Broken Social Scene [2005] Broken Social Scene

[01] Our Faces Split The Coast In Half
[02] Ibi Dreams Of Pavement (A Better Day)
[03] 7/4 (Shoreline)
[04] Finish Your Collapse And Stay For Breakfast
[05] Major Label Debut
[06] Fire Eye'd Boy
[07] Windsurfing Nation
[08] Swimmers
[09] Hotel
[10] Handjobs For The Holidays
[11] Superconnected
[12] Bandwitch
[13] Tremoloa Debut
[14] It's All Gonna Break



amg: In Canada, Broken Social Scene is somewhat of a phenomenon. Since wooing fans and critics alike with their 2003 Juno Award-winning album You Forgot It in People, the band's peculiar popularity has made them stars. The community that surrounds the 15-member-plus band is a family-like atmosphere with its many Canadian artists and musicians. When listening to Broken Social Scene, you also get the individual sounds of Feist, Stars, Memphis, Metric, and Apostle of Hustle, among others. It's camaraderie and education combined. The lush dynamic that carries Broken Social Scene's self-titled third effort is definitely built upon that. The 14-song set is as bright and moving as the band's previous efforts, but Broken Social Scene holds more charisma, more depth, and surely more complexities. The mix isn't messy in conventional terms. It's artistically untidy without production boundaries. Album opener "Our Faces Split the Coast in Half," which features the Dears' Murray Lightburn, makes a grand entrance with its polished horn arrangements, tight guitar riffs, and hypnotic harmonies. Additional standouts include indie rock moments such as "7/4 (Shoreline)" and the nervy "Fire Eye'd Boy." Handclaps and crowd chatter dosie-do with a sharp rock aesthetic on "Windsurfing Nation," which was the original title. Here, Toronto rapper K-Os and Feist vocally find their way through this majestic cinematic backdrop for one of its finest songs. From here, Broken Social Scene is a simply a rush of mini epics: "Handjobs for the Holidays," "Superconnected," and album closer "It's All Gonna Break" (this could have been a Nada Surf song) showcase how smart, creative, and brilliant this band truly is. Broken Social Scene are more than a collective; they're an orchestra for both the slacker generation and the literati.
(amg 9/10)

Black Box Recorder [2000] The Facts Of Life

[01] The Art Of Driving
[02] Weekend
[03] The English Motorway System
[04] May Queen
[05] Sex Life
[06] French Rock 'n' Roll
[07] The Facts Of Life
[08] Straight Life
[09] Gift Horse
[10] The Deverell Twins
[11] Goodnight Kiss



amg: Make no mistake: Black Box Recorder are malevolent scoundrels. Their debut album — England Made Me — was a distressing, vacant eye staring over the unspoken horror of everyday England, so one wondered where they could go from there. With The Facts Of Life, they moved that voyeuristic, cynical stare away from suicide and car crashes and focused it on small-town dating and disenchanted sex lives. Strangely enough, the horror feels the same. Songs like the utterly menacing hook of "The Art of Driving" will chill even the most neutral of listeners while the John Barry-influenced "Weekend" strolls along with such desolate grace that it's just subtly elegant. Vocalist Sarah Nixey sings with impassioned distance that serves up the disparagement nicely. Lines such as, "Don't even look at me 'till we're alone," "Careful not to touch, we've drunk enough/Just another weekend falling," or "Read the message on the bottle/Go and drink yourself to death" probably won't become national anthems anytime soon. All the better for it, then. As in BBR's debut, the same barren instrumentation and distanced vocals are still here, but this time around there seems to be a pop sensibility that evokes far more seditious strengths than ever before. This produces a delightfully sinister contradiction. "Straight Life," for instance, has Nixey chiming, "It's a beautiful morning," and only BBR could make such a statement sound truly sardonic. The closing "Goodnight Kiss" is also brimming with beauty, yet — at heart — still a song with pained regret. All this doesn't even begin to get near the marvel that is the title track either. "The Facts of Life" is found nestled in the album's core and it still glares at you like a Stanley Kubrick-directed All Saints production. Simple, gorgeous, chart-friendly, and just plain evil. It is undoubtedly one of the most subversive singles ever written. Indeed, clocking in at just under 40 minutes, The Facts Of Life is a precise, meticulous, deeply disturbing experience. The album is proof that there's still life in pop music. Subversion has rarely sounded this startling.
(amg 9/10)

