The Time Is Near (via Discogs)
Like Child Song yesterday, I’m guessing at the release date for this album, but as the sleeve notes for the original were dated June 1970, a July/August release is likely, especially since NME reviewed it in late August.
This is a cracker.
For some reason, I’d never really listened to the Keef Hartley Band, and had pegged them in my mind for ‘just another British blues band.’ So when I took a listen to this back in April it came as a complete surprise. They do have a blues element, but there’s a jazzy, funky underpinning that puts me in mind at times of Motown and Chess R’n’B.
NME August 1970
The album is principally a vehicle for the songs of guitarist/vocalist Miller Anderson who, I’m embarrassed to say, has passed me by entirely. I’m going to have to rectify that.
What lifts this above a lot of other Brit. bands of the time is the presence of a killer horn section. In the earlier incarnations of the band, including the line up that played Woodstock, that included Henry Lowther. Henry had left the band by the time the album came out, but he plays on two tracks here, recorded in 1969. No matter: Dave Caswell is an excellent replacement, with Lyle Jenkins on flute and sax, driven by Gary Thain’s bass.
Roy Carr’s review in NME is spot on.
This is another one that I took a tentative listen to and immediately bought on cd. After the first, tricksy 10 seconds of Morning Rain, it’s a fine album, the kind of album that makes this project worthwhile. The cd gets a lot of play here in the office.
It’s on Spotify, and also on YouTube in its entirety.
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