Excellent adult rock from the early '70s
Andrew R. Weiss | Raleigh, NC USA | 03/08/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Joy of Cooking was the first rock band to have at its heart two great women as lead singers, songwriters, and instrumentalists. The subject matter is still mostly love and loss, but the emotions are adult, and not caught in the hysterics of melodrama (compare, for example, Derek & the Dominos' "Layla"). This is a fine album all around, from the rocking "Don't the Moon Look Fat and Lonesome" through the deeply heartfelt blues at the end. "Let Love Carry You Along" is a great anthem from that era, just as positive and uplifting now as it was then. But these are not "message" songs that are long on intellectual substance and short on musicality and rock. They are balanced, with catchy tunes, excellent arrangements, and a subtle, folk/jazz/rock ensemble executing everything very nicely. If you want songs that speak to our lives with clarity and maturity, and that you can still hum along with and stamp your feet to, and get carried away in the emotion, this is your kind of album. Joy of Cooking put out only 3 albums and didn't last long (Brown and Garthwaite split and pursued solo careers), but the legacy they left us is a fine one."
If only
Linden Ellenbaum | Minneapolis Minnesota | 05/13/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"wish this group were still playing, they were light years ahead of there time, a best of on one CD is not possible because it would have to include all of there music, only wish they were still playing."
Surprisingly awesome adieu
Thor Maillet | Waltham, MA United States | 09/05/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"WOW! I am a sucker for Japanese mini-LP packages (often the masters are way better and I can't get enough of the lengths these companies go to replicate artwork) and what an album to do it with! I am a huge fan of the debut, which I had picked up as I was told if I liked Fanny, I may dig on this band. They were right, by the way ;) That album still couldn't have set me up for the brilliant song cycle that is "Castles". Most of these songs are by principal songwriter Toni Brown, and even considering the songs on the debut AND the ones on her solo album -- THESE are her best songs to me... and she really lets loose on her electric piano. Terry Garthwaite is sort of the Janis Joplin counterpart, and works it to fine effect. The band is as usual completely tight, but a bit restrained, which again works to FINE effect. The addition of strings is delightful.
Pick this up while it's still available here as a 24-bit Japanese mini-LP replica CD remaster! Amazing stuff!"
Track Listings (10) - Disc #1