Buying the albums sampled on “You Can All Join In”.
Now we can have a more objective look at the music on this strangely titled and strangely packaged album.
The first point to note is that what Micky Moody said about the bass playing, by Colin Hodgkinson, was indeed “Hendrix style”. I must admit that I had never noticed it before, but the way the bass is played, produced, and arranged into the mix, is unique. It has a force and vitality like nothing else had before or has since. This factor alone makes the LP a winner.
Track 1 on Side 1 is of course the track on the sampler, Traffic’s “Pearly Queen”. Just in case you didn’t know, such a person is unknown in real life, but there is such a thing as a Pearly King. This is any bloke who comprises a character in Cockney folklore, and dresses up in fitting finery for celebrations in East London which merit it; I confess I do not know if the custom survives. Anyway, this was Traffic’s “joke”, a bit like Fairport Convention’s “Cajun Woman”, the “real” character from Louisiana folklore being a Cajun Queen.
This is a super song, and noticeably different from the Traffic version. Though so distinctive, it is every bit as good as the original.
More on the music next time.
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