Hardin & York's debut album was quite competent yet derivative early progressive rock, and derivative of
Traffic in particular. At least, however, it came by its influences quite honestly,
Pete York having drummed behind
Steve Winwood in
the Spencer Davis Group, and
Eddie Hardin having joined
the Spencer Davis Group after
Winwood left. And the duo does get quite a lot of sound out of their keyboards and drums, although they had plenty of backup from some session musicians.
Hardin sings and writes uncannily like
Winwood circa
Traffic's "Forty Thousand Headmen" period, but while that's a good standard to shoot for, therein also lies the problem: it's not quite as good as the
Winwood-paced
Traffic, and certainly not as original. All that noted, if you're looking for something in the mold of
Traffic-lite and keeping your expectations realistically modest, this is pretty decent stuff. It might be a tad more rooted in soul-pop than
Traffic, but it doesn't suffer for that.
Hardin's vocals are impressively rich and gritty, and his piano and organ quite skillful. [The 2005 CD reissue on RPM adds historical liner notes and four bonus cuts from the same sessions. These are of the same respectable level of the rest of the album, if a little more sparsely produced and gospel-rock-oriented, with the exception of an unnecessary cover of
Chuck Berry's "Rock and Roll Music."] ~ Richie Unterberger