An excellent second album from a band that, familial comparisons to
Man notwithstanding, was always closer to the British pub rock ideal than many of the movement's better-feted icons ever could be. And that despite the best of
Help Yourself's bluesy barroom rock predating any but the earliest birds of the beer and sawdust circuit -- departing guitarist Ken Whalley's
Ducks Deluxe included. Opening with the hefty chimes of the title track,
Strange Affair moves on through a kaleidoscope of moves and movements, ranging from the gently and certainly
Beatles-ish "Deanna, Call & Scotty," and onto a clutch of songs that would not have sounded out of place on the American West Coast -- a touchstone that, again, would soon become a pub rock ideal. The album's peak, however, has to be the nine-minute "The All Electric Fur Trapper," a lush and lovely epic that conjures images of a faintly country-flavored
Pink Floyd as it moves through a series of distinct phases that climax with a semi-funky, deeply fuzzy burst of JoJo Glemser guitar savagery. Accompanied by a wryly flowery essay from
Ducks Deluxe frontman
Sean Tyla, "The All Electric Fur Trapper" stands not only among
Help Yourself's greatest achievements, but also among the highlights of the entire early-'70s British underground. ~ Dave Thompson