Until the release of his debut album,
Bob Neuwirth was best known as a professional sidekick to
Bob Dylan (see the movie Don't Look Back) and the co-author of
Janis Joplin's "Mercedes Benz." As the album's guest list (which includes
Rita Coolidge,
Cass Elliot,
Don Everly,
Richie Furay,
Chris Hillman,
Booker T. Jones,
Kris Kristofferson,
Ian Matthews, and
Dusty Springfield among many others) indicates,
Neuwirth had a lot of friends in the music business. Taken together, though, they just about drown him out. Bob Neuwirth is a country-rock collection in which
Neuwirth's wispy voice, sounding a little like
Willie Nelson's, is sometimes hard to discern amid the band the backup singers, the horns, and the strings. By the end,
Neuwirth revamps the lyrics to "Mercedes Benz" in the one verse he bothers to sing, altering its "no help from my friends" line to acknowledge his army of buddies. Sounds like the session was a lot more fun than the results. ~ William Ruhlmann