Genre: country-rock
Rating: 2 stars **
Tiitle: Goin' Home Blues
Company: private press
Catalog: #1014
Year: 1971
Country/State: Los Angeles, California
Grade (cover/record): NM / NM
Comments: --
Available: 1
GEMM catalog ID: 4968
Price: $200.00
This early 1970s private press is a complete mystery to me and I haven't found squat about it on the web. The fact that all ten tracks are credited to a 'Johnny Ketchen' makes me wonder if this may be another Johnny Kitchen outing, but I really don't know. The absence of performance credits doesn't exactly help.
So what can I tell you about this one? This certainly isn't the undiscovered psych classic some dealers would have you believe - in fact there's nothing remotely psych about it. Overlooking the bland, generic cover "Goin' Home Blue" offers up a decent set of country-rock. The unlisted male lead singer is actually quite good, but his female counterpart has a shrill and irritating quivery to her voice ('Morning Blues' and 'Up Tight') that recalls one of The Chipmunks. Unfortunately she's spotlighted on about half of the songs, giving that part of the album the feel of something akin to a Dan Hicks release. Elsewhere the anonymous lead guitarist turns in several excellent performances, including some nice fuzz on the opener 'Rock & Roll Man' and a great solo on 'On a Mountain'. Highlights include the pretty ballad 'Santa Cruz' (the cheesy synthesizer sounds quite out of place) and 'On the Mountain'. Also worth mentioning, for a private press the album has surprisingly good sound. Still, there isn't enough here to warrant the hype surrounding it.
"Going
Home Blues" track listing:
(side 1)
1.) Rock & Roll Man (Johnny Ketchen) - 2:15
2.) On a Mountain (Johnny Ketchen) - 3:40
3.) Santa Cruz (Johnny Ketchen) - 4:48
4.) Morning Blues (Johnny Ketchen) - 3:13
5.) Up
Tight (Johnny Ketchen) - 3:25
(side
2)
1.) Going My Way (Johnny Ketchen) - 3:52
2.) Music (Johnny Ketchen) - 2:55
3.) Mama (Johnny Ketchen) - 2:55
4.) Honey (Johnny Ketchen) - 3:24
5.) Crash (Johnny Ketchen) - 3:26