Hubbard and the overall effect is involving and atmospheric. Even in a time when we are phenomenally blessed with excellent female singer/songwriters, this a classy piece of work which stands out for me and I can recommend it very warmly.

Karen Dalton - It's So Hard to Tell Who's Going to Love You the Best

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A true hidden gem

I spend quite a lot of time poking about in obscure corners of late 60s/early 70s music. A lot of the stuff I hear deserves to be obscure, to be honest, but occasionally I come across a gem like this which makes the search worthwhile.

This is an album largely of covers, sung superbly and excellently accompanied. Dalton’s voice has much of the cracked, slightly fragile-sounding beauty of Billie Holiday, and she can sing with the same intensity. Really – she can, and I know what a big statement that is. I find this spellbinding to listen to, with stripped back, excellently played accompaniment which is very well produced to give a great, almost torch-singer sound.

This is one of those rare albums which genuinely deserves the tag “hidden gem.” I’m delighted to have discovered it and can recommend it very warmly indeed.

Dick Gaughan - An Introduction to Dick Gaughan

Rating 5/5

Review:
An excellent selection

The “An Introduction to...” series is uniformly excellent and this compilation of some of Dick Gaughan’s finest tracks recorded for Topic is no exception. The sound quality is excellent and it’s a thoughtful, representative selection showing Gaugan’s fine voice and classy guitar work.

If you’re looking for somewhere to start with Dick Gaughan, you can’t go wrong here. Very warmly recommended.

V.A. - Hallelujah; The Songs Of Leonard Cohen

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Some very good stuff here

There is a good deal of truth in the old saying that no-one can sing a Leonard Cohen song the way Leonard Cohen couldn’t, but there are some very good covers here, along with some not-so-good ones.

Really, how you respond to these recordings is a matter of individual taste; another reviewer singles out Barb Jungr’s Everybody Knows for special praise, whereas I really don’t like it. I suspect that’s the way it will be for most of this album – people will just disagree about what they like, if anything. For me, it was better than I expected: I have known and loved Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah for years (while my sister hated it), I was very pleasantly surprised by Rufus Wainwright and Dion’s contributions and liked a lot of the others, but – again surprisingly – hated the great Nina Simone’s version of Suzanne. And so it goes.

Taste here is likely to be so individual that my recommendation may not be much use, but for what it’s worth I think this is an album I like a lot overall and which is well worth having.

Amory Kane - Memories of Time Unwound

Rating: 3/5

Review:
Uninspiring

Sometimes poking about in the dusty corners of late 1960s music unearths a hidden gem. Sadly, most of the time it doesn’t, and this is one of those times. I found Memories of Time Unwound pretty forgettable; there’s nothing actively wrong with it and the musicianship is good – as you’d expect with the excellent Dave Pegg on bass – but the material is nothing special, I’m afraid. There was an awful lot of this kind of stuff around then; most of it just washed over me at the time without leaving much impression and this does the same now.

I don’t want to be too harsh, but this didn’t do anything for me and I can’t really recommend it.

Jimmie Spheeris - Isle Of View & The Original Tap Dancing Kid

Rating: 3/5

Review:
Pleasant but rather ordinary

I’m afraid I can’t quite share the enthusiasm of some reviewers for Jimmie Spheeris’s music. It’s perfectly OK of its type but for me it doesn’t really stand out from the huge wash of dreamy psychy-folky stuff which was around in the late 60s and early 70s.

There are some nice songs here with decent music, good production and rather Moody Blues-y lyrics. I can imagine this being played in student rooms late at night while smoking non-proprietary cigarettes – indeed, I might have done just that myself if I’d come across Jimmie Spheeris during my mid-70s university days. Coming to it now, though, it doesn’t do much for me really; I find it a pleasant haze of rather generic-sounding stuff but not much more.

Plainly, Spheeris has a devoted following and others may get more from his music than me, but personally I can only give this 2-in-1 set a lukewarm recommendation.

Show Of Hands - Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A terrific album

I have somehow managed to miss out on Show Of Hands in the past, but I am very glad that I have discovered them now. This is a terrific album.

The material is a mixture of traditional and modern, some self-written, and it’s all excellent. From the quiet, haunting ballads via a great cover of Dylan’s Senor to the angry protest of the title track, the musicianship is top-class and it’s a pleasure to listen to throughout. It’s also a pleasure to find genuine, sincere political protest expressed in first-rate songs which are anything but a chore to listen to. Very warmly recommended.

