1. Strolling Down The Highway
2. Smokey River
3. Oh How Your Love Is Strong
4. I Have No Time
5. Finches
6. Veronica
7. Needle Of Death
8. Do You Hear Me Now
9. Rambling's Gonna Be The Death Of Me
10. Alice's Wonderland
11. Running From Home
12. Courting Blues
13. Casbah
14. Dreams Of Love
15. Angie
Time to quiet things down a bit with this album. With this we can finally get a glance at the English folk scene in all its glory. It's just Bert and his guitar here, because he's not a filthy sellout like Bob Dylan. Despite this minor setback, this is still a pretty interesting album, mainly because the guitar's the most interesting part of it.
Since I've heard so many albums that sound quite similar to this, particularly by Nick Drake, I wasn't exactly bowled over. It's the Seinfeld is Unfunny dilemma, I'm sure of it. The vocal songs are all pleasant enough, but they didn't really catch my ear save for Needle of Death, the first in what I'm sure is a long line of cautionary tales about heroin. You think it's bad now, Bert, but just wait until the rock set discovers it in 4 years!
There's a lot of instrumental tracks on here, but since the guitar playing is so intricate and ornately arranged they end being great songs than relegated to the filler pile. 'Angie' is particularly good, which is a nice change. The last song on the record is very rarely the best song.
Before this, the only thing I knew about this guy was that Jimmy Page totally ripped him off in 'Black Mountain Side' off Led Zeppelin's debut and got away with it partly because of Bert Jansch's lack of money and partly because the melody might count as traditional anyways. I suppose if Jimmy Page rips off your tune, you must be doing something right, at least. 7.5/10
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