Big Audio Dynamite [1995] Planet BAD - Greatest Hits

[01] The Bottom Line
[02] E=MC2
[03] Medicine Show
[04] C'mon Every Beatbox
[05] V. Thirteen
[06] Sightsee M.C.!
[07] Just Play Music!
[08] Other 99
[09] Contact
[10] Free
[11] Rush
[12] The Globe
[13] Looking For A Song
[14] Harrow Road
[15] I Turned Out A Punk



amg: Culling together tracks chosen from a decade's (and seven albums') worth of material, Planet BAD serves as a focused, well-chosen compilation of Mick Jones' post-Clash outfit. Although neither as critically or commercially successful as the Clash, Big Audio Dynamite's blend of rock and dance music, with a generous dose of samples, was a fixture on college radio in the mid- to late '80s with tracks like "E=MC2," "The Bottom Line," and "C'mon Every Beatbox" (all included here). The band even managed to make a foray onto the U.S. Top 40 charts in 1992 with the infectious "Rush." With his place already secure in rock annals, Jones' work with BAD was much more lighthearted, but it cannily anticipated the influence electronics and technology would have on music. Despite the dated feel of some of Planet BAD, it's also undeniable that the band was a more interesting venture than it was sometimes given credit.
(amg 9/10)

Bryan Adams [1993] So Far So Good

[01] Summer Of '69
[02] Straight From The Heart
[03] It's Only Love
[04] Can't Stop This Thing We Started
[05] Do I Have To Say The Words
[06] This Time
[07] Run To You
[08] Heaven
[09] Cuts Like A Knife
[10] (Everything I Do) I Do It For You
[11] Somebody
[12] Kids Wanna Rock
[13] Heat Of The Night
[14] Please Forgive Me



amg: Throughout the 1980s and early '90s, few contemporary rock artists were able to come up with as many lighthearted, guilty pleasures as Bryan Adams. This is especially evident through So Far So Good, which neglects all album fillers and compiles many of his most noteworthy songs, from such rockers as "Summer of '69," "Run to You," and "Cuts Like a Knife" to the equally popular power ballads "Heaven" and "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You." Also included is the all-new "Please Forgive Me," one of his best power ballads yet. It's not quite a perfect compilation, however; in particular, his Top 20 hits "She's Only Happy When She's Dancin" and "Thought I'd Died and Gone to Heaven" are overlooked. These are only minor flaws, though. There is no better introduction to Bryan Adams to date than So Far So Good.
(amg 9/10)

Breeders [1990] Pod

[01] Glorious
[02] Doe
[03] Happiness Is A Warm Gun
[04] Oh!
[05] Hellbound
[06] When I Was A Painter
[07] Fortunately Gone
[08] Iris
[09] Opened
[10] Only In 3's
[11] Lime House
[12] Metal Man



amg: On their 1990 debut album Pod, the Breeders — led by the Pixies' Kim Deal and Throwing Muses' Tanya Donelly — prove that they have more potential, and more fun, than the average side project. In fact, thanks to the album's creative songwriting, immediate production (courtesy of Surfer Rosa producer Steve Albini), and clever arrangements, Pod is a fresher and more successful work than the Pixies' Bossanova and the Muses' Hunkpapa, their main projects' releases from around that time. Though the album doesn't feature as many of Donelly's contributions as was originally planned — which was part of the reason she formed Belly a few years later — songs like "Iris" and "Lime House" blend the best of the Pixies' elliptical punk and the Muses' angular pop. Pod reaffirms what a distinctive songwriter Deal is, and how much the Pixies missed out on by not including more of her material on their albums. With their unusual subjects — "Hellbound" is about a living abortion — and quirky-but-direct sound, songs like "Opened" and "When I Was a Painter" could have easily fit on Doolittle or Bossanova. But the spare, sensual "Doe," "Fortunately Gone," and "Only in Threes" are more lighthearted and good-natured than the work of Deal's other band, pointing the way to the sexy, clever alternative pop she'd craft on Last Splash. A vibrantly creative debut, Pod remains the Breeders' most genuine moment.
(amg 9/10)

Bob Geldof [1990] Vegetarians Of Love

[01] A Gospel Song
[02] Love Or Something
[03] The Great Song Of Indifference
[04] Thinking Voyager 2 Type Things
[05] Big Romantic Stuff
[06] Crucified Me
[07] The Chains Of Pain
[08] A Rose At Night
[09] No Small Wonder
[10] Walking Back To Happiness
[11] Let It Go
[12] The End Of The World



amg: Geldof returns after a four-year absence with his second solo release, The Vegetarians of Love. Again, there are some high-profile guests including Paul Carrack, Kevin Godley, and Dave Stewart, but this Rupert Hine-produced affair has a low-key feel to it. Geldof applies his Dylanesque croak to a set that is very heavy on Irish-folk influences with rich results.

