Rating:
Genre:
Rock
Release Date: 09/13/2005
Roger Morris' obscure
First Album was part of a low-key
country-
roots rock movement in Britain in the early '70s --
Brinsley Schwarz being its most notable exponents -- that led to (and could be considered an early part of) the
pub rock genre.
The Band was a big influence on
roots rock and
pub rock, but even if you subscribe to the theory that there's no better way to start than by paying tribute to the masters,
the Band's influence on this record is so obvious and inescapable that it starts to sound like an actual
tribute album. It's not as alarmingly imitative as it might have been, since
Morris is a skilled if derivative songwriter, and the musicianship is accomplished. Still, the effect is something like hearing a more laid-back, countrified early
Band record that happens to have a singer that wasn't in the group.
Morris, too, is not as strong or identifiable a vocalist as
Levon Helm,
Richard Manuel, or
Rick Danko, with a scrawny tone that at times bears a slight resemblance to
Van Morrison. It's a genial take on
the Band sound, but not a very original effort. The highlight's the dramatic
"The Trail of Tears," whose tolling bells and light orchestration not only add some tension, but (refreshingly) are touches the early
Band would not have been wont to employ. The 2005 CD reissue on
Hux adds historical liner notes and four previously unreleased bonus cuts, done about a year after the album, with a similar style and slightly lower (but still decent) fidelity.
~Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide
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