Sam Apple Pie＜限定盤＞

オリジナル盤は激レア!ソリッドなブルース・ロックの快作となった'69年デビュー作がアナログ・リイシュー!
Sam "Tomcat" Sampson(vo)、Andy "Snakehips" Johnson(g)等により60年代中期に結成、後にHELP YOURSELF等で活躍するDavid Charles(drs)も在籍した英国産ヘヴィ・ブルース/ハード・ロックバンド、英Deccaから発表された'69年デビュー作が欧Endless Happinessより'21年アナログ・リイシュー!オリジナル盤は超激レア盤、ヘタウマなSam "Tomcat" Sampsonのボーカルを含め演奏/テクニックは当時の中でも平均的かつオーソドックスなブルース・ハード・ロックを披露。
⼀⽅で'Winter Of MyLove''Stranger'等で聴ける、70年代中期SAVOY BROWN等に通じる洗練されたサウンド/アレンジや、ダウナーなヘヴィさよりもソリッド感を先⾏させた味わい等、後の完成されたハード・ロックイメージの先駆ともいえる内容が光る快作です!当時レーベル・メイトだったCLARK-HUTCHINSONのAndy Clark(sax)、HELP YOURSELFで活躍するMalcolm Morley(key)がゲスト参加。

The British blues-rock boom was such a big deal at the end of the 1960s that plenty of also-ran bands got the chance to fill out the bottom of concert and festival bills, and also to record. Sam Apple Pie were among them, and their self-titled debut album didn't offer much in the style that was out of the ordinary, though it did possess basic competence. You needed more than basic competence to make a mark, however, even in a genre that could be as hidebound as British blues. Sam Apple Pie didn't have those extra special somethings, relying too much upon stock blues riffs and good-time energy that might have been effective in a concert setting, but are pretty dull on record. If any influence from their peers seems strongest, it's early Fleetwood Mac (in both their stinging blues modes and their quieter, more reflective ones). Songs like "Stranger," "Sometime Girl," and "Winter of My Love," with its swooping slide, downcast lyrics, and minor keys, definitely recall some of the Mac's early tunes. But this is way below the level of the Peter Green-helmed Fleetwood Mac in singing, playing, and songwriting, though at least the band wrote every song on the album except one ("Tiger Man [King of the Jungle]," where the macho bluster is so callow that it's uncertain whether it's a parody or a sincere attempt at the real thing). Certainly the standout track, though the least typical one, is "Annabelle," with a soft jazz-classical-rock blend -- and little of the blues -- that's, again, very reminiscent of some of Fleetwood Mac's work in the 1969-1970 period. The sudden detour into a jazzy jam with flute in "Moonlight Man" is another promising avenue that, alas, wasn't explored elsewhere on this release. The 2003 CD reissue on Repertoire adds mono single mixes of two of the songs, "Tiger Man" and "Sometime Girl," as bonus tracks. ~ Richie Unterberger