"A Gospel Song" is a gorgeous, organ-driven track that leads things off. Dave Stewart lends his guitar work to the catchy pop/rock of "Love Or Something." "The Great Song of Indifference," is a wry, tongue-in-cheek stomp fueled by pennywhistles, accordion and violin. There's even the appearance of former Boomtown Rat bandmate Pete Briquette playing bass and keyboards and co-writing the pleasant, albeit meandering, "Thinking Voyager 2 Type Things." A commercial flop on both sides of the Atlantic, this album is, nonetheless, a joyous romp from start to finish.
(amg 9/10)

Bronski Beat [1984] The Age Of Consent

[01] Why
[02] Ain't Necessarily So
[03] Screaming
[04] No More War
[05] Love And Money
[06] Smalltown Boy
[07] Heatwave
[08] Junk
[09] Need A Man Blues
[10] I Feel Love - Johnny Remember Me
[11] Smalltown Boy (12 Inch Version)
[12] Why (12 Inch Version)



amg: To say The Age of Consent is a great album of dance-oriented synth-pop music is to sell it extremely short; this is simply a great album, period. Jimmy Somerville's soaring tenor may take some getting used to, but the songs, many of them dealing with homophobia and alienation (none more eloquently than "Smalltown Boy"), are compelling vignettes about the vagaries of life as a gay man. Cynics predisposed to dismissing entire genres of music based on trendiness or a limited appeal ("dance music is for dancing, not listening") miss the point in lumping this in with more mindless forays into techno or neo-disco. As the Pet Shop Boys (the world's greatest disco band) proved a few years later, you can have substantive content and wrap it up in a compelling, visceral, dance-oriented package. Few bands understood this better, or earlier, than Bronski Beat.
(amg 9/10)

Bryan Adams [1984] Reckless

[01] One Night Love Affair
[02] She's Only Happy When She's Dancing
[03] Run To You
[04] Heaven
[05] Somebody
[06] Summer Of '69
[07] Kids Wanna Rock
[08] It's Only Love
[09] Long Gone
[10] Ain't Gonna Cry



amg: Bryan Adams capitalized on the momentum of Cuts Like a Knife with 1984's Reckless, a virtually flawless collection of melodic hard rock which would dominate radio for years to come. "Run to You" was a brilliant lead-off single which remains one of Adams' best songs ever, but its success still pales in comparison to follow-up smashes such as "Summer of '69," "It's only Love," (a duet with Tina Turner), and the ballad to end all ballads, "Heaven." Although some songs haven't aged very well (especially the overtly cheesy "Kids Wanna Rock"), these weak links are easily eclipsed by further highlights such as the cool rock of "One Night Love Affair" and the irrepressible pop chorus of "Somebody." Sales figures may point to 1991's Waking Up the Neighbors as the peak of Bryan Adams career, but the songs from Reckless will most certainly prove to be his lasting legacy.
(amg 9/10)

Bryan Adams [1983] Cuts Like A Knife

[01] The Only One
[02] Take Me Back
[03] This Time
[04] Straight From The Heart
[05] Cuts Like A Knife
[06] I'm Ready
[07] What's It Gonna Be
[08] Don't Leave Me Lonely
[09] Let Him Know
[10] The Best Was Yet To Come



amg: After the indifference which met his first album, Bryan Adams reportedly considered naming this sophomore release "Bryan Adams Hasn't Heard of You Either," but thankfully, the soon-to-be mega-star settled for the less offensive Cuts Like a Knife instead. Side one of this album is simply perfect. "The Only One," "This Time," and the title track are mid-paced melodic rockers with drop-dead choruses and hooks; they set the mold for most of Adams' finest and biggest hits. Though it rocks a little harder, "Take Me Back" is just as radio-friendly thanks to its use of female back-up singers, and the fantastic "Straight Through the Heart" is Adams' first of many great ballads. Side two opens with a few misfires, but recovers soon enough thanks to the gutsy guitar of "Don't Leave Me Lonely" and the rather saccharine (but still good) ballad "The Best Was Yet to Come." Adams would finally achieve chart-topping perfection on his next release Reckless, but Cuts Like a Knife comes pretty close.
(amg 9/10)

