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Ian Matthews "Go for Broke" 1976

Ian had covered Folk, Country & Bluegrass on Nine Records between 1970-1974 and of those nine, "Matthews Southern Comfort" (1970), " If You Saw Thro' My Eyes" (1971), "Tigers Will Survive".(1972), "Valley Hi" (1973), and "Some Days You Eat the Bear" (1974) are Great Records that met with Good Critical Acclaim and Moderate Sales.
But by 1975 the Record Companies became the Record Industry and the Stakes became HUGE after the Release of "Fleetwood Mac" (1975) sold 7 Million Units. Rock Artists became PRODUCT and CBS Records signed Ian Matthews, and in a Corporate Board Room decided to Market as a POP STAR. And the reasoning behind this thinking was he was capable of BIG Pop Stardom. He had already had a Number One Hit with his Cover of Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock" in 1970 and in 1972 he had a Minor Chart Sucess with the Crystals classic "Do Doo Ron Ron". So the plan was pick a Cover Tune, Over-Arrange it and BINGO, Big Pop Star.
So here we are at "Go For Broke". It hit the shops in 1976 and surprise! Six out of the Ten Songs here are Cover Versions such as "Darkness, Darkness" (Youngbloods, 1969) , "Brown Eyed Girl" ( Van Morrison, 1967), "Just One Look", (Hollies, 1965) and even 'Groovin" ( Young Rascals, 1967). Sometimes it comes out fine (Brown Eyed Girl) Sometimes it doesn't ( Groovin' ). There are lot's of Saxophones, Cheesy Keyboards and String Arrangements featured on "Broke" and to be nice about it the Production is WAAAY over the top. Ian COULD do these Songs better with just his Voice & an Acoustic Guitar, and if you have seen this Great Artist on any Stage you know exactly what I mean.
But what saves "Go For Broke" are the four tunes written by Ian, and Two of them are Great: "Lonely Hunter" and "Rhythm of the West", Here they are Sounding Great.