L.A. Turnaround (ECD) [CD]

Glasgow-born Bert Jansch burst upon the British mid-sixties folk scene as a virtuoso guitarist with a highly innovative, individual style that creatively blended various strands of British Isles music, blues and jazz. His influence - acknowledged or not - on countless guitarists from the sixties and seventies proved highly influential on the rock scene of that period. Jansch was also a fine composer and vocalist.

After solo recordings and collaborations with John Renbourn (another virtuoso axeman), the two of them formed the Pentangle, a major acoustic group, at the turn of 1967. Other group members included Jacqui McShee (vocals), Danny Thompson (bass) and Terry Cox (drums). This (mostly) acoustic "super group" was both critically and commercially successful, particularly among rock and pop fans. They disbanded - or rather drifted away - in 1973.

Bert Jansch did not wait the disintegration of the group to release solo LP's again. He released "Rosemary Lane" (1971) and the excellent "Moonshine" 1973) for the Reprise label. The latter album was a beautiful album produced by Danny Thompson (who also played bass) and arranged by Tony Visconti (already well known for his work with Marc Bolan, Ralph McTell, David Bowie, Roy Harper and the Strawbs to name a few). Visconti's input was probably meant to bring Bert Jansch more commercial attention.

In 1973, Jansch and Danny Thompson began recording tracks at CBE in Paris. Reprise, however, was not interested by the tapes. Tony Stratton-Smith signed Jansch to his "Famous Charisma Label". In a move also designed to add commercial appeal to Jansch performances, the label boss hired ex-Monkee Michael Nesmith to produce what was the first of three Charisma releases. (Michael Nesmith had, by this time, become a groundbreaking country-rock artist).

Being well acquainted with both Jansch's work (solo and with the Pentangle) and Michael Nesmith's RCA releases, I duly bought "L. A. Turnaround" when it was released on Charisma CAS 1090. The original LP came with an insert containing the lyrics to nine of the tracks. These are included in the CD booklet.

Jansch rescued two of his Danny Thompson produced 1973 Paris recordings. "Chambertin" is an easy-flowing instrumental that may be a tribute to the famous Burgundy vineyard. "Lady Nothing" is another instrumental. It first appeared as John Renbourn's adaptation of a medieval composition under the title of "Lady Nothinge's Toye Puffe". The track was included on Renbourn's "Another Monday" LP (1967). Jansch plays without backing musicians on these two tracks.

Jansch reprised his own "signature" song, "Needle of Death" (with some musical sweetening from Red Rhodes). This version is well worth hearing. He also covered two traditional numbers (the well-known Appalachian standard "Cluck Old Hen" and a Doc Watson tune featuring new lyrics written by Jansch and titled "The Blacksmith").

All of the material, and particularly Jansch's originals, are quite brilliant in composition as well as in execution.

The LP was mostly recorded in England by Ron Nevison using the R.L.S (Ronnie Lane's Mobile studio). A majority of tracks feature Jansch backed with Orville "Red" Rhodes (Nesmith's steel guitar sidekick), Klaus Voorman (bass), Mike Nesmith (acoustic guitar) and Denny Lane (drums).
Additional recording and overdubs took place at Sound City, California. American musicians like guitarists Jesse Ed Davis ("Indian Ed") and Jay Lacy, fiddler Byron Berline and pianist Mike Cohen were brought in.

It is interesting to note that this was one of Michael Nesmith's rare outside production jobs. It occurred at a time when he had his own, albeit short lived, "Countryside" production company/record label. Apart from Orville "Red" Rhodes ("Velvet Hammer in a Cowboy Hand", 1973), Garland Frady ("Garland Frady Sings Pure Country", 1973) and Ian Matthews ("Valley Hi", 1973) and Nesmith's own "And The Hits Kept On Coming" (1972) and "Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash" (1973) not much else emerged from "Countryside" (although there was also some collaboration - including co-writing - with Linda Hargrove).

Nesmith mixed the record which was ultimately mastered in London. The recording quality is very good with a lot of "air" around the instruments.

Shortly after these sessions, "Countryside" folded and Michael Nesmith quit RCA to launch his Pacific Arts label.

I originally found, and still find, that this album is a real highlight from Jansch's discography. Nesmith did bring an attractive country touch to the proceedings. The intertwining between Jansch's balladry and Red Rhodes intuitive playing, in particular, is nothing short from breathtaking. The sound is suitably laid-back.

The lyrics are, mainly, lighter than they had been on previous Jansch recordings. Nesmith's country touch also makes for a very fine singer/songwriter recording. This is one of my three favorite Jansch albums. I would be really hard-pressed to find any sub-standard track here.

