It doesn’t take long to realize that this track is not of our time. Recorded almost 50 years ago on a 2 track tape machine “Babe” by Mad Anthony is the first release of 10 Tracks that will make up “The Lost Tapes.” Though it may seem odd to release these old recordings of a not particularly well known harmonizing trio it feels pretty topical considering the recent loss of the legendary David Crosby. Their tight harmonies and uncomplicated guitar parts are so reminiscent of early folk revival music. Nowadays musicians can pay a lot of money to unsuccessfully imitate the raw warmth of three friends gathered around a single microphone with a few chords and some honesty.
The cyclical “Babe” opens the record, the three voices interwoven with serene precision, a veil of acoustic guitar figures fluttering in the breeze. Though it may not have had the gloss of a professional studio, the barn recordings retain an amicable warmth, thanks in part to the classic Shure SM-57 microphone the trio left at the center of their formation. “We needed to use the kind that Roger Daltrey used,” Schwab remembers with a laugh. Particularly impressive as well is the effortless manner in which the trio’s fingerpicked guitars lope around each other, all straight to a two-track recorder.
