A Jug Of Love

Championed by vinyl hounds as an unearthed gem, Mighty Baby’s 1971 album A Jug of Love was reissued in 2006 with bonus songs and outtakes. Unlike the band's 1969 eponymous debut album, A Jug of Love bares few sonic vestiges of Mighty Baby's prior tenure in the British mod band The Action. The opening title track plays like a refined Spirit as played through The Band’s rootsy old gear, and the chorus is strikingly similar to Neil Young’s “For the Turnstiles.” Comparisons aside, Alan King’s buttermilk-smooth vocals are peerless and inimitable, especially when nestled snugly in those airtight harmonies. What’s really interesting in the following "The Happiest Man in the Carnival" is how Mighty Baby takes on a post-mod, pre-psychedelic whimsy and interprets it with an early Grateful Dead approach to jamming. Similarly, “Keep on Jugging” rocks like an Englishman’s take on California country rock, à la Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Keep on Chooglin’.” The bonus track “Devil’s Whisper” contributes to the '70s U.K. twang-rock canon, alongside Unicorn and Matthews Southern Comfort.