Billie Marten - Feeding Seahorses By Hand

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Classy and enjoyable

I like Feeding Seahorses By Hand. Billie Marten was new to me so it was a bit of a punt, but it’s very rewarding. She has a lovely, husky, slightly broken voice and her material is very decent slightly folky, slightly jazzy stuff. I haven’t yet found anything truly outstanding here, but I can recommend this as a classy, enjoyable album.

Thea Gilmore - Small World Turning

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Another fine album from Thea Gilmore

Small World Turning is yet another very fine album from Thea Gilmore. It’s perhaps not one of her very greatest (in which class I’d put the masterpieces which are Avalanche, Murphy’s Heart and Regardless) but it’s still real quality.

There’s the mix we’ve come to expect of sharp political comment (The Revisionist is an excellent example) and lovely, moving songs about love and human relations. All the Thea trademarks are still here: great and sometimes astonishingly brilliant lyrics; beautiful melodies, sometimes with with slightly unusual chord sequences; sequences of extraordinary images… It’s great stuff.

I have to say that occasionally the trademarks spill over slightly into the sense that I’ve heard this before. Glory, for example, bears quite a strong musical and structural resemblance to Heads Will Roll, with the “Amens” from Automatic Blue thrown in. That’s fine with me – they’re two great songs – but Thea Gilmore is such an original, innovative songwriter that it’s a bit of a surprise.

This small caveat aside, it’s a really good album from one of our finest songwriters and warmy recommended.

Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator)

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Still a gem

Time (The Revelator) is still an outstanding album, I think. Gillian Welch has been in the top rank of country singer-songwriters for decades now and this album shows why. The songs are excellent, with thoughtful, intelligent and slightly quirky lyrics and are involving and tuneful from the stunningly powerful Elvis Presley Blues to the slightly jaunty Red Clay Halo. Welch’s voice is wonderfully distinctive and haunting, there’s some great guitar work and the whole thing is a gem.

Not many albums last this well for almost twenty years; this one has, and I can recommend it very warmly.

F.J. McMahon - Spirit Of The Golden Juice

Rating: 2/5

Review:
Pretty forgettable

I’m afraid I don’t think Spirit Of The Golden Juice is a very good. It’s OK in its way, but F.J. McMahon’s songs are pretty generic, there’s not a great deal of variety and in the end it just becomes rather dull. McMahon’s voice is pleasant enough, but there was an awful lot of quite pleasant-sounding stuff like this in 1969 and overall the whole thing rather fades into the background hum of the time.

In short, it’s an album I’m quite glad to have heard because F.J. McMahon’s name was familiar, but having heard it a couple of times I doubt whether I’ll be bothering again for a long while – if ever.

Emmylou Harris - Red Dirt Girl

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Still very good

This is still a very good album indeed. Emmylou Harris has always been a great singer; here she shows that she’s a very fine songwriter, too. These are lovely, haunting tracks with great melodies, fine arrangements and Emmylou’s slightly dark, beautifully modulated voice bringing them to life.

After almost 20 years, Red Dirt Girl still stands up very well, which is a fine compliment to its quality. Warmly recommended.

Marry Waterson & Emily Barker - A Window To Other Ways

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A terrific album

I think this is a terrific album. I have loved Emily Barker’s work for a long time now and this is another cracker in her discography. Barker’s last two albums have been with the wonderful country trio Applewood Road and the equally excellent, Nashville-based Sweet Kind Of Blue. It is typical of her that in a change of style she is now collaborating with the quintessentially English folk singer Marry Waterson and between them they have produced an album of real quality, with thoughtful, musically diverse songs and a wonderful overall sound.

It’s hard to categorise the music here, other than that it’s very, very good. There’s a mix of folk and soul really, with intelligent lyrics about a range of things. I’m particularly fond of Little Hits Of Dopamine - “I’d rather be rock and rolling but you just keep on scrolling...I’m right here, right now and you’re missing out...” - but there is plenty of food for thought and musical enjoyment throughout the album.

In short, this is a bit of real class from two excellent performers and, in Emily Barker, one of the finest songwriters around at the moment. Warmly recommended.

