Morning

I’m terrified of any band with a banjo player. Not surprisingly, a pastel-colored album cover representing the cheerful mood of daybreak does nothing to alleviate my fears, nor do song titles like “Early Morning” and “New Day.” I guess I’m a night person. None of this ultimately matters, of course, for it all comes down to the music, which in this case warrants a passing if unspectacular grade. First released in 1970 on the obscure Vault Records, Morning is an acoustic guitar-based collection of country-flavored soft rock. “Angelina,” “Tell Me a Story” and “Roll ‘Em Down” best represent the group’s melodic, harmony-rich sound, while “It’ll Take Time” features an interesting country-jazz instrumental break (Country-jazz? Is there such a thing?). Most of the remaining tracks reflect the more maudlin side of the singer-songwriter genre, including the mawkish “As it Was” and “Time.” The fate of Vault Records remains a mystery, but Morning soldiered on and eventually inked a deal with Fantasy Records; 1972’s Struck Like Silver commercially fared no better than its predecessor.

Notes: Proof that you can find anything on the Internet: Morning has its own MySpace page: www.myspace.com/morningfromthe70s. Recommended: “Tell Me a Story.”