With the exception of 1964's
Folk, Blues & Beyond, this is
Graham's finest non-compilation album. It's also his most fully arranged and rock-influenced effort, with backing by a meaty ensemble featuring
Danny Thompson (of
Pentangle) on bass and British blues stalwarts
Jon Hiseman and
Dick Heckstall-Smith (
Graham Bond,
Colosseum) on drums and sax respectively. Even
Graham's singing sounds better than usual.
Graham offers some decent blues, but more interesting are his frequent excursions into raga folk-rock of sorts, especially on "Blue Raga" (learned from
Ravi Shankar and
Ali Akbar Khan). The raga-jazz interpretation of
Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now," which moves from meditative opening drones into a freewheeling explosion of modal folk-rock is one of the highlights of
Graham's career on record and one of the best expressions of his ability to make a standard his own. ~ Richie Unterberger