John Compton - To Luna 1971

First released in 1971, this is US singer-songwriter John Parker Compton's first solo LP after the break-up of the amazing Appaloosa and a duo album with violinist and subsequent jingle maestro Robin Batteau. To Luna was Compton’s last attempt to reach a wider audience at the time. The album was issued in 1971 and presented a set of his best-formed songs and personal and band playing that matches the highest quality produced at that time or any other time for that matter.

Quite a few of the albums recorded in the Sixties and Seventies bear quite a heavy mark of the times they were made in, both musically and lyrically. Listening to To Luna today it is almost impossible to pin down the period it was made in and sounds as relevant as it should have then.

While Compton’s songs vary from the staple singer/songwriter material (the opener “Colano Sound”) to more jazzy/bluesy variations that actually defy the cliche (“One Find Me Home”), it is the more melancholic songs that truly give this album that “lost treasure” stamp of approval - “Verandas”, “Yorkshire Pines” and the closer “Leave My Casos In Laos” should find their place in anybody’s late-night mix. Recently, due to the resize of To Luna album, first in Japan and then in the US, Compton’s music has started to fall on some more receptive ears. We’re lucky that somebody decided to brush off the dust of this diamond.

listen here or here