When I had previously reviewed Da Capo and their first LP, Love, I struggled to understand how this one could ever have appeared in the top 100 Lp’s of all time. Yes they both showed potential, with that there was no doubt, but top 100? Are you sure I thought?
So it was with some trepidation and intrigue that I sat down to listen to this, their third offering. I guess what it absolutely does show is that a band can develop, grow and produce in the space of a few months. There is a seriousness and above all maturity to this which appeared lacking in earlier outputs.
And not only that, but each track starts off with a restrained, almost stripped back approach. Not what I expected at all. Commencing with ‘ Alone again or’, which sounds very familiar but for which I would not have had a clue about the title, it is almost as if they thought, we can do this, if we do it well this will become our pension. Although with a band on the verge of imploding at the time due to the usual ‘musical differences’ and vast quantities of drugs, a pension was probably a little further down the list way below survival and life itself.
For me, ‘Live and let live’ is the stand out track, and throughout, there are some lovely elements of the psychedelic sound they were famed for. As a collector or as someone who wants to experience musical genres across the ages, this is a must have in the collection. It really does flow easily and as an example of how a band can improve over a short period of time, there are not many better examples than this one.
