Matthews' Southern Comfort
Album: Kind Of New/Kind Of Live
Label: Esoteric
Tracks: 20
Website: http://www.iainmatthews.com

Kind Of New was the fourth album to be released under the MSC band name, but the gap between Later That Same Year and Kind Of New was close on 40 years, and the only common factor between the recorded band lineups was Iain himself. And yet the tracklisting includes three title familiar from MSC glory days (The Road To Ronderlin, Woodstock and Blood Red Roses), which actually confuses matters further since these new reworkings are miles different stylistically from the earlier treatments. Woodstock becomes a jazzy gospel number (more Summer Lawns than Canyon, to invoke an analogy) with Steely-Dan-type backing-vocal chanting; Road To Ronderlin is laid-back rather than country-folk, and Blood Red Roses moves away from the original shanty entirely and steers into reflective folk-troubadour territory (while interestingly, the piece is now being credited to Richard Fariña). On the latter, Terri Binion takes the characterful vocal lead, and her various other contributions give rise to album highlights (like Dear Richard, one of five of her own composition). Be warned, though, that Iain's then-recent forays into jazz with the Searing Quartet et al have clearly informed the eclectic approach adopted for the majority of the Kind Of New disc's tracks, so you've really not to expect the old MSC sound or you'll be sorely disappointed. Fair comment, a few of the tracks don't quite convince (the funky Money with its over-obvious sentiment, the soulful Locomotive for instance), but overall this is a worthwhile venture and repays your time; it comes as a bit of a surprise to learn that Iain himself was for some years unsure of the merit of these recordings, but you'll be glad that he decided to complete and release them in the end.

Kind Of Live, generously included as a second disc with this new Esoteric package, sounds like it should be a kind-of live counterpart to kind-of the same material. But it's not really that at all. Firstly, it sounds like a studio recording, and there's no audience presence - and the cryptic liner notes-cum-reminiscences give no clues as to provenance. Secondly, as regards personnel, there's only Iain himself and mandolin/guitar player Bart Jan Baartmans from the Kind Of New lineup (Elly Kellner replaces Terri, while Bart De Win takes over the keyboard role). The sessions date from December 2010, and they present just four of the Kind Of New titles (Road To Ronderlin, Iain's Letting The Mad Dogs Lie and the two Terri originals Seven Hours and Perfect Love), topped up with three more old MSC covers freshly reworked (Alan Anderson's Mare Take Me Home, Carole King's To Love, and James Taylor's Something In The Way She Moves). There's a relaxed vibe to these sessions that brings them a telling unity, and Letting The Mad Dogs Lie convinces far better in this setting. Pleasing, and certainly worth having in the collection.

David Kidman