There's slightly more than a good chance you've heard of Michael Nesmith.
Well, between the late sixties of Monkeys, wisecracks and beanies, and his late seventies minor hit Rio, Nesmith released a series of better-than-fair albums, which unfortunately ranged from flop to almost a flop.
The high point would be a fantastic song, Grand Ennui -- pity it's only two minutes long -- which is on Nesmith's best album, Michael Nesmith & The First National Band.
I mention this only by way of comparison with another folk-rocker, Paul Siebel. Siebel was even more inconspicuous during the early seventies, but was the kind of musician Nesmith no doubt would have aspired to.
These two albums, Woodsmoke & Oranges and Jack-Knife Gypsy, re-released on one CD exhibit the kind of virtuosity Nesmith never quite managed to attain, but seem to me to be exactly the type of music the former Monkey was trying to make. Especially Jack Knife Gypsy.
Quite brilliant.
Allan Jones of Uncut.
It's sadly probably that the only a handful of people reading this review will have heard of Paul Siebel, let alone the music he made on these two incredible records. Originally released in 1970 and 1971, they quickly disappeared without a trace, vinyl chimera, as did, soon after, Siebel, their charismatic author.
What acknowledgement they recieved at the time was unbelievably meagre, but often eccstatic. For those of us fortunate enough to have heard them on first release, these LP's were testament to a breathtaking talent, whose genius flared briefly, but brilliantly enough to be mentioned in the same breath as any of the songwriting legends who rode the folk and country rock booms of the '60s and early '70s, from Dylan to Gram Parsons. Much revered by his contemporaries, Siebel simply blew out of town after Jack-Knife Gypsy, destination: obscurity.
Not forgetting that whenever there's an organ winding in and out of the music, it's against the law to ignore The Band.
I'm going to cheat and break the one CD into two individual albums. Just on the off chance you come across either in a bargain bin. And believe me, either would be a bargain.
AGB Rating
Woodsmoke And Oranges - Distinction
Jack Knife Gypsy - High Distinction
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