Gordon Giltrap & Rick Wakeman - From Brush & Stone

Rating: 3/5

Review: A bit dull

Both Rick Wakeman and Gordon Giltrap are excellent musicians, but I’m afraid this album is just a bit dull. Both play superbly, of course, but the material isn’t very inspiring and there is an air of slight blandness over the whole recording. There’s nothing actively wrong with any of it, but it just doesn’t hold my attention. Sadly, I can’t recommend this.

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Rating: 3/5

Review:
A bit disappointing

For me this album hasn’t aged very well. It’s the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band’s first album from 1967 and although the musicianship and enthusiasm is still evident, the material and arrangements don’t sound all that good any more.

It may be that I’ve grown up a little in the half century since this came out, so I’ve heard a lot more music. For example, compared to the great original of Candy Man by Mississippi John Hurt or the brilliant cover by Chris Smither, this sounds pretty bland. The pot-pourri ofByrds-like harmonies, vaudeville and a bit of bluegrass seem rather an uneasy mixture now and although there are some enjoyable moments, as an album it’s not great.

I went back to this just to see what I’d liked all those years ago but was a bit disappointed. You may feel differently, but I can’t really recommend it.

Patty Griffin - Patty Griffin

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A very fine album

Patty Griffin is still great. She’s been making quietly excellent albums for so long now that it’s no surprise to find that she’s still at the peak of her form. Her voice is just fabulous here; haunting, expressive and beautifully controlled and the songs she sings with it are vintage Griffin. There isn’t a weak track on the album and some, like River for example, are among her very best, I think. She writes such beautiful melodies and combines them with thoughtful, insightful lyrics. River is apparently a response to her coming through breast cancer, but like so many of her personal songs it has a more universal sense – this time of resilience and indomitability.

This is, in short, a first-rate album from a genuine great of the genre. Warmly recommended.

Joni Mitchell - Previews Of The Past (Live 1994)

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Great music, lots of talk

This is a recording of an interview interspersed with live songs broadcast on the day of release of Turbulent Indigo in 1994. The cover says it is a Canadian broadcast, but the interviewer says clearly that it’s a Southern Californian station.

The music is great. It is always a pleasure to hear Joni play live and she’s terrific here. The word genius is now overused and devalued, but I think she is genuinely someone to whom it can be justly applied; she’s fantastically talented and skilful, and she also thinks and composes in ways that ordinary mortals don’t, however good they are. There’s a good mix of songs, with several from Turbulent Indigo, of course, and her voice and guitar work are sensational, as always.

Much of the disc is talk. The interviewer isn’t bad; she sounds a little out of her depth sometimes, but fair enough – I most of us would be if we were interviewing Joni Mitchell. It’s interesting to hear Joni talk, of course, but as an album to keep and play repeatedly...hmmm. There are just six songs here among the talk (around 25 minutes of music in total) and, excellent though they are, that’s not a lot of music really.

So...I’d say this is one for the completists. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with any of it and the sound quality is fine, but you’ll need to decide whether it’s something you’re really going to play enough to make it worth buying.

Marc Jonson - Years

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A decent album

Years is not, as the blurb claims, a lost masterpiece, but it does have some good stuff on it. Marc Jonson’s debut album deserves to be released and Vanguard have done a good job of the remastering, so the sound is more than acceptable and the music is, by and large, pretty good. There are some good songs with intelligent lyrics and a baroque/psych tinge; I found echoes of the songwriting of James Taylor, Melanie Safka and some others. It does have its low points; A Long Song could do with being a much shorter song, for example, with seemingly endless repetitions of tedious stuff as a long, long outro. Overall, though, it’s a decent album and if you like early 70s singer-songwriter stuff, this is well worth a try.

Nicky Hopkins et al - Jamming With Edward

Rating: 3/5

Review:
Not great

This album sounds exactly like what it is; a bunch of great musicians amusing themselves by improvising some loose jams while waiting for the real recording sessions to start. It has its moments, of course – you’d expect nothing less from this bunch – but it’s not great. It’s a lot of noodling (very good noodling, admittedly) over a solid foundation from Watts and Wyman which doesn’t add up to much really. It wasn’t intended for realease, of course – I’m not even sure that they knew it was being recorded – so it’s probably unfair to criticise, but for me it’s not really an album to keep and play repeatedly. It’s one for real fans and completists, I think.

