Don't give up. Reviews of the England shows are due out soon. Most of them will be in monthly publications that are not on the stands yet.
We'll be posting them -- or at least links to them -- as they come in.
Meanwhile, here's a review of a show Bob did in California back in February. It just came in.
The reviewer's name is Suzanne Salinas. She was kind enough to send it to us a few days ago.
Bob Lind - An evening with a Troubadour
When I read in Kent's Forgotten Hits Comments that Bob Lind was going to be in the LA area and would be performing at McCabe's on Feb 24th, I wrote back that my (former) fiance and I were interested in attending. When later asked by an old high school friend about what I was going to do that weekend, I told him. His reply was typical ….”What is he going to do…a medley of his greatest hit”?
My dear friend should know better since he turned me into a huge Don McLean fan way back in our high school days. Don is another who is thought of as being a One or Two Hit wonder. So I have learned to not discount someone just because they're considered a One-Hit Wonder. I wanted to see what was in Bob Lind's musical quiver besides Elusive Butterfly. I have to be honest and say that I always thought that song was pretty sentimental. But to each their own.
Now about the show … McCabe's is a guitar store in Santa Monica that hosted hundreds of folk performers for decades. I was excited to go to this folk icon for the first time. The store holds a wonderful selection of stringed instruments that many of Kent's readers would salivate over and it's definitely a throw back to the late 60s-early 70s. There is a large room in the back of the store where the concerts are held. There were roughly 30 people in attendance. After the person who works for the store made a few announcements of up-coming events, he made a very nice introduction for Bob.
Bob came down the stairs on to the empty stage with only two guitars on stands. There was a very enthusiastic applause to which he said it sounded like a full house (it was actually half full). He burst out in an a cappella song called I Love to Sing. He sang 18 songs straight through without an intermission. His voice was clear and strong. I've seen many performances by older singers whose voices have seen better days, but that was not the case with Bob. After listening to his 1971 LP Since There Were Circles, I can verify that he pretty much sounds the same.
What a wonderful group of songs those 18 were! I was impressed of how he painted pictures of love (I'm Wearing You), love lost (May & Perspective), love yearning (The Laughing Song & I Was Looking For You) and love thrown away (Spilling Over). I was mesmerized, like a kid listening to stories around a campfire. I found his songs deeply moving. He wrote all but one song he sang that night. The only cover (that I knew of) was Tom Paxton's Bottle Of Wine. I'm used to the Fireballs' rocking version. Bob's version was much slower, akin to Don't Think Twice, It's Alright's tempo. The lyrics were clearer:
Little hotel, older than Hell
Cold and as dark as a mine
Blanket so thin, I lie there and grin
Buy me little bottle of wine
The slower, more pensive version seemed more appropriate to those gloomy words.
Sprinkled in between the songs were interesting stories of the good old days of the 60s San Francisco, writing for other artists and the documentary that was being filmed and recorded that night.
He ended this long set with Elusive Butterfly of Love, then was called back for a two song encore. Don't Pretend You Remember is a dialogue between a woman being left and the man leaving her. Bob's lyrics were very compassionate and touching. He closed the show with a song he wrote for Ritchie Havens, How the Nights Can Fly.
After the show, I stopped by to pick up his live CD (recorded in 2005). He gladly signed it and took time to chat with me a bit. I let him know how I found out about the show, that I've been a long time member of Forgotten Hits and I would be reporting back to the readers. He asked to have my review added to his web-site. But I'm leaving that up to Kent's discretion. While I was talking to him, up came a woman who brought with her Dave Summerville (aka Diamond Dave) from The Diamonds. Like a couple of dorks, Bob & I started singing Little Darlin'. I smiled, thinking of my doo-wop loving on-line friends.
Overall I very much enjoyed myself and was happy I made the trip out to see him.
Suzanne