"L.A. Turnaround" is the ninth album by Scottish folk musician Bert Jansch, released in 1974. Two of the songs were recorded in Paris in 1973, and the others were recorded in Los Angeles in 1974. The album was produced by former Monkee and Country rock artist Michael Nesmith, who also played guitar. Other guest musicians include Red Rhodes (steel guitar), Byron Berline (fiddle, mandolin) and Jesse Ed Davis (guitar).
After the demise of Pentangle, Jansch signed with Tony Stratton-Smith’s Famous Charisma Label in 1973 and recorded L.A. Turnaround in Sussex and Sepulveda, CA. It was primarily produced by Mike Nesmith (two of the album’s original 12 tracks were recorded in Paris by Thompson a year earlier) and released in 1974, the first of three albums Jansch cut for Charisma. The album was hailed at the time as an exemplary work, and its reputation certainly holds in the 21st century. Nesmith quite naturally captured Jansch’s expert, idiosyncratic guitar style, and added himself on rhythm guitars and pedal steel guitarist O.J. “Red” Rhodes, who provided a wonderful sense of ballast and earthiness. Other than the two Thompson-produced cuts -- an instrumental called “Chambertin” and a reading of former bandmate John Renbourn’s “Lady Nothing” -- the set walks through a lush garden that stands between the traditional English folk that Jansch had mastered and a sort of easy-breathing country-rock. Check the breezy flow of “Open Up the Watergate,” with Jesse Ed Davis on acoustic slide guitar, drummer Danny Lane, and bassist Klaus Voormann. Even the moodier “Needle of Death,” a duet between Rhodes and Jansch, carries a certain lightness of feeling despite its lyric's darkness. “The Blacksmith” acknowledges quite openly Jansch’s debt of influence to Doc Watson, while the lithe rocker “Stone Monkey” features Nesmith in place of Davis; the backroom jamming style accentuates the influence of American players on Jansch as well as his own English traditions. All the while Nesmith, whether with the mobile unit at Stratton-Smith’s home or in his own studio in L.A., keeps the proceedings laid-back, flowing, and liquid. This is not to say there aren’t more traditional numbers here; the set opener, “Fresh as a Sweet Sunday Morning,” with Voormann and Rhodes, and “Of Love and Lullabye” could have been recorded by Pentangle. Simply put, this is one of Jansch’s masterpieces, and a singular type of album in his long and storied career.
Track listing
01. Fresh As A Sweet Sunday Morning - 3:52
02. Chambertin - 2:47
Engineer – Jean-Louism, Producer, Mixed By – Danny Thompson
03. One For Jo - 2:39
Remix [Island Studios] – Danny Thompson
04. Travelling Man - 2:47
05. Open Up The Watergate (Let The Sunshine In) - 2:40
06. Stone Monkey - 3:11
07. Of Love And Lullaby - 2:29
08. Needle Of Death - 3:24
09. Lady Nothing - 2:31
Composed By – John Renbourn, Engineer – Jean-Louis, Producer, Mixed By – Danny Thompson
10. There Comes A Time - 2:38
11. Cluck Old Hen - 3:13
Arranged By – Traditional
12. The Blacksmith - 3:28
Lyrics By – Bert Jansch, Music By – Doc Watson
13. Open Up The Watergate (alternate) - 3:37
14. One For Jo (alternate) - 2:42
15. The Blacksmith (alternate) - 3:37
16. In The Bleak Midwinter (bonus) - 2:27
Credits
Art Direction [Sleeve] – Frank Sansom
Artwork – Product Promotion
Composed By – Bert Jansch
Drums – Danny Lane
Electric Bass – Klaus Voorman
Electric Piano – Mike Cohen
Engineer – Bill Drescher, Ron Nevison
Fiddle, Mandolin – Byron Berline
Guitar – Bert Jansch, Jay Lacy, Jesse Ed Davis , Mike Nesmith
Lacquer Cut By [Cut And Polished By] – George Peckham
Mastered By – Porky
Mixed By – Michael Nesmith
Pedal Steel Guitar – Red Rhodes
Photography By [Back Cover] – Mike Van Der Vord, Neal Preston
Photography By [Cover] – Mike Van Der Vord
Producer – Mick Nesmith
Vocals – Bert Jansch
Notes
Released: September 1974
Recorded: c. April–June 1974 at Luxford House, Sussex and Sound City, Sepulveda, California; plus two tracks c. early 1973 from CBE Studios, Paris
Genre: Folk rock/Country rock
Length: 49:28
Label: Charisma Records
Producer: Mike Nesmith / Danny Thompson
© 1974
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