STAND UP

3.5 stars. A good album but there are too many tracks that for me are average at best. This did quite well for the band in 1969, and they even got to open for LED ZEPPELIN's first arena tour, which Ian thanks them for in the liner notes as it allowed the band to reach a lot of people. In fact Ian dedicates this remastered version to LED ZEPPELIN. He tells the story about having breakfast with Joe Cocker in New York and Joe telling him that "Stand Up" had just gone number one in the UK. Cool way to find out eh ?

"A New Day Yesterday" is a top three for me, in fact my favourite. Love the heavy Blues / Rock flavour of this track. Nice guitar before 2 minutes and the flute that follows. "Jeffrey Goes To Leicester Square" is fairly light with percussion and vocals standing out early. The flute takes over for the vocals later. It's ok. "Bouree" is an instrumental with bass and flute to open with drums in tow. "Back To The Family" has a fuller sound with guitar after a minute as the contrasts continue.

"Look Into The Sun" is better with strummed guitar and vocals. Bass joins in too. Cool song. "Nothing Is Easy" builds with drums and flute and the guitar is prominant later. "Fat Man" I just don't enjoy. "We Used To Know" is a top three tune for me. A laid back tune that just works for me. It seems to build slowly. "Reasons For Waiting" opens with strummed guitar, flute then vocals. Some strings later. "For A Thousand Mothers" is the other top three. In fact this and the opener are the two I like the most by far. Both bluesy and heavier. I like the guitar to end it.

A significant album for the band as "Stand Up" showed the band steering toward the sound that made them famous.