Five soft rock albums that deserve more love

Eric Andersen - Blue River

The early seventies seem to be some sort of the golden age for soft rock and singer-songwriters, and it should have been for Eric Andersen, who has been making a name for himself since his folky days in the mid-sixties. Actually, Andersen still quietly makes some outstanding music to this day.

In many ways, Andersen is to this day considered one of the key predecessors of more successful singer-songwriters. Even his brilliant albums like this one, however, never got as wide a reception as they should have.

The introductory “Is It Really Love At All” (with Joni Mitchell on backing vocals) is an absolute soft rock classic and a hard one to follow, as is the more rocking “Pearl’s Goodtime Blues” that follows. But, Andersen’s songwriting and vocals are on absolute high throughout the album, deserving all the great support he gets here, not only from Mitchell but also from the likes of David Bromberg and The Jordanairers, among others.

A complete rediscovery (and reissue) of this album (as well as Andersen’s output in general) is not only well deserved but quite needed too.