Whether it was creative fervor or contractual obligation,
Jesse Colin Young was back with a new album only six months after his commercial and artistic breakthrough with
Song for Juli, and though the album featured more original songs,
Young seemed to be stretching for material, turning the three tunes on side one into a "California Suite" with lots of jazzy instrumental work. But the writing was less important than the playing, as many of
Young's backup musicians -- notably drummer
Jeffrey Myer, keyboardist
Scott Lawrence and reed player
Jim Rothermel -- had been with him for a while now and were playing like a tight band. Some of the songs were little more than weather reports ("Grey Day") or travelogues ("Barbados"), and when
Young did have a message to convey, as in the title song (repeated from
the Youngbloods' Good and Dusty album), he could come off as preachy, but the music was so delightful that none of that mattered much. Fans made it
Young's highest-charting album yet, and it ranks with
Song for Juli as his biggest seller.