The cover is in great condition for an album of this age. It has minor corner rubbing, but the spine is clearly legible. The labels are superb. The vinyl shows an album that has been well played and has visible hairline scratches and has some crackle and clicks at the start of Side 1 Track 2. The vinyl is also warped – this can be heard between tracks and in quieter moments on the album, but plays fine on my deck (no jumps at all) and this should not affect your enjoyment of this fabulous and rare album. Cleaned on a VPI Cyclone RCM. For photos and music review, see my .com site

VINYL: VG

LABEL: Ex

COVER: VG+

Side 1

1. After the Third World War is over
2. The bells of Rhymney
3. Strange fruit
4. Blues for cupid green
5. All I want is a chance
6. The war drags on

Side 2

1. Keep movin’ on
2. Jeannie
3. What makes the wind to blow
4. I’ve gotta deal you can’t turn down
5. West Country girl
6. Plains of the buffalo

Mick Softley, a friend of Donovan (he taught Donovan cross-picking guitar techniques) who persuaded him to record an album ‘Songs for swingin’ survivors’ in 1965. Unfortunately, Mick hated the experience and didn’t record again for 5 years. Despite that, the album has some real gems and is considered one of the rarest ‘60’s folk albums and a real collectors’ item these days. It’s one of the first UK singer/songwrite folk albums in a contemporary style, doubtless influenced by Bob Dylan. In the UK, only Donovan and Bert Jansch were taking this new approach. It is easy to compare Mick to Donovan, as firstly they were friends and had played together, but also Donovan covered a few songs written by Mick in 1965, but also his romanticism and social consciousness matches Donovan’s. One of the songs covered by Donovan ‘The war drags on’ was one of the first protest songs to directly name the Vietnam war, although some think Donovan’s version is better.

The album is acoustic based, with some excellent guitar work by Mick, including a couple of folk/blues instrumentals. Not all the tracks are written by Mick, as there are covers of ‘Strange fruit’, ‘The bells of Rhymney’ (excellent) and the Woody Guthrie ‘Plains of the buffalo’. There is an unusually early song about cocaine addiction in the love lament ‘Jeannie’ (based on a letter written by a drug addict who had just left him). All in all, Mick was well ahead of the game and this album is really rather excellent and one of the forgotten gems that helped the direction of the 60’s folk revival. Highly recommended.