Long John Baldry

Recorded April 7th, 1993. Long John Baldry, who now lives in Canada, was one of the figure-heads of the blues explosion in England in the swinging sixties.
Baldry raised his profile as a singer with Alexis Korner's legendary Blues Incorporated. In 1967 the two-meter man went to number one in the British charts with the pop ballad 'Let the Heartaches Begin'. Later on Baldry went firmly back to his roots, using his rough voice to promote unsophisticated blues and blues rock. And as a live entertainer, he is always good for an electrifying show.

It Ain't Easy features a British blues/rock lineup befitting the man behind the Long John Baldry moniker. This album returns Baldry to a decidedly edgier and hipper audience, with a literal cast of all-stars on some of the more adventurous material he had covered to date. This is no doubt due, at least in part, to the involvement of rock superstars Rod Stewart and Elton John. (In fact, John confesses to have taken the last name in his stage moniker from Baldry's first.) Among their contributions to the project, Stewart and Elton divided the production tasks - each taking a side of the original album. Immediately, Baldry sheds the MOR blue-eyed pop soul image. The backing band on Stewart's side include fellow Face and future Rolling Stone, Ron Wood, on electric guitar and acoustic guitarist Sam Mitchell, who appeared on many of Stewart's early-'70s solo albums…

Like its companion It Ain't Easy, the second half of Long John Baldry's early-'70s comeback Everything Stops for Tea initially attracted the most attention via its producers, former Baldry sidemen Elton John and Rod Stewart. The two superstars each handled one side apiece and, though neither shines with the same generous idiosyncrasies that saw the earlier LP sparkle, still they power Baldry to some marvelous heights - most notably the should-have-been-a-hit cover of "Iko Iko," and a glorious "You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover." With Baldry's musical tastes now drawing folkier textures into his blues (and eschewing the big ballad pop altogether), it's a varied and oft-times eclectic collection. But the strength of Baldry's performance smooths over any rough edges that might have tripped other singers and, though It Ain't Easy remains the superior of these two albums, this one really isn't that far behind it.