Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Sails

The Empty Sky album, recorded in 1968, released in the UK in 1969, and not seen on these shores until 1975, is a tentative, if often surprisingly good, beginning effort and "Sails" is one of that album's best tracks.

It's a nifty, Stones-circa-1967-style account of dockside seduction, enhanced and made more memorable by the underrated Caleb Quaye's guitar work, especially the nimble, Claptonesque solo, which was so good that it was chosen to represent the track in the album-closing medley Hay Chewed. Taupin's lyrics are direct and to the point, and it would be several years before John went this blues-rockish again.

2 comments:

brendan said...

I was hoping Empty Sky would pop up sooner or later, that's a little gem of an album with some great playing, and Sails never fails to bring a smile to the old chops.

Johnny Bacardi said...

Hi, Brendan! Long time no hear from- glad you found this blog.