MARTIN BARRE - A TRICK OF A MEMORY - 1994

A decent debut album, featuring a lively mix of hard-rock and r&b with progressive rock, folk, and blues sources. Ex-King Crimson alumnus Mel Collins blows the sax, and Fairport Convention's Martin Allcock and Ric Sanders turn up on a couple of tracks, but the dominant sound is Barre's guitars, soaring, crunching, grinding, or noodling gently, either blues or English folk tunes—he's not as focused here as he is on Tull's records, and his sense of melody isn't as strong as Ian Anderson's, but his playing can be entertaining and diverting. The folk-like title track is practically a lost Tull number, with a great beat and Barre singing like Anderson while playing a sweet mix of acoustic and electric guitars and mandolin. But most of the rest here is blues, r&b, and hard rock—Maggie Reeday provides the soulful lead vocals on "A Blues For All Reasons," sharing the spotlight with Barre's stinging solos and acoustic blues noodlings, and Andy Giddings' pumping Hammond organ. Some of the lyrics are dispensible, and the material doen't hold up for 50 minutes, but any fan looking for something between Tull tours may enjoy it.
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