Search - Matthews Southern Comfort :: Scion

Revelatory Lost Music

Todd and In Charge | Miami, FL | 11/16/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Aaah, the sweet tenor of Ian Matthews, singing like a lost angel surrounded in three part harmonies.....This album, an amalgam of outtakes from the first two Matthews Southern Comfort records, plus some live BBC recordings made during this period, is well worth searching out. Both versions of "Touch Her if You Can" are simply beautiful, with those three part harmonies filled out by slide guitar still ringing in my ears. His signature take on James Taylor's "Something in the Way She Moves" is as sweet and moving as the original, and he does a trippy, pyschedelic sunburst version of Neil Young's "I Believe in You" that is a must-have. Add to it great versions of "Jinkson Johnson" and a dramatic reading of "And me" and you have one hell of record. This does not sound at all like a odds-and-sods patchwork -- if there's more in the vaults from this period I look forward to hearing it. Matthews' 1993 handwritten notes about his time with this band are also revealing, included with the disc. Please re-issue this cd!"