Blondie [1977] Plastic Letters

[01] Fan Mail
[02] Denis
[03] Bermuda Triangle Blues (Flight 45)
[04] Youth Nabbed As Sniper
[05] Contact In Red Square
[06] (I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence, Dear
[07] I'm On E
[08] I Didn't Have The Nerve To Say No
[09] Love At The Pier
[10] No Imagination
[11] Kidnapper
[12] Detroit 442
[13] Cautious Lip
Bonus Tracks
[14] Once I Had A Love (Aka The Disco Song)
[15] Scenery
[16] Poets Problem
[17] Detroit 442 (Live)



amg: In artistic terms, Plastic Letters, Blondie's second album, was a classic example of the sophomore slump. If their debut, Blondie, was a precise update of the early-'60s girl group sound, delivered with an ironic '70s sensibility, its follow-up seemed to consist of leftovers, the songwriting never emerging from obscurity and pedestrian musical tracks. The production (again courtesy of Richard Gottehrer) was once again bright and sharp, but in the service of inferior material it alone couldn't save the collection. The two exceptions to the general mediocrity were "Denis," a revival of Randy & the Rainbows' 1963 hit "Denise," for which Deborah Harry sang a verse in French to justify the name and gender change, and "(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear," written by Gary Valentine, who had left Blondie shortly before the recording of the album. Due to these two songs, the album became a commercial success, at least overseas. British-based Chrysalis Records had bought out Private Stock, giving Blondie greater distribution and more of an international marketing focus. The result was that "Denis" broke them in Europe, nearly topping the U.K. charts and followed into the Top Ten by "(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear," with the album also peaking in the Top Ten. In the U.S., Blondie finally charted, making the Top 100. The songwriting problem did not seem to bode well, but they would take a distinctly different approach next time out. (The 2001 reissue added four bonus tracks including an early version of the breakthrough hit "Heart of Glass," here called "Once I Had a Love [AKA The Disco Song]"; "Scenery," another catchy song written by Valentine; "Poets Problem," the non-LP B-side of the single "[I'm Always Touched by Your] Presence, Dear"; and a previously unreleased live version of the rocker "Detroit 442.")
(amg 9/10)

Boston [1976] Boston

[01] More Than A Feeling
[02] Peace Of Mind
[03] Foreplay - Long Time
[04] Rock & Roll Band
[05] Smokin'
[06] Hitch A Ride
[07] Something About You
[08] Let Me Take You Home Tonight



amg: Boston is one of the best-selling albums of all time, and deservedly so. Because of the rise of disco and punk, FM rock radio seemed all but dead until the rise of acts like Boston, Tom Petty, and Bruce Springsteen. Nearly every song on Boston's debut album could still be heard on classic rock radio decades later due to the strong vocals of Brad Delp and unique guitar sound of Tom Scholz. Tom Scholz, who wrote most of the songs, was a studio wizard and used self-designed equipment such as 12-track recording devices to come up with an anthemic "arena rock" sound before the term was even coined. The sound was hard rock, but the layered melodies and harmonics reveal the work of a master craftsman. While much has been written about the sound of the album, the lyrics are often overlooked. There are songs about their rise from a bar band ("Rock and Roll Band") as well as fond remembrances of summers gone by ("More Than a Feeling"). Boston is essential for any fan of classic rock, and the album marks the re-emergence of the genre in the 1970s.
(amg 9/10)

Badfinger [1972] Straight Up

[01] Take It All
[02] Baby Blue
[03] Money
[04] Flying
[05] I'd Die, Babe
[06] Name Of The Game
[07] Suitcase
[08] Sweet Tuesday Morning
[09] Day After Day
[10] Sometimes
[11] Perfection
[12] It's Over
Bonus Tracks
[13] Money
[14] Flying
[15] Name Of The Game
[16] Suitcase
[17] Perfection
[18] Baby Blue



