"...Let The Sunshine In..."
After
eight years with Transatlantic (1965 to 1971) and a brief flit with Reprise
Records for "Moonshine" in 1972 - Pentangle's gifted Guitar Player
and perennial folky BERT JANSCH recorded three albums with Tony Stratton
Smith's Charisma Records - all beloved, revered and absent from CD for decades
- 1974's "L.A. Turnaround", 1975's "Santa Barbara
Honeymoon" and 1977's "A Rare Conundrum".
All
three of these rare and sought-after UK vinyl originals have been given a
digital dust-up by Charisma (now part of EMI) and reissued/remastered with
Bonus Tracks and Enhanced CD Video. And what a tasty job they've done too. In
fact I'd argue you need the lot (never enough Bert in our house) - but if I was
to zero in on just one for the house-is-burning-down arm pile - then you'd have
to say that this melodic peach should be singled out. Here's one to let the
sunshine in...
UK
released June 2009 - "L.A. Turnaround" by BERT JANSCH on EMI/Charisma
CASCDX 1090 (Barcode 5099996486306) is an 'Extended & Enhanced' CD Remaster
with Four Bonus Tracks and an 'ECD Section' (three of the Bonus and the 13:12
minute movie are Previously Unreleased). It plays out as follows (49:28
minutes):
1.
Fresh As A Sweet Sunday Morning
2.
Chambertin
3.
One For Jo
4.
Travelling Man
5.
Open Up The Watergate (Let The Sunshine In)
6.
Stone Monkey
7.
Of Love And Lullaby [Side 2]
8.
Needle Of Death
9.
Lady Nothing
10.
There Comes A Time
11.
Cluck Old Hen
12.
The Blacksmith
Tracks
1 to 12 are his 9th studio album "L.A. Turnaround" - released
September 1974 in the UK on Charisma CAS 1090 (no US release - didn't chart in
the UK).
BONUS
TRACKS (see Notes for 13, 14 and 15):
13.
Open Up The Watergate (Alternate Version)
14.
One For Jo (Alternate Version)
15.
The Blacksmith (Alternate Version)
16.
In The Bleak Midwinter - non-album A-side to a December 1974 UK 7" single
on Charisma CB 240 (the album cut "One For Jo" was the B-side).
Produced by Ralph McTell
ECD
SECTION:
L.A.
Turnaround...The Movie (13:12 minutes)
Contains:
There Comes A Time, Fresh As A Sweet Sunday Morning, Travelling Man and One For
Jo.
Filmed
during the making of "L.A. Turnaround" at Tony Stratton-Smith's home,
Luxford House in Sussex.
Features
Bert Jansch, Mike Nesmith, Red Rhodes and others
NOTES:
Tracks 13, 14, 15 and the ECD Section are PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
The
8-page booklet shows the lyric insert that came with original British LPs
(centre pages) and is complimented by superb and informational liner notes from
noted music writer and lover - MICK HOUGHTON. There's even a footnote from the
man who signed him and ran Charisma - Tony Stratton Smith. There's a 'mad
hatter' Famous Charisma Records repro label on the CD, a shot of Jansch and
acoustic guitar during recording beneath the see-through CD tray and stills
from the 'boys in the country' film that's part of the ECD Section. But the big
news is a gorgeous CD Remaster by BERT JANSCH and PETER MEW at Abbey Road
Studios - the whole album (and its previously unreleased outtakes) sounding
sublime...
Very
Folk orientated with a dash of Acoustic Rock thrown in here and there –
surrounded by Yes, ELP, Genesis, Led Zeppelin and Roxy Music - "L.A.
Turnaround" was decidedly downbeat and maybe even 'too simple' for late
1974. And yet it’s beautiful because of that. Produced by Pentangle's John
Renbourn in Paris in 1972 - the four-minute "Chambertin" with just
Jansch on Acoustic Guitar is a good example – the kind of swirling, rolling,
finger-picking work-out that gives Instrumentals a good name (beautiful audio
on this highlight). Equally tasty is his cover of John Renbourn's "Lady
Nothing" – another pretty melody that feels almost spiritual in its 'just
the music' warmth. As some of have already mentioned the 'bird chirping' that
opens "Fresh As A Sweet Sunday Morning" is AWOL - and without
explanation either (couldn't get copyright on nature). But in truth - the song
is so lovely, so soothing and bathed in beautiful Pedal Steel Guitar work from
Red Rhodes – that bluntly I’m not that bothered.
"One
For Jo" feels like an ancient English folk song - but it's a modern-day tale
of dreamer that Jo clearly loves despite Bert's worries that he's all mouth and
even a bit 'slow'. Politics rears its ugly head in the decidedly upbeat
"Open Up The Watergate (Let The Sunshine In)". With Jesse Ed Davies
playing superb slide guitar - Klaus
Voorman on Bass and Danny Lane on Drums - it sounds more like Ronnie Lane's
Slim Chance than the Bert Jansch we know (it's one of my faves on the album).
Mike Nesmith of The Monkees plays Guitar on "Stone Monkey" while Red
Rhodes puts in Pedal Steel - it's the kind of song that took me a while to
like.
No
such problem with Side 2's opener - the beautiful "Of Love And
Lullaby" - a gorgeous lilting folk ballad you can't help thinking that
both Robert Plant and Jimmy Page would have given up a gonad to pen. Drug
abuses seeps off the dark "Needle Of Death" - while the ghosts of a
1970 Matthews Southern Comfort permeate the whole of "There Comes A
Time" - again aided and abetted by Mike Nesmith and especially Red Rhodes
on the Pedal Steel. Kansas man Byron Berline brings his ex Dillards fiddle and
mandolin to "Cluck Old Hen" - a song that feels like a Fairport
Convention/Nitty Gritty Dirt Band hybrid. Doc Watson's "The
Blacksmith" ends the LP - a wickedly upbeat song dominated by Mike Cohen's
beautifully complimentary 'electric' keyboards (Cohen wrote "Mary,
Mary" for The Monkees and was part of Mike Nesmith's band).
After
a nice album - I wasn't expecting much from the Bonus Tracks - but I agree with
Mike Houghton's assessment that the Pedal Steel variant of "Open Up The
Watergate" and Mike Cohen's use of Acoustic Piano rather than electric is
just as fab as the released version - if not better. Crisply produced by Ralph
McTell – Jansch’s 2:22 minute cover of the seasonal Traditional "In The
Bleak Midwinter" keeps a beautiful melody simple – bolstering it up
towards the end with male and female Christmas voices like a soft-spoken
Colliery Choir. Sweet as...
PS:
see also reviews for CD Remasters of "Rosemary Lane" (1971) and
"Avocet" (1978)
