Recorded in a mere two sessions, this had the potential to be a decent, if hardly innovative, effort. At this point,
Korner's group was in one its most stripped-down phases, featuring just
Alexis on guitar,
Danny Thompson on bass, and
Terry Cox on drums. Very shortly after this disc,
Thompson and
Cox would form the rhythm section of
Pentangle, so these cuts are somewhat akin to hearing the bare bones of
Pentangle in a much more blues/jazz-based context. The musical backing is not the problem, nor is the material, divided between
Korner originals and blues standards by the likes of
Jimmy Smith,
Percy Mayfield,
Ma Rainey, and
Jelly Roll Morton. The problem is that
Korner elected to sing these himself in his gruff, scraggly croak. It's not like listening to
Dylan or
Buffy Sainte-Marie, who take some getting used to, but have considerable, idiosyncratic talent --
Korner simply cannot, objectively speaking, sing. (His butchering of
Herbie Hancock's "Watermelon Man" has to be heard to be believed.) And that makes this album downright difficult to bear, despite the fine, spare musical arrangements (the instrumental cover of
Jimmy Smith's "Chicken Shack Back Home" is a major standout in this context). If
Korner had the wisdom to employ even a minor-league British bluesman like, say,
Duffy Power (who guested with him occasionally during this time) as his singer for these sessions, the results would have been immeasurably better.