Rural Space

Before Prairie Prince joined the Tubes and the Jefferson Starship, he was helping out Michael Brewer and Tom Shipley on Rural Space, two albums after their hit "One Toke Over the Line." The project is at least consistent — the type and style of music one would expect from Brewer & Shipley, but what's most noticeable on this odd collection of songs is that no progress is being made. The duo produce themselves here after Nick Gravenites did such a great job on the Weeds album, and the result is more like Chad & Jeremy gone hippy than what the audience might expect from these two fine musicians. "Have a Good Life" is a folksy Gregorian chant, while "Blue Highway" is a grooving coffeehouse sleepy strum. "Blue Highway" was written by David Getz of Big Brother & the Holding Company and credited also to a D. Gravenites, probably a misprint and most likely a co-write from their former producer, Nick Gravenites. It's one of the album's best tracks, and also the longest at close to six-and-a-half minutes. "Black Sky" is a tune by Steve Cash, and the song would grace the self-titled debut of his band, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, a year after this unveiling. Jesse Winchester's oft-covered "Yankee Lady" gets a fine treatment here; it's excellent singing and playing, with the first side having a bit more life than the second but with the notoriety of their hit record from early 1971, they could have played the game a little better. More spark and creativity was in order for a pair of folkies who found recognition, and the tune "Where Do We Go From Here" is truly prophetic — they were going in circles. The cover art doesn't say much: a farmhouse and windmill on a stark plane with the modern logo flying in the air among the clouds overhead. It's good music without direction, adequate and not a bad listen years later, especially the strong "Sleeping on the Way,"

but at this particular point in time, they needed just a bit more.