The Bunch
Album: Rock On
Label: Talking Elephant
Tracks: 16
Website: http://www.talkingelephant.co.uk

This 2013 reissue represents the latest CD incarnation of the classic one-off album of "oldies covers" by The Bunch, a motley collection of English folk-rockers. It was recorded during January 1972 at The Manor, and presented a clutch of favourite rock'n'roll-era numbers, which was at that time something of an unfashionable commodity. But it proved irresistible, not least for its being performed by members of Fairport Convention and other bands. Admittedly the set included one or two comparatively throwaway tracks, but the spirit of good-time affection that came through on these group tryouts of well-loved songs was palpable.

Most of the set's highlights for me came courtesy of the individual contributions from Sandy Denny, Linda Thompson (then Peters) and Richard Thompson. The latter's Dino Di Mucci number My Girl In The Month Of May (complete with sterling backing choir), the gorgeous duet between Sandy and Linda on the Everlys' iconic When Will I Be Loved?, Linda's unexpectedly fiery take on The Locomotion, Sandy's lead vocal on Love's Made A Fool Of You, Learning The Game and Willie And The Hand Jive… but then again, it proved surprisingly hard to seriously fault the enthusiasm with which Ashley Hutchings tackled Chuck Berry's Nadine, or Trevor Lucas' rendition of Don't Be Cruel, or Richard's rocking Jambalaya, while the backing crew (Messrs, Donaldson, Mattacks, Conway, Whiteman, Bell et al.) were never less-than-capable. One track, Sweet Little Rock'n'Roller, was spoilt by intrusive crowd-noise effects, but otherwise the set was played straight, and all the better for it.

So why now are we being treated to a fresh CD reissue of Rock On? Not sure - maybe it's the transfer of licensing rights. But this Talking Elephant incarnation loses out on the 2003 Fledg'ling counterpart by skimping on the accompanying detail. It makes a great play of including four bonus tracks from the sessions, but then goes and omits the detailed personnel credits for those tracks - no excuse, when these had been all present and correct on the Fledg'ling booklet (even though the Talking Elephant digipack reproduces the credits for the original album's dozen tracks correctly and fully). And yet, perversely, Talking Elephant's accompanying booklet reproduces the original album's booklet containing potted-biographies, surely not as important in terms of essential detail. My advice? - stick with the Fledg'ling CD if you can still find it, if only for its extra information, but otherwise as a new purchaser you'll still be fairly safe with Talking Elephant's sensible digipack reissue, which certainly sounds and looks absolutely fine.

David Kidman