Sunday 18 February 2018

Wild Oats (1977) Lady I'm Waitin - LOST 70s GEMS


A very Southern sounding, folk pop/rock album full of startlingly, dreamy, wide eyed balladry; dominated by glistening acoustic guitars, unusual jazzy solos, gentle pianos and the lead singer songwriter Marc Levy's nasally country accent. Gospel backing and interesting percussion choices are present throughout such as the big drum of dramatic love song Friendship (Is So Hard To Find).
All I Think About Is You dreamy pedal steel driven folk rocker, Heartache a nice smooth rocker with an usual mix of pounding rock rhythms, acoustic guitars , slightly phased harmonies, calypso interlude and a truly magnificent guitar solo that takes centre stage; one of the best I've heard. Lovely Woman sounds like a lullaby, while Take Off For The Sky continues to showcase the band's extremely talented jazz guitarist's vamping abilities and the closing track's mix of exotic percussion with country folk pop encapsulates the album's unique style.

 The sonic, outer space filtered pedal steel sounding like the THX sound logo peeps in and out of Lady I'm Waitin, a very uncomplicated tune full of excellent pop melodies and a Latin jazz coda. If only half the songs were as catchy as this maybe they would've been more marketable, though I must say most bands would kill for a guitarist like the one Wild Oats; who just happens to be Firefall's Jock Bartley, a successor to Tommy Bolin in Jazz Rock outfit Zephyr confirming his credentials immensely as a virtuoso. It does seem to be an album of cameos surrounding Marc Levy rather than a fixed unit which might explain things too.


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