Consumer Guide Album

Matthews' Southern Comfort: Matthews' Southern Comfort [Decca, 1970]
In which Ian Matthews splits from Fairport Convention, hires a (good) pedal steel player, and sings like an angel. As you know, angels keep their intelligence discreetly concealed--no one would suspect that the song that goes "Alright, everything's alright" bears the title "A Commercial Proposition," or that the drip who begs "Please Be My Friend" is off his rocker. The sobbing overlaid on Steve Barlby's "The Watch" does hint openly at irony. But what can the man who wrote "Colorado Springs Eternal" know from irony? C+