Southern Child

planned to release as his second album for , going so far as to pose milking a cow for its cover shot. shelved the record for reasons that were unclear at the time and have since been lost to time, putting out in its place in September 1972. When released in 2005, they excavated the unreleased album, along with some outtakes. Fifteen years later, as a stand-alone album, making it easier to appreciate the scrapped platter on its own terms. Reuniting with his original producer , concocted a country-funk gumbo, a bit of a musical departure whose adventurous nature was underscored by how he had songwriting credits on the entire album -- a rarity for . This means at the height of the great rock & roll revival of the early 1970s, pushed into modern territory, making swampy, ribald down-home funk. Sometimes, he leans heavily into classic country -- "Last Year's Race Horse (Can't Run in This Year's Race)" is a stylized barroom weeper, the title track is fueled by 's exaggerated twang -- but the striking thing about is how, even when the music sounds backwoods, it feels freshly funky, an album where city and country, funk and rock & roll, country music and soul all exist on the same plane. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine