Friday, July 18, 2014

So hard to find my way now that I'm all on my own (Van Morrison) #247

Ian Matthews  Brown Eyed Girl/ Rhythm Of The West (CBS, BA 461677, 1976)

You may know him as Iain Matthews or Ian McDonald or as part of Matthews Southern Comfort (yes without a pesky apostrophe, although his first solo album was called Matthews' Southern Comfort). 

During the mid seventies he was Ian Matthews (if you're keeping up you may want to know his real name - Iain Matthew McDonald).

Clearly he had a restless spirit, a crisis of identity AND was challenged by grammar. 

One thing IS without doubt: his version of the great Van Morrison song is awesome. The rough edges of Van's vocal are replaced by a warm tone and a smooth as molasses vocal by Ian.

It was actually Ian's version that I heard first and, shock horror... I prefer it - yes even though I love Van the man.



Hidden gem: The B side is another song off the parent album (Go For Broke) and is a nice pleasant song in his laid back country rock style.




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