IT DON'T BOTHER ME

Having subsisted on JOHN MARTYN for a couple of weeks and now shifting over to BERT JANSCH, I know I shouldn't be comparing and contrasting but my first reaction to "It Don't Bother Me" was that it was Jansch's "The Tumbler" (Martyn's sophomore effort), but that is not only cruel but inaccurate. The similarity is only that Jansch now expresses his brogue better without affectation, but otherwise, for a second album in a year span, this is actually in some ways more captivating than the debut, with songs that better reflect or predict the philosophies of the time, and a quality that presages the prog folk era.

Somehow his vocals are better suited to these musings than in the more closed off predecessor. A consummate example is the superb "Apartheid", with the banjo laden closer "900 Miles" nearly as accomplished, reflecting an American influence coursing through the KINGSTON TRIO. I'm also partial to the rambling story style of "My Lover" and the existential patter of the title cut.

If I could only recommend one Jansch production from the first 2, I'd say don't bother yourself with the debut and grab this one instead.