ROB'S GARDEN

President Records made it pretty easy for metal-heads and other non-folk types to avoid this album; the combination of a band named Dulcimer and the title ‘Rob’s Garden’ written below a bucolic painting of an English summer cottage scene should instantly clear up any doubt about this being anything but a staid, easy-going acoustic folk record. Of course, anyone who’s heard Dulcimer before wouldn’t expect anything less.

I haven’t managed to find an actual copy of the CD issue of this album at a price that’s reasonable, but fortunately (and strangely) Amazon has it available as a very economical download. I say strangely because at 838,965th in their sales rank and long out-of-print, I’m actually quite surprised to find it available at all.

This is another of their ‘lost’ recordings from back in the seventies when Troggs manager Larry Page took a shining to the band and produced a couple of unreleased studio recordings for them. This was the last one to find its way into print as far as I know, and of all their records that I’ve heard this is by far the most laid-back and starkly acoustic. Pretty much every track consists of the same general motif: acoustic guitar, mandolin, occasional dulcimer and quiet harmonized vocals. Remember the scene in ‘Animal House’ where the dude is playing acoustic guitar while singing a corny ballad for some ladies on the stairs during a wild party? The one where John Belushi smashes the guitar against the wall in disgust? Well this is that sort of music. To be fair though, that guy was really out-of-line to be playing stuff like that in such a setting. The right place for this music is exactly the sort of scene depicted on the album’s cover: quiet country meadow, lazy day with Bambi sipping out of a clear brook while butterflies dance around the clusters of flowers in the gently waving grass. If you aren’t in that particular sort of setting, this album loses an appreciable amount of its appeal pretty quickly. If you’re the sort of guy who would relish shooting and skinning Bambi for dinner in such a scene, you really should be warned away from this album altogether.

There are a couple of mildly interesting moments, like during “Indiana Jones” where the vocalist does a pretty decent Bob Dylan imitation; or during “Creation” when one of the male singers decides to lay out some falsetto, operatic-sounding vocals for no apparent reason.

But mostly this is exactly what it appears to be – very mellow, very traditional-sounding British folk music from the latter days of when that sort of thing was still somewhat in fashion, but not released for general consumption until many years later. I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to find this CD, even if you are a folk music fan – it’s not all that special. Mildly interesting, but only appropriate for old gents who wear tweed and have tufts of hair growing out of their ears. Not the sort of thing any progressive music fan is going to find appealing. Two stars for fans of the band, but that’s about all.

peace