Buying the albums sampled on “You Can All Join In”.
Today, we at last come to the end of Phil Sutcliffe’s fantastic notes from the insert from the expanded CD.
“On the other hand, Over The Green Hills (both parts), Moonshine and, particularly, Worry show how far they were infused with the black-night hellhound-haunted experience and insights of the blues. It’s not R&B, it’s not “progressive” and it surely isn’t pop when in Worry, Rodgers moans “It’s the cold black night/That’s eating up your heart/The cold damp sweat keeps you and sleep apart” and Kossoff’s guitar responds, sparse and sour. Rather, it touches the raw nerve of Marlon Brando’s Kurtz muttering “The horror, the horror” at the end of Apocalypse Now. Like The Blair Witch Project it is laden with unexplained fear. In other words, it’s serious business.
“In fact, Tons Of Sobs might have been darker still if its release had not been delayed until March the following year [1969; so two months or so after the “You Can All Join In” photo was taken] while live favourite The Hunter was inserted as a late replacement for a piece called Visions Of Hell. Regardless, it was a stunning debut. And virtually ignored at the time.
“Hardly wasted effort, though. After all, that was 1969 – and he we all are.”
Phil Sutcliffe [undated, but released in the insert in 2001]
Next time, Free on the cover of the sampler!
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