Matthews Southern Comfort

Second Spring, not Matthews Southern Comfort, is the true debut of M.S.C. as a working unit. It also marks a major shift in Matthews' sound: this is where the pioneer really begins to cut his British folk with West Coast country-rock. In fact, Second Spring unfolds like a sonic blueprint for 1970s Los Angeles. If the floating "Moses in the Sunshine" isn't a dry run for soft rock a la the Eagles' "Best of My Love," then nothing is. But the thing is, this stuff is way more beautiful.

Disappointed though I am by the folky localism cum chauvinism of recent Pentangle and Fairport, Matthews's mid-Atlantic compromise is worse. Basically, he's James Taylor--without the whine, which I'd consider a real improvement if I could imagine Taylor "interpreting" the bitter "Jinkson Johnson" so bright and upbeat it sounded like Poco. (Grade - C)