Reviewed by Dougie Adam

Part of a series of releases which has seen Larry's most important albums re-released, factory manufactured CDs. The music on this one is the same as the remastered CD from 2003 which delivered the album with increased clarity and oomph. As far as the music goes everything has pretty much been covered in previous Cross Rhythms reviews of the earlier CD versions. 'Something New Under The Son' was recorded in 1977 before Larry set off on the long world tour but was not released until four years later. Although the album has been released umpteen times on vinyl, cassette and CD all of the releases to date have featured rough mixes of the songs even though Larry claimed there was a more polished final mix somewhere in his archives and that this final mix of the album had different versions of the songs several of which had fuller lyrics (eg "I Feel Like Dyin'", "Put Your Life Into His Hands") than the versions of the songs released to date. Despite the use of rough mixes and a few of the songs rambling in comparison to Larry's better produced Trilogy albums, this album hangs together well as a whole (there is plot charting Pilgrim's journey from the first song to the closing track) and a number of songs from the set ("Watch What You're Doing", "Leaving The Past Behind", "Born To Be Unlucky", "Let That Tape Keep Rolling", "Put Your Life Into His Hands") rank among his best ever recordings and became favourites when they featured in Larry's live sets. The first take of "Watch What You're Doing" in the bonus track section shows how captivating the songs were without the overdubs and heavy reverb added in the mixing stages. One of Larry's better albums definitely worth having in its own right.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

Interested in reviewing music? Find out more here.