Mike Nesmith, Producer. Ian Matthews, Country Gent
Labor Day, 2011.
Rainy day, indoors, listening to music, cooking dinner. Guilty pleasures like Peter Frampton cranked up in the afternoon, but we toned things down for the evening guests. After dinner, music included obscurities like Bethlehem Asylum's rare 1970 Ampex release, Commit Yourself, Dennis Linde's 1973 Elektra self-titled release that includes the Linde tune made famous by Elvis, Burning Love, and Ian Matthews' 1973 Elektra release, Valley Hi.
Valley Hi is especially interesting for a number of reasons not least of which is the fact that the producer is a former Monkee, Mike Nesmith. Nesmith, you may recall, was the serious Monkee. He was also a serious musician in the country vein. When given a chance on his own, he formed an excellent country western band and produced some country tinged albums like this one, for Ian Matthews.
Apparently, Matthews, the former Fairport Conventioneer, was not thrilled with the result which sounds an awful lot like a Flying Burrito Brothers album. I guess Matthews didn't want to be compared to Gram Parsons and for good reason.
Matthews' song selection - including tunes by Richard Thompson, Randy Newman and Don Gibson, among others, is great, but the result is surprisingly subdued. The truth is, the album is a bit bland by comparison with its influences. Good on paper, not very dynamic in execution. Matthews, who had a solo hit covering Joni Mitchell's Woodstock a few years before, sounds a bit lost in the Nashville sounding mix recorded at Nesmith's own Countryside Studios in LA. His vocals sound artificially countrified, as if he is singing in a foreign - read American/Country - accent.
However, given the distinguished cast of performers and songwriters assembled here, maybe my expectations were unfair. The album's highlights almost make up for the over all sameness. Side One is distinguished by a beautiful, subtle, reading of Jackson Browne's These days, while Side Two leads off with a richly harmonic performance of Steve Young's 7 Bridges Road. My friends said they preferred the Eagles' Live version, but I'll let you be the judge if you can find the Mp3 of this one somewhere. The Eagles may have heard the song here first since it predates their recording by a couple of years.
That track alone will bring me back to this album.
Maybe the other tunes will grow on me.
Ian Matthews has always been one of my favorite artists. They really don't make music like they use to. Time to dust off off the old vinyl records.
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Dusting usually isn't enough!
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paul, did you know that ian mathews covered jake's 'it came without warning' on one of his albums? were you @ toad's the night jake and the family jewels opened for ian?
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Hi, Bobo.
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