Alan Munson – One Man’s Journey: 1972-1979 (Modern Harmonic 2018)

This is an excellent compilation of an unsung but classic singer-songwriter. Alan Munson released three albums (all private pressings) back in the 70’s, and here you’ll find songs from these obscure albums. But ‘One Man’s Journey’ stills feels very much like one complete album. It all flows beautifully. Stylistically, we’re talking mellow folk rock with an intimate feel and personal lyrics. You’ll hear excellent acoustic and electric guitars, and the songwriting is consistantly good. I like every single song here, but personal favourites include the slightly jazzy ‘Sightly Sue’, ‘Good Morning World’ (from his album of the same name) and melancholy gems like ‘The Sun Is Rising In Your Eyes’, ‘November’ and ‘Late Night Morning Coffee’. Munson – who is still going strong – has a very warm and pleasant voice that really suits this music. You could say that there is nothing extraordinary about this music, and that it lacks originality. That may be partly true, but who cares as long as the music is good and all of these songs are memorable? Not me. I play this compilation quite often, and reccommend it warmly.