Curtiss Maldoon

When it's a struggle to form a description of the music on an album that will make it distinguishable from numerous other similar singer/songwriter-oriented records of the early '70s, it serves as fair warning that it's not really worth searching for. Curtiss Maldoon explores a fairly laid-back, folky realm colored by a little early-'70s British hard rock. "I'm waiting for the man from Afghanistan to come, I've got a kilo in the bottom of my suitcase in a cabin trunk" they nonchalantly note on "Man from Afghanistan," setting the late-period hippie tone. Oh, those permissive early '70s! The throat-stretching vocals and organ on "Long Long Time" show a Dylan influence, and perhaps a Gary Brooker/Procol Harum one, too. Madonna obsessives, as unlikely as it seems, might want to track this down for the presence of "Sepheryn," which she worked over into "Ray of Light" in 1998; it's a little more emotional and melodically and lyrically sophisticated than their typical tunes. Steve Howe plays guitar on "Warm on the Ridge; " Howe, Tony Ashton, and Roy Dyke (from Ashton, Gardner & Dyke) play on "Find a Little Peace." The entire album is available as part of Purple Records Curtiss Maldoon CD compilation Sepheryn: The Definitive Collection, which also includes all songs but one from the 1973 album, Maldoon (credited to Maldoon, but recorded by Curtiss Maldoon), and some unissued tracks and a non-LP B-side by the duo.