Savoy Brown - "Looking In" (1970) - Parrot Records
Hello Friends,
We had high, high hopes for this one kids. Just look at that album cover!
We were hoping for some dark, gloomy, psychedelic blues maybe like a British Blue Cheer or a bluesier Black Sabbath, but what we get instead sounds more akin to a second rate Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac or a less interesting version of Ten Years After.
Straightforward blues rock boogie helmed by the band's founder & lead guitarist, Kim Simmonds. Its not that its terrible, its just not that interesting and kind of boring!
Looking In is the band's sixth album and their first as a quartet (songwriter-vocalist, Chris Youlden left the band earlier in the year).
The record is bookended by two short and pleasant sounding guitar solo pieces: "Gypsy" & "Romanoff". The second song, "Poor Girl" (written by bassist Tony "Tone" Stevens) is the albums most blistering blues tune and features some very solid psychedelic-tinged guitar playing. (Although at first, we thought the singer was singing "she's a porker" instead of "she's a poor girl" and we preferred that version over the real one!)
"Money Can't Save Your Soul" is decent, but kind of long and boring. Same with the instrumental, "Sunday Night". Stuff like this you can see at a decent local blues bar almost any time. The upbeat, blues-boogie, "Looking In" closes out Side One with some more impressive playing by Simmonds (who also served as producer on the album!)
Side Two's "Take It Easy" sounds a little like early Grateful Dead or maybe even like The Faces if they took a bunch of quaaludes. "Sitting and Thinking" is another Simmond's guitar showcase and the nearly nine-minute "Leavin' Again" sounds like an overwrought, underwhelming early Blues jam by leftcoasters Quicksilver Messenger Service or the aforementioned, Grateful Dead. A lot of fuss, just not that fun!
FUN FACT: After this album, singer-rhythm guitarist "Lonesome" Dave Peverett, bassist Tony Stevens and drummer Roger Earl would leave the band to go on and form Foghat leaving Kim Simmonds on his own to re-form Savoy Brown. He was probably a dick!
The record is bookended by two short and pleasant sounding guitar solo pieces: "Gypsy" & "Romanoff". The second song, "Poor Girl" (written by bassist Tony "Tone" Stevens) is the albums most blistering blues tune and features some very solid psychedelic-tinged guitar playing. (Although at first, we thought the singer was singing "she's a porker" instead of "she's a poor girl" and we preferred that version over the real one!)
"Money Can't Save Your Soul" is decent, but kind of long and boring. Same with the instrumental, "Sunday Night". Stuff like this you can see at a decent local blues bar almost any time. The upbeat, blues-boogie, "Looking In" closes out Side One with some more impressive playing by Simmonds (who also served as producer on the album!)
Side Two's "Take It Easy" sounds a little like early Grateful Dead or maybe even like The Faces if they took a bunch of quaaludes. "Sitting and Thinking" is another Simmond's guitar showcase and the nearly nine-minute "Leavin' Again" sounds like an overwrought, underwhelming early Blues jam by leftcoasters Quicksilver Messenger Service or the aforementioned, Grateful Dead. A lot of fuss, just not that fun!
FUN FACT: After this album, singer-rhythm guitarist "Lonesome" Dave Peverett, bassist Tony Stevens and drummer Roger Earl would leave the band to go on and form Foghat leaving Kim Simmonds on his own to re-form Savoy Brown. He was probably a dick!
Believe us, friends, we really wanted this album to be great! In an era when hard rock, British blues and psychedelia got along so well, our hopes and expectations were set very, very high. No matter how hard we tried, we really couldn't get our heads nodding and fists pumping while listening to Savoy Brown.
Still, that album cover!
Still, that album cover!
RATING: 3 rattlesnake boots, elephant bag & genuine crocodile hats out of 5
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