Including members ofįairport, Fotheringay and Quiver. He employed many friends from the folk-rock fraternity. He fronted Southern Comfort for three albums in just over a year-and then followed that in short order with three more solo albums in the UK. Will stretch the song out to ten minutes or more.Īs the 70s dawned, Matthews got very busy. As he announced on-stage recently, “It’s a song that has helped prolong my career beyond my wildest dreams and I feel it my duty to honour it whenever I can.” These days, Matthews Matthews continues to salute the song, often saving “Woodstock” to end of his shows. Version, Matthews landed in a marvellous middle-ground between Mitchell’s own dirge-like delivery and CSNY’s over-the-top rock cop, but the demo is more immediate and spirited. Also on “Outcasts and Orphans” is the original 8-track demo of that song, remarkably similar to what we all heard on the radio, yet it chimes with multiple layers of acoustic guitars, barely audible in the finished version. In fact, Matthews biggest hit came in 1970, when with a new band of English back-up players dubbed ‘Southern Comfort’, he topped singles charts world-wide Tim Hardin, Gene Clark, Richard Farina, Tim Buckley, Gordon Lightfoot, Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell. While in Fairport, he helped introduce many to Bob Dylan, Matthews has long had the gift of knowing a good song when he hears one, so is it no wonder then that he became known more as an interpreter of others work, rather than a songwriter in his right. Showed the Americana direction he would soon follow. His turn on the late Emmitt Rhode’s “Time Will Show The Wiser” and his own “Book Song” But early Fairport’s best known song, “Meet On The Ledge”, written by Richard Thompson, literally ‘sings’ because of Matthews winsome vocal duet with Denny. Matthews’ tenure in Fairport from late 1967 to early ‘69 was sadly short-lived eventually his love of contemporary American music ran counter to the British folk traditions his band-mates began leaning into with ever greater force, especially after Sandyĭenny arrived. Songs, “Me About You”, can be found on “Orphans and Outcasts”, featuring Matthews first lead vocal on record it is a bit stiff, perhaps too perfectly annunciated, but his soon-to-be trade-mark choir-boy harmonies, show just how greatly he was influencedīy The Hollies and The Byrds, providing a tantalizing taster of greater things to come. Just prior to Pyramid, Matthews had recorded a song with The Moody Blues, but it never saw the light of day. THE go-to-piano-player-for-hire, Nicky Hopkins, produced by Denny Cordell of Procol Harum and Joe Cocker fame. Matthews got a first taste of his awaited fate in the UK in 1966 with a pop trio called Pyramid they recorded a couple of catchy singles for Deram, backed by studio stalwarts like guitarist John ‘Mahavishnu’ McLaughlin, bassist John Paul Jones, and All this activity in the last two years, and this after the busiest decade of his musical life, recording and touring with revamped line-ups of both Plainsong and Matthews Southern Comfort as well as creating a slew of solo records, Hand-picked double CD compilation then there’s “Orphans and Outcasts”, a four-disc set of demos, outtakes and other sumptuous rarities AND a brand-spanking new CD “Fake Tan”, recorded with a young Americana-styled band of Norwegians called The After releasing more than a hundred albums, currently Matthews is still at it, promoting a new memoir “Thro’ My Eyes” with an accompanying In his lengthy career, sprinting towards the home-run he has always held the talent and promise to deliver. Was there ever a voice as pure as that of Iain Matthews? The solo singer-songwriter, who also graced psych-popsters Pyramid, early Fairport Convention, Matthews Southern Comfort, Plainsong and the short-lived Hi-Fi, has rounded third base BETTER LATE THAN NEVER - IAIN MATTHEWS COMES OF AGE
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