Keith West was right there in the middle of the 1960s, in the eye of the storm, singing in bands like 4+1 and The In Crowd, who both released several singles before The In Crowd eventually morphed into late 1960s cult psychedelic band Tomorrow, one of the bands who lit up the scene, performing regularly at the UFO club and appearing at the 14 Hour Technicolour Dream at the Alexandra Palace.
Cross That Bridge is a two-CD set containing 46 tracks, covering every part of his recording career, which sadly lasted only a few years. The first disc features his work with the two aforementioned bands. 4+1‘s single, ‘Time Is On My Side’, is very faithful to the Stones‘ version, with the B-side ‘Don’t Lie To Me’ being a fine slice of 60s beat. The following tracks are the A and B sides of their three singles, plus an unreleased single and an outtake of Ike and Tina‘s ‘Finger Poppin’‘. Their version of ‘That’s How Strong My Love Is’ reached No. 48, their only brush with the charts, but the standout track is the teenage protest song ‘Why Must They Criticise’, which deals with teenage resentment at adults’ disapproval of their long hair and colourful clothing. Most of these tracks are very radio friendly and, with the right backing, could have been hits.
The pick of The In Crowd‘s tunes is the proto-psych ‘Am I Glad To See You’, which showed the band changing course and evolving into Tomorrow. It was backed by ‘Blow Up’, a demo track recorded for the classic 60s film of the same name, with the same riff as what became Tomorrow‘s ‘14 Hour Technicolour Dream’, though it wasn’t used in the film.
There follow six tracks from the criminally underrated Tomorrow (still, for this reviewer, the best band Steve Howe has ever played in), all mostly mono, except for ‘My White Bicycle’, which is the acetate version. While ‘A Whiter Shade of Pale’ is the song of 1967, Tomorrow‘s ‘Revolution’ has a valid claim to be the runner-up, despite failing to trouble the charts.
Disc one concludes with several solo tracks, recorded while he was still with Tomorrow. ‘Excerpt From A Teenage Opera (Grocer Jack)’ was perhaps one of the surprise hits of 1967, not least because of its subject matter and nearly five-minute length. Follow-up ‘Sam’, however, from the same opera, didn’t achieve the same success, and the gorgeous ‘On A Saturday’ sank without trace. There are four other tracks, including the sinister ‘Kid Was A Killer’, which were all included on the 2011 CD reissue of Tomorrow‘s only album.
The bulk of the second disc comprises tracks from West‘s early seventies solo album, Wherever My Love Goes, an album mainly rooted in the embryonic genre of country rock. Tracks like ‘Riding For A Fall’, ‘West Country’ and the eponymous title track are all fine pieces, with ‘Days About To Rain’ sounding like Neil Young on a track which could have been on Harvest. His time in the short-lived band Moonrider is represented by four tracks, which are mainly a continuation of the music he performed on his solo album.
The album concludes with demo tracks donated from West‘s personal archive, which it’s to be hoped he does something with as they’re all too good to be left on the shelf, plus two tracks he recorded in the late 90s with Steve Howe. One of these is the title track of the CD and the other is a version of Dylan‘s ‘Lay Lady Lay’, which appeared on Steve Howe‘s album, Portraits of Bob Dylan.
This is as comprehensive a package of Keith West‘s music as you’re likely to find, and well worth the money just for his 60s recordings with The In Crowd, though Tomorrow‘s album is also well worth checking out.