amg: Straight Up winds up somewhat less dynamic than No Dice, largely because that record alternated its rockers, pop tunes, and ballads. Here, everything is at a similar level, as the ballads are made grander and the rockers have their melodic side emphasized. Consequently, the record sounds more unified than No Dice, which had a bit of a split personality. Todd Rundgren's warm, detailed production makes each songwriter sound as if he was on the same page, although the bonus tracks — revealing the abandoned original Geoff Emerick productions — prove that the distinctive voices on No Dice were still present. Frankly, the increased production is for the best, since Badfinger sounds best when there's as much craft in the production as there is in the writing. Here, there's absolutely no filler and everybody is in top form. Pete Ham's "Baby Blue" is textbook power-pop — irresistibly catchy fuzz riffs and sighing melodies — and with its Harrison-esque slide guitars, "Day After Day" is so gorgeous it practically aches. "Perfection" is an unheralded gem, while "Name of the Game" and "Take It All" are note-perfect pop ballads. Tom Evans isn't as prolific here, but the one-two punch of "Money" and "Flying" is the closest Straight Up gets to Abbey Road, and "It's Over" is a fine closer. Still, what holds the record together is Joey Molland's emergence as a songwriter. His work on No Dice is enjoyable, but here, he comes into his own with a set of well-constructed songs. This fine songwriting, combined with sharp performances and exquisite studio craft, make Straight Up one of the cornerstones of power-pop, a record that proved that it was possible to make classic guitar-pop after its golden era had passed.
(amg 9/10)

Badfinger [1970] No Dice

[01] I Can't Take It
[02] I Don't Mind
[03] Love Me Do
[04] Midnight Caller
[05] No Matter What
[06] Without You
[07] Blodwyn
[08] Better Days
[09] It Had To Be
[10] Watford John
[11] Believe Me
[12] We're For The Dark
[13] Get Down
[14] Friends Are Hard To Find
[15] Mean Mean Jemima
[16] Loving You
[17] I'll Be The One



amg: Badfinger's second album No Dice kicks off with "I Can't Take It," a rocker that signaled even if Badfinger still played pop and sang ballads, they considered themselves a rock band. What gave Badfinger character is they blended their desire to rock with their sensitive side instead of compartmentalizing. Even when they rock on No Dice, it's never earthy, like, say, the Stones. Badfinger's very sensibility and sound is modeled after the early British Invasion, where bands sang catchy, concise love songs. Yet there's a worldliness to their music absent from that of their forefathers, partially because Badfinger styled themselves as classicists, adapting the sound of their idols and striving to create a similar body of work. No Dice bears this out, boasting old-fashioned rockers, catchy pop tunes, and acoustic ballads. On the surface, there's nothing special about such a well-crafted, sharply produced, straight-ahead pop record, but the pleasure of a power pop album is in the craft. No Dice is not without flaws — a byproduct of an all-writing, all-singing band is that some songs don't measure up — but it does achieve the right balance of craft, fun, and emotion, due in no small part to Pete Ham's songwriting. Ham dominates the record, providing note-perfect openers and closers, along with the centerpiece singles "No Matter What" and "Without You," the latter a yearning, painful ballad co-written with Tom Evans. Collaborating with new guitarist Joey Molland, Evans wrote two other excellent songs ("I Don't Mind," "Better Days"), while Molland's own "Love Me Do" chugs along with nice momentum. Still, the heart of the album lies in Ham's work.. He proves that songcraft is what separates great power-pop from good, and it's what makes No Dice a superb pop record.
(amg 9/10)

Bert Jansch [1969] Birthday Blues

[01] Come Sing Me A Happy Song To Prove...
[02] The Bright New Year
[03] Tree Song
[04] Poison
[05] Miss Heather Rosemary Sewell
[06] I've Got A Woman
[07] A Woman Like You
[08] I Am Lonely
[09] Promised Land
[10] Birthday Blues
[11] Wishing well
[12] Blues



amg: It's no accident that Jansch's 1969 album sounds like a modified version of the Pentangle. He was a member of the great British folk-rock group at the time of this album's release, which was produced by Shel Talmy (who also worked with the Pentangle). And he's backed by the group's sterling rhythm section of Danny Thompson (bass) and Terry Cox (drums), with occasional touches of harmonica (played by British blues singer Duffy Power), alto sax, and flute. The effect is akin to hearing an unbalanced Pentangle, with no John Renbourn on dueling guitar or Jacqui McShee on vocals. That's not at all a bad thing — Jansch was one of the group's main motors, and can still be a compelling writer and performer on his own. All of the cuts on this LP are originals, showing the artist leaning a little more toward bluesy styles than usual, though the mood is predominantly British folk. It's a pleasant effort, but not his best work, either as a solo performer or within a group context.
(amg 9/10)

