Hardin's very earliest recordings from approximately 1964, not issued until the late '60s, when he had achieved some success with his albums for Verve. Accompanied by nothing besides his own guitar,
Hardin's arrangements are far sparser and bluesier than his folk-rock work for Verve. Over half of the ten tracks are traditional blues numbers like "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "House of the Rising Sun," and even the four originals (one co-written by future
Holy Modal Rounder Steve Weber) are in a very similar straight blues style. The material isn't nearly as distinctive as the best of
Hardin's work, but the performances rank with
Dave Van Ronk and
Fred Neil as the best white blues/acoustic folk to emerge from the early-'60s Greenwich scene (indeed,
Hardin covers
Neil's "Blues on the Ceiling" here). The hollow, reverbed, one-man-sitting-alone-in-an-empty-room production gives this album a haunting, somber feel (though not to its detriment). While not as good as
Fred Neil's similar material from this era, it's still well worth tracking down. ~ Richie Unterberger