Joe Egan - Out Of Nowhere

Rating: 3/5

Review:
Pleasant but forgettable

I’m afraid I don’t think this album has aged well. Joe Egan was a fine performer to whom Stealers Wheel owed a good deal of their well-deserved success, but this solo effort isn’t in the same league as either Stealers Wheel or Gerry Rafferty’s own solo work.

As an album, it sounds very pleasant, with a pretty generic harmonised soft-rock sound, very decent vocal and instrumental performances and good production. The problem is the material, which really doesn’t add up to much at all, so the whole thing washes over me in a nice wave of sound and then vanishes from my memory.

I’m sorry to be critical because Joe Egan’s has left a fine musical legacy, but for me Out Of Nowhere isn’t a part of it.

J.S. Ondara - Tales Of America

Rating: 5/5

Review:
An excellent debut

This is really good. I tried it because J.S. Ondara has an interesting backstory of immigration from Kenya to the USA, but it turns out to be rather special, I think.

Ondara has a beautiful, slightly breathy tenor voice which sometimes moves to falsetto and he writes very good, straightforward songs with thoughtful, intelligent lyrics. He sings of the joy of being in America and also of its struggles, and he sings with real heart; the combination gives his songs a genuine depth and sincerity which I find extremely engaging. The arrangements are generally quite simple, but this and pitch-perfect production gives a really atmospheric feel to the whole thing. Although their voices are wholly different, I think the album’s feel reminds me a little of Springsteen’s Nebraska – which is very high praise indeed.

I would urge you to try Tales Of America. I was surprised by how good it is and can recommend it very warmly.

Michael Chapman - True North

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A cracking album

This is a cracking album from Michael Chapman. I’ve been a fan since Rainmaker (50 years now); I’ve not always liked everything he has done but True North is one of his best, I think.

I reckon that Chapman was probably born sounding downbeat, world-weary and slightly indistinct, and he certainly hasn’t changed that. His voice is older now, but still has the evocative depth and delivery it always did. His guitar work is wonderful, of course, with a full, rich sound here and he understands the value of simplicity. There are times when, for me at least, he has taken this too far (Pachyderm springs to mind), but the balance here is perfect between melody and his guitar and other backing. So, for example we get the lovely instrumental Caddo Lake followed by the excellent Hell To Pay, a fine song with really classy lyrics.

This really is a very good album with no weaknesses and some very, very good stuff. Warmly recommended.

Beach Boys - Surf's Up

Rating: 2/5

Review:
Not great

I know a lot of people think this is one of the Beach Boys’ classic albums, but I can’t agree. For me, it’s a mixed bag of a couple of very good tracks – including the title song, which may possibly be classed as a classic track – some mediocre stuff and a couple of utter clunkers.

I thought when it came out that it was a long way from the Beach Boys glory days of surf classics like Fun, Fun Fun, then pop masterpieces like God Only Knows, Good Vibrations and so on, but one’s judgement aged 17 isn’t always the most reliable. However, revisiting it now, almost 50 years later, I think the same. There’s a sense of a band struggling to recapture lost magic and not managing it most of the time. Surf’s Up is still a very fine song, but much of the material is thin and relies far too heavily on arrangement and production, so although there’s a generic Beach Boys sound a lot of the time, it’s largely forgettable. Student Demonstration Time, their lyrically clumsy reworking of Riot In Cell Block #9, is pretty feeble and shows that pounding rock has never been their forte, while Take A Load Off Your Feet and A Day In The Life Of A Tree are to me just embarrassing.

This isn’t an album to be completely written off, but it’s a long way from their best. Other than the title track, I can’t see this finding its way into my player again any time soon.

Speedy Keen - Previous Convictions

Rating: 2/5

Review:
Pretty forgettable

I thought that an album by the man who wrote and performed in Something In the Air by Thunderclap Newman would be pretty good. Sadly, I was wrong.

Plainly, Speedy Keen is a good musician and Previous Convictions starts quite well with Old Fashioned Girl, but it goes downhill quite rapidly after that. Keen’s original compositions are trite, almost nursery-rhyme standard tunes with uninspiring arrangements and his pleasant but inexpressive singing voice does nothing to help. The cover of Somethin’ Else is bland and has none of the drive and charm of the original, and Positively 4^th Street is simply frightful. A couple of instrumentals which feel like filler complete the mix and it adds up to a pretty weak, forgettable album, I’m afraid.

