Meic Stevens

Meic Stevens' debut LP (preceded by a 45 and several EPs in the 1960s) was period folk-rock that inspired unfavorable comparisons to numerous, much bigger names without coalescing into a style of its own. On several tracks, he sounds like a Welsh Bob Dylan; "Left Over Time" sounds far too close to Dylan's "Visions of Johanna" to inspire admiration. "Oxblood," on the other hand, is a throwback to the early '60s, pre-rock Dylan or perhaps even Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Woody Guthrie. On the slightly more psychedelic-influenced front, there are some similarities to Donovan and (more distantly) Syd Barrett, without the magical aura that hovered over the best of those two figures' work. Trance-like raga-rock elements make themselves heard on "The Sailor and Madonna" and "Yorric," with their sitar, tabla, and zigzagging flute. "Midnight Comes" changes paths yet again and sounds pretty close to early Simon & Garfunkel. It's an erratic album, and one without outstanding songs, in spite of Stevens' acceptably world-weary folk vocals. Rhino Handmade's 2003 CD reissue adds eight previously unreleased outtakes from the Outlander sessions and the non-LP 1970 single "Blue Sleep", as well as presenting "Rowena" in a longer full version and supplying lengthy historical liner notes. The additional material includes early versions of two songs from the LP ("Yorric" and "The Sailor and Madonna") and an alternate version of another track from the album ("Ballad of Old Joe Blind"), but none of the other bonus tracks were found on Outlander in any form. Although the surplus goodies include one rather happy-go-lucky, full-band, folk-rock tune ("Great Houdini"), most of it's more distinctive, dark, frequently minor-keyed, acoustic British folk, sometimes akin to a more extroverted, tormented Bert Jansch. (This CD is only available for purchase over the Internet, from www.rhinohandmade.com.) ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide