Album Reviews

Chris Darrow may not be a name familiar to you, nor might Kaleidoscope, the ‘60s psych/folk band on Epic of which he was part. That band passed me by back then. Maybe I didn’t like the cover art, or thought Epic wasn’t in the same solid A&R league as was Elektra for instance, so I didn’t want to chance it. I never heard them on the radio and Epic probably did a crappy job promoting them.

The recently re-releasedUnder My Disguise combines that ecelectic 1974 album with Darrow’s eponymous 1973 solo debut, both of which I never saw, no less heard. The release is available both on CD and on a deluxe slipcased double 180g LP set that also includes the separate CD versions within the two gatefold LP jackets. The box also includes a full sized, perfect-bound color on glossy paper art/photo book containing shots of the original sessions and of Darrow in various poses back then.

The eponymous record on United Artists represents back-up musician Darrow’s attempt to step into the spotlight. He was in bands like the Floggs and Dry City Scat Band with soon to become more familiar David Lindley and Richard Greene. He’d played with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and others.

Someone who believed in Darrow must have spent serious money here, recording at Trident in London and hiring name musicians like one time Elton John drummer Roger Pope and guitarist Caleb Quaye as well as Alan Stivell, Dave Pegg and other familiar names—at least for people who lurk in liner notes and album credits. This was during the late Paul Nelson’s A&R time at Mercury so maybe he was behind the push.

The reasons remain obvious for both the relative obscurity of these two albums and their continued worthiness forty plus years after first being released. Darrow isn’t all that comfortable out front, though he puts on a pleasant, inviting, well-worn front that is, singing in a voice that at times sounds like a wobbly Gram Parsons or a passive Greg Allman.

Mostly though, Darrow sounds like a fan and curator of an incredibly eclectic and valuable virtual music collection that he’s able to express by expertly playing and singing original songs that come wrapped in familiar shades of country, reggae, Appalachian balladry, folk, blues, bluegrass and incredibly varied subsets thereof. There's more joy than academia at work so don't think this is an exercise in musical page turning. It's anything but.

The styles, skillfully woven into, rather than pasted onto the musical constructions dominate, putting Darrow again in the background (where he’s sometimes placed in the mix as well), which is why these albums didn’t garner more attention to begin with. In the meantime, Darrow continues to record and release albums that have also not stepped forward all that far.

However, Darrow and the folks behind this box and the less ambitious CD release think the time is now right for Darrow to get his due. Perhaps they see it as an organic antidote to a lot of current musical artificiality. Plus folk and psych folk have made an indie scene comeback over the past few years.

Whatever they were thinking, there’s a wonderful, refreshing purity and innocence to both '70's era productions. Darrow conjures up an enormously wide varieties of musical styles and subtle shadings thereof that inhabit both his playing and singing, though, unfortunately there are no per-tune musician credits.

You’ll hear familiar strains of music filtering through the tunes, sometimes so subtly they defy identification even as you think you recognize the patterns. There’s a bit of Elton here, some Allmans there but none of these references hit you over the head.

The playing is sublime, the arrangements and instruments eclectic and the sonics excellent. The LPs, however they were sourced, are warmer, more dimensional and more harmonically fleshed out. But you knew that. You can probably preview this album online for free so check it out that way and if you like what you hear, get it this way.