I’m sorry to be so critical, but this really does seem like another example of a very good session musician/sideman demonstrating that he should stick to the day job. I can’t recommend it.

Canned Heat - '70 Concert

Rating: 3/5

Review:
Not great

I’m not very keen on this album – and I speak as someone who wore out their original copy of Boogie With Canned Heat (and still has the replacement vinyl). It’s sort of OK and the sound quality is adequate but, frankly, it’s a bit dull.

The chief pleasure of the album for me is hearing Alan Wilson playing some wonderful harmonica and bottleneck in places, but there’s an awful lot of very ordinary slow blues improvisation which for me wasn’t the Heat’s strength. They were at their best laying down a solid boogie as in On The Road Again, in some of Wilson’s slightly eccentric songs or in really driving blues/rock like Amphetamine Annie. Here, in a lengthy pause between songs, an audience member shouts out a suggestion to which Bob Hite responds, “Fleetwood Mac do that, man. Better than we do.” I felt that about a lot of this album.

I think it’s telling that I haven’t heard this for a long time and the only thing I remembered when I listened again was, in the same audience exchange, someone shouting “Parthenogenesis,” and Hite’s classic reply “Huh. Yeah. You got the acid?” Musically, it had made almost no impression.

It’s always good to have any recording of the great Blind Owl and the album does have its moments, but even this serious lover of the Heat can only give it a very qualified recommendation.

Eric Clapton - Transmission Impossible

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Mixed but well worthwhile

This 3-CD set is of mixed quality, but well worth having for Clapton fans (like me). It’s worth saying at the start that the sound quality is pretty good, which isn’t the case with some releases of “lost” live recordings.

Disc 1 is Cream recorded live in October 1968. It’s good; the band is on fine form and the material is what you’d expect from this time. To be honest, I don’t think it adds much to what we’ve had for decades on Wheels Of Fire and Goodbye Cream, but it’s always good to hear them playing and it ends with a fine, epic, 17-minute Spoonful. (Although as someone who played Sides 1-3 of Wheels Of Fire a lot and Side 4 almost never, I’m unlikely to listen to another version of Toad more than once.)

Disc 2 is, frankly, weak. It’s from late 1978, a time when Eric wasn’t in good shape, and it shows. Some of the material isn’t his best and he just seems to be going through the motions. For example, the live version of Can’t Find My Way Home on E.C Was Here is among my favourite Clapton tracks; here it’s a tedious dirge which should have been put out of its misery long before the final chord. It’s a sad reminder of a sad period, really.

Disc 3, from September 1998 is far better. The material (a lot of it from Pilgrim) is much stronger and more importantly, the Eric we know and love is back. He sings like he really means it and his guitar work has all the old soul and wonderful touch. He’s quite brilliant in places and on tracks like River Of Tears his guitar is utterly beautiful.

So...not consistently great by any means, but a worthwhile addition to the Clapton discography and worth getting for Disc 3 certainly and probably Disc 1 as well, so recommended.

Professor Longhair - Rock 'n' Roll Gumbo

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Wonderful stuff

This is terrific. Professor Longhair was a great New Orleans piano player who moved Boogie Woogie toward what became Rock & Roll. There are things here which make me think of Fats Domino, Elvis and others quite regularly. It’s immensely enjoyable stuff which I find impossible to sit still to.

If you don’t know Professor Longhair and you like really rockin’ piano-based music, don’t hesitate. This is wonderful stuff.

Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac - The Lost Broadcasts

Rating: 2/5

Review:
Poor sound quality

This is one for real fans and completists only, I think. I tried it because I will listen to anything played by Peter Green, but it’s not great.

The problem is the sound quality. It’s not as absolutely terrible as some of the stuff foisted on us over the years (buyers of some Canned Heat and Clapton “lost” or “unofficial live” recordings, for example, will know what I mean), but it varies from the dodgy to the awful. Some of it is worth it – there’s a terrific solo performance by Green of Dead Shrimp Blues, for example, which I’m glad to have in spite of the crackles, scrapes and overall dismal quality – but a lot of it isn’t really. You can tell that the issuers haven’t taken this compilation at all seriously from the comic font on the cover (what??) and it shows.

