13 October : Ode To John Law

Ode To John Law is the second album by Stone The Crows–their debut was the first album I commented on for this project on 1 January. I enjoyed the debut album, but am less taken with this one, even though at the time it attracted better reviews.

By October 1970, Stone the Crows had been out on the road making a name for themselves, including a gig in April 1970 at the Fillmore West with Miles Davis and the Grateful Dead.

Like the first album, this one is heavy, bluesy, musical with leanings towards the progressive, and with plenty of space in the production. It has that ‘something’ that lifts it, or some of it at least, above the commonplace. Unfortunately I don’t think much the underlying material, however well produced, is particularly strong. If I owned this record, side two would be pristine from not being played.

I had a listen again to their debut to check my memory wasn’t deceiving me, and it wasn’t: it is the better of the two albums by some distance.

As far as I can see, unless you own the copy (I don’t) OdeTo John Law is only available on YouTube.