Bert Jansch It Don’t Bother Me (4*)
Recorded, according to the Bert Jansch biography (Dazzling Stranger: Bert Jansch and the British Folk and Blues Revival) in a regular studio on standard equipment rather than Bill Leader's flat on a semi-pro tape recorder, Bert Jansch's second album was the result of two or three afternoon sessions and several bottles of wine.
Those couple of bottles may be responsible for the looser feel second time around. The opening Oh, My Babe sounds like the effort went into the instrumental accompaniment rather than the lyrics, while Ring-a-Ding Bird shows a bit more attention to the words though the intricate fingerpicked guitar work remains the main point of interest. The vocals drop out for Tinker's Blues, reappear for a brief excursion into topical politcs on Anti Apartheid, drop out again for The Wheel and re-emerge, handed to Roy Harper for A Man I'd Rather Be, an exploration of the relative merits of existence as various forms of sentient life. Harper's there on guitar in the background on My Lover, with John Renbourn taking the lead part and Jansch sitting in the middle with the vocal.
There's a gypsy wayfarer lack of concern on the album's title track that sits comfortably with a bloke who may not, at this stage, have actually owned a guitar. Harvest Your Thought of Love is pretty much what you'd expect, but the album's highlight comes in the complex interplay between Jansch and Renbourn on the latter's Lucky Thirteen. From there, As the Day Grows Longer Now, Alex Campbell's So Long (Been on the Road So Long). Want My Daddy Now and the traditional 900 Miles are reasonably straightforward, though the intricate fingerpicking remains impeccable throughout. It's over to banjo for that final track, but throughout the album there's plenty of evidence to support Neil Young's suggestion that Jansch did for the acoustic guitar what Hendrix did for its electric sibling.
In the pantheon of sixties English folk, Jansch is right up there with the best of them, hugely influential on, among others, Jimmy Page and Nick Drake. The virtuoso blend of folk, blues and Celtic elements mightn't come across as strongly as they did on his debut album, but It Don’t Bother Me's an interesting example of an emerging force about to give things a serious shake.

Manfred Mann The Ascent of Mann (3.5*)
A need to find the version of Randy Newman's So Long Dad and a perception that $22.99 wasn't too bad a price for fifty-three tracks gives me the chance to reflect on the subset of sixties pop that could be labelled thinking person's pop. Alongside Manfred Mann you could probably throw in the likes of The Zombies (fifty O Levels among the five man lineup) and Hedgehoppers Anonymous (of It's Good News Week fame, four RAF pilots) but it was the various lineups that morphed out of the Mann Hugg Blues Brothers, centred around South African jazz pianist Manfred Mann, that managed the most consistent chart action. Drawn from their Fontana years rather than their earlier HMV catalogue and therefore lacking a Pretty Flamingo, though the $8.99 A's B's & EP's will solve that problem. Highlights here? The singles, Semi-Detached Suburban Mr. James, Ha! Ha! Said the Clown, The Mighty Quinn, My Name is Jack, Ragamuffin Man and, of course, So Long Dad. There’s a rather good I Think It's Going To Rain Today in there too.

Doug Sahm and the Tex-Mex Trip Groovers Paradise (4*)
After his collaborations with Jerry Wexler and an all-star cast on Doug Sahm & Band and Texas Tornado failed to do the job Doug Sahm aligned himself with the Creedence Clearwater Revival rhythm section (Doug Clifford, drums, and Stu Cook, bass) and the result is a collection of songs espousing the glories of the Texas hippie lifestyle that skip across generic borders through pastoral blues, R&B, rock, country, norteño, with a dash of Cajun through multi-instrumentalist Link Davis Jr’s Cosmic Cajun Trips. From the opening choogle of Groover's Paradise the theme’s obvious and while there are people out there with a Devil Heart there are always Houston Chicks to soothe the soul of a dude who’s done what he’s done For the Sake of Rock 'N' Roll!
Now, you might reckon there’s a tongue firmly wedged in cheek here, but a read through Texas Tornado (Jan Reid with Shawn Sahm, University of Texas Press, 2010) will reveal that not only did Sir Doug live the rock’n’roll lifestyle to the hilt, he did it without doing an actual day’s work right up to his death aged 58 in November 1999. On that basis he had plenty of time to enjoy the Beautiful Texas Sunshine, while a long term residential address close to legendary Texas waterhole the Soap Creek Saloon would provide ample opportunity to Just Groove Me and an abundance to prove that Girls Today (Don't Like to Sleep Alone). We’re not talking politically correct here, folks.
There’s the cheerful brass driven La Cacahuata, a touch of wistfulness on Her Dream Man Never Came and while these things don’t always work out the way they should, and you can have nights when the keg is hard on your head, if you Catch Me in the Morning we should be able to sort out a few things the singer now regrets.
Throughout the album we’re looking at a guy who’s been there, done that, wrote the book and is waiting to star in the movie (he released his first record at the ripe old age of eleven back in 1952) and has an instinctive mastery of the genres he’s exploring. That doesn’t mean everything he turns his hand to works out the way it should, but when it does there aren’t too many who can deliver the same good time vibe with the same joyous groove.
On Groovers Paradise it’s present in abundance.