A much better effort than his self-titled debut, shows with more command over his voice and with much better arrangements to back him up -- by on side one and on the flip. handles a difficult song like the opener, with more confidence than he would have earlier, and the strung-out guitar during the intro doesn't hurt either. There's hardly any left to this crossover album; it turns out that concentrating purely on makes for a much more consistent LP. Surprisingly, only is a cover, though the others (with songwriting credits to , , and ) display a lot of influence from early-'70s , and even . is a nice change of pace (a bit of a repeat from his earlier LP), and while isn't going to compete with , it's pleasant enough for a side-two song. No one was confusing him with or either, but is a notable success from one of 's sideline artists. ~ John Bush