Bob Lind - Elusive Butterfly. The Complete Jack Nitzsche Sessions (@320)

 

Bob Lind - Elusive Butterfly. The Complete Jack Nitzsche Sessions

Elusive Butterfly: The Complete Jack Nitzsche Sessions Review by Richie Unterberger.

The name of arranger/producer Jack Nitzsche is prominent in the title of this reissue, possibly because Big Beat's parent label, Ace, had done a couple of various-artists compilations of Nitzsche productions shortly before this Bob Lind anthology was released. Actually, however, it comes close to serving not only as a best-of, but also as a document of almost everything Lind recorded for his mid-'60s label, World Pacific. All 22 of the tracks from his two World Pacific LPs (Don't Be Concerned and Photographs of Feeling, both from 1966) are here, as well as an unedited version of "I Can't Walk Roads of Anger" (which first came out on the 1993 collection The Best of Bob Lind: You Might Have Heard My Footsteps) and two previously unissued acoustic demos, "Whose Is the Funeral" and "Bring It All Down." Though nothing else he did was as successful or memorable as the big hit track on the disc, "Elusive Butterfly," it does include quite a few other recordings in a similarly pioneering orchestrated folk-rock style, some of which were covered by other artists ("Mr. Zero" by Yardbirds singer Keith Relf, "Counting" by Marianne Faithfull, "Cheryl's Goin' Home" by the Blues Project, and "Drifter's Sunrise" by the Gants). If you're trying to choose between Elusive Butterfly: The Complete Jack Nitzsche Sessions and The Best of Bob Lind: You Might Have Heard My Footsteps, it's a pretty close call, as 22 of the same songs appear on each CD. In its favor, You Might Have Heard My Footsteps has three songs not on Elusive Butterfly, including the 1967 single "It's Just My Love" and two 1967 outtakes, "I Fall to You" and "English Afternoon" -- the latter of which is a baroque-folk-rocker that's, unlike many such things added to CD reissues, one of the best things Lind ever cut. The two acoustic demos exclusive to Elusive Butterfly aren't so essential, though it's interesting that one of them, "Bring It All Down," was written for (but not recorded by) Cher. The annotation on both CDs is excellent, with plenty of quotes from Lind.

Tracklist:

1            Elusive Butterfly

2            Mister Zero

3            You Should Have Seen It

4            Counting

5            Drifter's Sunrise

6            Unlock The Door

7            Truly Julie's Blues (I'll Be There)

8            Dale Anne

9            The World Is Just A "B" Movie

10          Cheryl's Goin' Home

11          It Wasn't Just The Morning

12          I Can't Walk Roads Of Anger

13          Go Ask Your Man

14          Oh Babe Take Me Home

15          West Virginia Summer's Child

16          Elanor

17          San Fransisco Woman

18          The World Is Just A "B" Movie Meets Reno, Funtown U.S.A.

19          A Nameless Request

20          Remember The Rain

21          I Just Let It Take Me

22          We've Never Spoken

23          I Can't Walk Roads Of Anger

24          Whose Is The Funeral

25          Bring It All Down

****