The music itself is mostly pretty good without being brilliant with a nice mix of solid blues, odd covers like Peggy Sue Got Married (yes, really) and some of Jeremy Spencer’s enjoyable knockabout Rock & Roll parodies. There are flashes of genius from Green and the band is always very good, but most of these tracks aren’t as good as the versions already available either on original albums or compilations like Live At The BBC.

I’m a massive devotee of the original Fleetwood Mac and even I’m not over-keen on this. It’s basically an exploitative cobbling together of poor-quality recordings with no effort at cleaning them up or meaningful curation. On balance, I’m glad to have it in my collection, but I can’t really recommend it.

Andy Fairweather Low - La Booga Rooga

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Still a cracking album

This is still a cracking album. Andy Fairweather Low is a phenomenal musician and fine songwriter, plus he was a great singer. It’s a combination which came together in the 70s to make some wonderful albums (my other favourite of his is Spider Jiving). Here, he often develops a slightly ragged-sounding, almost jug-band feel which I like very much – and of course there’s the classic Wide Eyed And Legless.

This really is a fine, hugely enjoyable album which has aged remarkably well. Very warmly recommended.

Come Join My Orchestra; The British Baroque Pop Sound 1967-73

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Some great, some OK, some terrible

This compilation is excellent in many ways. It’s terrific value, the notes are very good indeed and the compilers have dug out some real obscurities along with some better-known and in some cases very famous bands performing more out-of-the-way material. Musically, the quality is very mixed, though.

The thing is, I was there. I was aged 13 to 19 during this period and music was a big part of my life. Some of this is very familiar to me, some I’d never heard before and there is both great stuff and tracks whose obscurity is thoroughly well deserved. Just the opening of Disc 1 epitomises the collection: Come Join My Orchestra is a nice but rather average track, Honeybus, Clifford T. Ward and The Strawbs contribute interesting and enjoyable songs, The Freedom’s The Better Side is another decent but unmemorable song and then there’s the dreadful Acorn Street by Michael Blount and Toast utterly destroying a very beautiful Paul Simon song...and so on. This mixture of the great, the OK and the terrible persists throughout the 80 tracks here. Others’ taste will differ from mine, of course, so you may disagree over individual tracks, but I expect most listeners will find a mixture of stuff they like and stuff they really don’t.

The collection is pretty representative of some aspects of the period (there are certainly plenty of harpsichords, strings and flutes) and there is stuff here that you’re unlikely to find anywhere else. Personally, I’d be happy if I hadn’t found some of these tracks here either, but there’s also plenty to like and at this price it’s well worth it for the good stuff. Recommended.

Curved Air - Air Conditioning

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Still a good album

Air Conditioning has aged rather well. It came out when I was in the sixth-form and was staple listening then. Sonja Kristina created considerable excitement among us teenage boys for reasons which were not exclusively musical, and after several decades I was interested to see whether the music itself justified my good memories. On the whole it does.

The star of this album for me (nowadays, anyway) is Darryl Way. His musical excellence and the unusual sound of a violin on a rock album still make Air Conditioning stand out from the slew of very average stuff in the early 70s. Tracks like Vivaldi are still a pleasure to listen to, and the same can be said of most of the album. There’s really not too much tedious, over-complex, self-congratulatory stuff (the curse of so many prog rock albums, in my view); it’s largely enjoyable but grown-up rock which still sounds good almost 50 years on.

Sometimes it’s a big mistake to go back, but not this time. This is still a very good album which I can recommend.

Rough Guide to Blind Willie McTell

Rating: 5/5

Review:
More great blues from Rough Guides

This is yet another brilliant release of vintage blues from Rough Guides.

Blind Willie McTell was a true great of the genre. He wrote fine songs, played brilliant ragtime guitar and had a fine voice all of which had a great influence on many who came after him – including Ralph McTell who even took his name.

This is a fine collection which has been excellently remastered; the sound is very clear without losing the atmosphere of the originals, which are often of very poor quality. There is still some hiss and the crudity of the recording technique still shows so it’s not hi-fi – but who wants that on these recordings? I think the balance between clarity and authenticity of sound is absolutely right and I can recommend this release very warmly indeed.