Bloomfield Kooper Stills [1968] Super Session

[01] Albert's Shuffle
[02] Stop
[03] Man's Temptation
[04] His Holy Modal Majesty
[05] Really
[06] It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
[07] Season Of The Witch
[08] You Don't Love Me
[09] Harvey's Tune



amg: As the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) had done a year earlier, Super Session (1968) initially ushered in several new phases in rock & roll's concurrent transformation. In the space of mere months, the soundscape of rock shifted radically from two- and three-minute danceable pop songs to comparatively longer works with more attention to technical and musical subtleties. Enter the unlikely all-star triumvirate of Al Kooper (piano/organ/ondioline/vocals/guitars), Mike Bloomfield (guitar), and Stephen Stills (guitar) — all of whom were concurrently "on hiatus" from their most recent engagements. Kooper had just split after masterminding the definitive and groundbreaking Child Is Father of the Man (1968) version of Blood, Sweat & Tears. Bloomfield was fresh from a brief stint with the likewise brass-driven Electric Flag, while Stills was late of Buffalo Springfield and still a few weeks away from a more or less full-time commitment to David Crosby and Graham Nash. Although the trio never actually performed together, the long-player was notable for idiosyncratically featuring one side led by the team of Kooper/Bloomfield and the other by Kooper/Stills. The band is ably fleshed out with the powerful rhythm section of Harvey Brooks (bass) and Eddie Hoh (drums) as well as Barry Goldberg (electric piano) on "Albert's Shuffle" and "Stop." The heavy Chicago blues contingency of Bloomfield, Brooks, and Goldberg provide a perfect outlet for the three Kooper/Bloomfield originals — the first of which commences the project with the languid and groovy "Albert's Shuffle." The guitarist's thin tone cascades with empathetic fluidity over the propelling rhythms. Kooper's frisky organ solo alternately bops and scats along as he nudges the melody forward. The same can be said of the funky interpretation of "Stop," which had originally been a minor R&B hit for Howard Tate. Curtis Mayfield's "Man's Temptation" is given a brass-fuelled soulful reading that might have worked equally well as a Blood, Sweat & Tears cover. At over nine minutes in spin time, "His Holy Modal Majesty" is a fun trippy waltz and includes one of the most extended jams on the Kooper/Bloomfield side. The track also features the distinct hurdy-gurdy and Eastern-influenced sound of Kooper's small electric keyboard-manipulated ondioline, which has a slightly atonal and reedy timbre much like that of John Coltrane's tenor sax. Because of some physical health issues, Bloomfield was unable to complete the recording sessions and Kooper contacted Stills. Immediately his decidedly West Coast sound — which alternated from a chiming Rickenbacker intonation to a faux pedal steel — can be heard on the upbeat version of Bob Dylan's "It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry." One of the album's highlights is the churning and scintillating cover of "Season of the Witch." There is an undeniable synergy between Kooper and Stills, whose energies seems to aurally drive the other into providing some inspired interaction. Updating the blues standard "You Don't Love Me" allows Stills to sport some heavily amplified and distorted licks, which come off sounding like Jimi Hendrix. This is one of those albums that seems to get better with age and that gets the full reissue treatment every time a new audio format comes out. This is a super session indeed.
(amg 9/10)

Bert Jansch [1965] Bert Jansch

[01] Strolling Down The Highway
[02] Smokey River
[03] Oh How Your Love Is Strong
[04] I Have No Time
[05] Finches
[06] Veronica
[07] Needle Of Death
[08] Do You Hear Me Now
[09] Rambling's Going To Be The Death Of Me
[10] Alice's Wonderland
[11] Running From Home
[12] Courting Blues
[13] Casbah
[14] Dreams Of Love
[15] Angie



amg: Recorded with a portable tape player on a borrowed guitar in the kitchen of his London flat, the impact of Bert Jansch's debut has been somewhat blunted by time, but it was a vastly influential work. His masterful acoustic picking, which blended elements of traditional British folk, blues, and jazz, inspired not just other folk players, but rockers who frequently used acoustic guitars. Specifically, Jimmy Page and Neil Young have gone on record as noting their heavy debts to Jansch's early material. He was also a talented songwriter, and all but one of the 15 tracks on his debut was an original composition (the set closes with his version of the instrumental "Angi," originally performed by fellow British folk guitarist Davy Graham, and popularized by Paul Simon). The artist sounds quite close to early Donovan with his Scottish inflections, though he is darker and less pop-oriented; indeed, Donovan recorded a couple of early Jansch tunes, and wrote a couple of songs directly inspired by the artist ("Bert's Blues" and "House of Jansch"). Jansch reflects a rambling, beatnik sort of lifestyle with his compositions on this album, which includes one of his most famous tunes, the somber "Needle of Death" (about the heroin-induced death of one of his friends).
(amg 9/10)