McCafferty, Dan – S/T [White Label Promo] – Used LP

vinyl: VG+
Sleeve: VG- 

While the hard rockers of the 1970s likely didn't know what the hell to do with this album that probably came right after Nazareth's "Hair of the Dog" LP but this is an enjoyable set of covers from this Scot rocker.  While most 1970s kids probably didn't know that Nazareth always offered lots of covers (afterall, I remember thinking what the hell is that lady on my mom's record doing to that great Judas Priest song, not realizing that her version was the original), this album is really just an extension of that, with a bit more focus on Dan's talents as a singer and a bit more focused on remaining more (but certainly not completely) faithful to the original versions. 

While lots of hard rock bands in the 1960s did covers of folk songs, I see Jimi Hendrix's cover of Dylan the most interesting and influential, likely leading to things like Nazareth's excellent early 1970s covers "This Flight Tonight" (J. Mitchell) and "Morning Dew," Judas Priest's "Diamond and Rust" (J. Baez) in the latter part of the 1970s, and all the covers in the 1980s such as Guns & Roses version of Bob Dylan. 

For this 1975 album, Danny and his crew tackle a wide variety of material from the previous 20 years with a lot of focus on the 1960s, Neil Young, Rolling Stones, George Jones' 1968 "Honky Tonk Upstairs" (Dallas Frazier), the Platters' 1955 "The Great Pretender" (Buck Ram), Dylan's "Boots Of Spanish Leather," Doris Troy's classic 1963 "What'cha Gonna Do About It" (not to be confused with the song by the Small Faces), Dick Dunkirk And The Strangers' 1964  "You Can't Lie To A Liar" (which might have been a garage rock version of a much earlier song), Little Feat's "Trouble" (Lowell George), Sam & Dave's "You Got Me Hummin'" (Isaac Hayes - Porter), and Lorraine Ellison's 1966 "Stay With Me" (Jerry Ragovoy and George David Weiss).   While the Doris Troy and Lorraine Ellison originals were so insanely great that they perhaps should have been left alone, Dan certainly deserves props for picking some challenges and does his best and since these were some of the more obscure on this set, he very likely might have been trying to turn the world on to these gems.  Others might not appreciated the versions of Neil Young, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones and thought those should be left alone, but who gives a rat's ass about those types of people anyway.  -- winch (green noise records)