Thursday 7 September 2017

Earth Music – THE YOUNGBLOODS***

Euphoria/All My Dreams Blue/Monkey Business/Dreamer’s Dream/Sugar Babe/Long & Tall/I Can Tell/Don’t Play Games/The Wine Song/Fool Me/Reason To Believe

Earth Music was the follow up album from the Boston folk rock group The Youngbloods. Some of their fans considered this to be a more uneven effort than their debut.

“Off the pace of their stunning debut, but still good nonetheless. This one is semi-commercial folk driven pop, but with more country and ragtime moves than their first, while the song writing sounds less inspired to me as well.”

“The sheer joy of the musicians playing lifts you up every time; and on close listening the organ and guitar and voice riffs are a rich source of enjoyment. The song choice is superb as well.”

Earth Music continues in more or less the same folk rock style as their impressive debut. Only here the band begins to step out and really explore blues, country, jug band and psychedelia in a more realized way that brings their playing and singing to the fore.”

“Only half of Earth Music sounds as good as their first (those tunes sound like they were recorded at the same sessions as the first). The other half sounds like demos and outtakes.”

“There are some guitar solos that do have phasing that could only be from the late 1960s but there are also electric pianos, extremely fat slide guitar leads, jazz asides, and big boom on the blues tracks. Young here is almost full bloom in his experimentation.”

“It surprised me just how good Earth Music is, but maybe it should not have. Jessie Colin Young has the ability to give his folk extremely diverse dynamics. Suddenly there is an unexpected echo or walking jazz bass line when you least expect it.”

“I was totally captivated by the plaintive song Dreamer's Dream, and really, all the songs were blowing me away. This was pretty much my first introduction to country rock. It's a downright moving, inspiring album. About half of the other tunes are in a similar style.”

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