Dave Mason has had a long and distinguished musical career that began in the 1960s. His solo albums have drawn critical acclaim, spawned hit singles, and generated staggering sales. He also recorded an album with Mama Cass, briefly was part of Fleetwood Mac, and was a key contributor to George Harrison’s magisterial All Things Must Pass. For some, aside from his solo albums, he is also known as one of the founding members of Traffic and someone who puts on a superb live concert.
While many of his solo albums are excellent and some have topped the charts, perhaps his most beloved solo album is his debut effort, Alone Together, released in 1970 on the classic Blue Thumb Records. The album is brimming with Mason’s inspired compositions, with one co-written with his ex-Traffic mate Jim Capaldi. Members of Derek & the Dominoes, Delaney & Bonnie, Leon Russell, Rita Coolidge, Chris Ethridge of The Flying Burrito Brothers, session drummer king Jim Keltner and many other studio aces contribute. Surprisingly, despite all the heavyweight support, the album has an organic, mostly laid-back acoustic feel. When Mason revs up his electric guitar God chops, it’s never overblown and always tasty.
There wasn’t a bad track on the album, and lucky collectors who were able to snag one of the original marble vinyl pressings were treated to something quite rare for that time. In fact, the entire gatefold package, with a fold-out of Mason, is a work of art.
While the album was released on CD many years ago, it has never been back in print on vinyl, as the master tapes were lost in the 2008 Universal Studios fire. Dave Mason has re-recorded the album, and now it is finally available on vinyl, in a faithful, updated for the 21st century, reproduction of the original package, with the addition of the vinyl album coming in a QRP polyvinyl sleeve.
Redoing old albums or revisiting old songs on record can be risky. While it’s easy to do on stage, in the studio it’s a tricky business. If the music sounds too different, it will be ridiculed as a pale comparison to the original. If it’s too similar, the purists will always prefer the original. Fortunately, Mason has come up with an album that is a successful new take on the original. While one will still want to have and listen to the original, this release is a nice compliment and a reminder of what a timeless batch of songs Mason wrote.
Mason retains much of the vibe that made the original such a classic. An artist can’t simply reproduce the feel of a vintage ’70s recording, and so, the emphasis remains here on what is a well-written collection of songs. While I love Mason’s original vocals, in some cases he brings more power to some of these tracks. He thankfully doesn’t push overblown electric guitar arrangements here over the more acoustic approach of the original.
There are a couple of tracks that are a bit more reworked than the rest. “World In Changes” has a reggae feel and “Sad and Deep as You” features a Spanish guitar. There are other little additional nuances throughout and, like on the original, there are a host of guests including, among others, John McFee of the Doobie Brothers.
Mason has come up with the rare successful reworking of an old album and has also created a welcome collectible package for his fans. Very together.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
B
