Hendrickson Road House - Hendrickson Road House (1969-71 us, lost classic of the west coast psych folk, 2011 Wooden Hill extra tracks issue)

So good is this slice of acid West Coast folk that it’s difficult not to go overboard. Lost for more than 40 years and coveted by a handful of acolytes willing to exchange $1,000 for a copy, this is a rediscovered gem so pure it makes all previous claims to that title look like uneducated sycophancy.

The sophisticated jazzy undertow (in places not unlike contemporaries Seatrain) and sparse, intelligent arrangements are bound together by a female vocal so delicious, it could be picked and eaten. Opener Forget About You could be a template – pure, sparkly guitar and wispy, shuffling drums underpin that voice – but the coherence of the material belies its variety. Intense harmonising on Helping Hand, prog-like time changes on Tomorrow Your Sorrow and free-roaming jazz on Yesircantoo – the album is littered with unique and varied touches of class in all departments.

Wooden Hill have rightly lavished time and effort on the package and we get no less than six bonus racks. Whoever you are – or think you are – you need this record.

by Jan Zarebski

Tracks

1.Forget About You - 3:11

2.Theatre King - 2:12

3.Things I Never Knew - 3:42

4.Everybody's Told You - 2:51 

5.Sunny Day Rain - 3:04

6.Classical Misconceptions (Parts 1,2) - 2:22 

7.Tomorrow Your Sorrow - 3:43 

8.Helping Hand - 2:40 

9.That's All There Ever Was - 2:09

10.I Wondered If You Knew - 1:49 

11.Yesircantoo (Norman Lowe) - 3:39

12.The Seed That Grows - 2:09 

13.Tomorrow Your Sorrow - 3:43

14.Forget About You - 3:12

15.Back To Time - 2:03

16.Four And Twenty Blackbirds - 2:26

17.Beachcomber - 2:36

18.Can't Deny It - 2:26 

All song by Sue Akins unless otherwise stated.

Bonus tracks from 13-18.

Musicians

*Sue Akins - Autoharp, Guitar, Vocals

*Norman Lowe - Guitar, Vocals

*Phil Wilson - Bass

*Curt Lowe - Bass

*Don Mendro - Drums, Piano

*Dick Muldoon - Congas

*Ken Rose - Saxophone

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