The album under review includes previously unissued, alternative takes of tracks 1, 2 and 3. The last track, "In the Bleak Mid Winter", was recorded in late 1974 by Jansch as a forgettable Christmas single.

The original and bonus tracks have been perfectly remastered and/or remixed by Peter Mew with Bert Jansch at Abbey Road Studios. This CD is "enhanced". It includes about 13 minutes of film capturing Jansch, Nesmith and Rhodes rehearsing/recording at Tony Stratton-Smith's Sussex mansion. This is a nice touch. Just put the CD in your computer drive and see and hear for yourself.

This is, clearly, a reissue that is worth buying for its musical (and visual) riches rather than solely for its scarcity on vinyl.

This reissue, supervised by Jansch, is very nicely packaged. The original artwork is augmented with contemporary pictures and memorabilia and liner notes.

This masterpiece has aged wonderfully.

I won't comment critically on the album - if you like Bert then you will love it, and be thankful that it has finally seen the light of (the digital) day.

However, as is unfortunately the case with most remasters and reissues nowadays, the original source work has been altered for its second coming. The opening track (unarguably one of the best on the album, and one of Bert's all-time greats) 'Fresh As A Sweet Sunday Morning' has been edited. On this remaster you are not able to sample what music biographer Colin Harper describes [in his book DAZZLING STRANGER: BERT JANSCH AND THE BRITISH FOLK AND BLUES REVIVAL] as 'pastoral ambience exquisitely captured' since the opening 10 seconds (!) have been deleted. So gone is the remote chirping of birds as Bert recorded this track out in the country garden that morning.

'Fresh As A Sweet Sunday Morning' in its orginal form is a special track and a significant part of this is the that special scene-setting introduction made by nature itself; when you throw in the story behind its recording - for this do check out Harper's great book - it becomes all the more significant and hence all the more disappointing to hear that it has been axed for this remastered reissue.

However, I am not going to bother to surmise here why this has happend, on whether it was a technical or authorial decision - this of course would be pointless.

But if you do want to hear the original version on CD then I can point you to the Jansch anthology DAZZLING STRANGER, as it is the opening track on the 2nd disc of that excellent compilation. Ironically this was curated well before the recent re-issues, and done so well by Mr Harper again.

It shouldn't really be that you have to reference another work to hear something in its original format - and when I say reference I also mean spend again. I am not keen to perversely reward this edit/hack job by encouraging another purchase but I will say it is worth it - and while you are at it, make sure you buy Mr Harper's book Dazzling Stranger: Bert Jansch and the British Folk and Blues Revival for as a companion piece alone it will add another level of listening enjoyment to Bert's songs. Colin's work across this text, the aforementioned compilation CD, countless articles in the music press as well as his presence in the DREAMWEAVER documentary without a doubt played a significant part in the Jansch comeback so one can only say - hats off to Colin Harper. And one can also only wonder if those 10 seconds would still be there if he had been also involved with this release...

To conclude - it is undeniably brilliant that L.A. TURNAROUND is out again and overall this is a lot better than most other remastered re-issues out there, both in terms of quality and real justification for going through with the whole exercise in the first place. So do purchase it as one of the greatest works by one of the greatest guitarists. And then buy the DAZZLING STRANGER combination I have already mentioned.

The fact that its key opening song is cut before it even starts is probably best described by the phrase Bert himself later employed at the start of his environmentally-concerned song 'Lost And Gone', as found on his subsequent album SANTA BARBARA HONEYMOON - 'what a bloody shame' indeed.

I have nursed my copy of this wonderful album on cassette for the last 35 years, so you can imagine my relief at finally being able to retire it for this newly released CD.

This was the first album Bert Jansch released as a solo artist after breaking from Pentangle in the early 70s and to my mind it has always marked the high point of his career.

This release is remarkable not only for its content (some of the most enduring and critically aclaimed songs on Jansch's career) but also its production. Produced by Mike Nesmith (yes, the ex-Monkee), Nesmith also brought with him his long time buddy and pedal steel guitarist, Red Rhodes. The extraordinary combination of Jansch's inspiring guitar playing with Rhodes' inspired pedal steel is in turns both amazing and ethereal. An unlikely marriage on paper, on record it creates a marvellous ambiance to Jansch's searching songs. Bear in mind that Jansch is often regarded as one of the best british guitarists of his generation and that Rhodes dominated ped steel playing in his era, as well. Marvellous!

Another marvellous aspect is the addition of a 15 minutes documentary of the making of L A Turnaround. Very revealing and a fantastic visual record of Jansch at the top of his game.

All in all, for any Jansch fan an absolute gem.

And for new fans, perhaps directed here by Jansch's recent collaboration with younger artists, I have no hesitation for once in recommending a back catalogue item as a starting point. Essential.