Marc’s 1975 album was his fifth, and his last, although he continued to work with others (particularly both Richard and Linda Thompson), and has appeared at Fairport’s Cropredy Festival. As of 2007 he was the Deputy Lieutenant of Aberdeenshire and a member of the Heritage Lottery Fund Committee for Scotland! He cut back on the musicians involved, managing to keep it just under twenty, and again there was a large Fairport contingent with Jerry Donahue, Dave Mattacks and Simon Nicol involved, along with Richard & Linda Thompson providing backing vocals (Richard provides lead guitar on “The Answer Is You”), while ex-Grease Band and future Jethro Tull/Fairport drummer Gerry Conway is also there.
Steel guitar is again very present, but there is also a far greater use of strings, and the album has shifted slightly more into the mainstream, and it is somewhat surprising that given the period that some of the songs on here (especially “The Answer Is You”) weren’t substantial hit singles. It is a fun set, probably the one that is easiest to enjoy, with “Stealin’” sounding as if the band were having a party in the studio. “Streets of Baltimore” sounds like a long-lost Johnny Cash recording, and the album is definitely one that I would recommend to anyone who misses those Seventies singer/songwriter American influenced albums. This remaster also comes with a bonus song from the original 1975 sessions which is previously unreleased.
