With 60 years of recordings, Bob Lind is here to stay.
Bob Lind has a mighty back catalogue. He recorded his first album nearly 60 years ago; he’s been recording almost consistently ever since, and his songs have been covered by over 200 artists, including Glen Campbell, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Eric Clapton, Nancy Sinatra and The Four Tops. In recent years, he’s found a musician who really does get Lind musically and spiritually. Producer Jamie Hoover has worked with Lind on the last three of his albums and continues this work on the latest. Joining Lind and Hoover on the album is professor, composer, sideman and session musician George Wurzbach, as well as overdub engineer Brad Gagne at Sentient Sound Studios in North Miami. Between the four of them, they swapped various elements of these songs, and this majestic, lush, and bold collection of story-songs, with Lind’s witty and powerful lyrics blended with lovely melodies, shines magnificently.
Richard Hawley and Jarvis Cocker are big fans, and you can see why. They all share the same style of song – as Hawley says of Lind, “one of enormous scope with a sharp eye for observations”. This is best exemplified in ‘Sophie’s Lullaby‘, a gentle, piano-driven song based on a very personal experience of one of Lind’s friends. This friend and his wife went to China to adopt a child. They were both moved and stirred when they realised the outcome of China’s One Child policy, which caused families to choose boys over girls, and the couple were moved to be able to literally save a child by adopting a beautiful baby girl. Lind was so touched by this selfless action that this song is a lullaby to that baby girl. It’s beautiful and moving.
In complete contrast, ‘When Love Is New’ is a hilarious ode to young lust and is one of the oldest songs on the album – a love song to the art of love-making, and it’s glorious. With lyrics centring on various ‘we did it’ places where the narrator has made love, it’s an honest and hilarious love song. ‘Nature’s Sweetest Lie’ has a jaunty big-band feel to it in a song where Lind sends out a cautionary note to new lovers to make sure we all take our time before making any important relationship decision. ‘Valentine’ is a lovely piano-based, funky number and the early stages of a new relationship and is another witty, astute and clever song on the quest for true love. ‘Adia’ is another beautiful love song, with piano and wonderful brass playing and a truly majestic feel to it – an ode to innocence and the lovely Adia.
This is an album to cherish, a reflective and humorous set of songs, from a man who’s obviously lived a rich and varied life and aged 83 who’s reminiscing with a jaunty mindset and a selection of what could be described as ‘easy listening’ songs, but this really doesn’t do him or the album justice. A master singer and songwriter, he’s still got it – big time.
