Sweetwater - Sweetwater 1968

Collector's Choice Sweetwater is the only Sweetwater album to feature Nanci Nevins on vocals throughout, and it's hard to get a grip on. Sometimes it's attractive Californian folk-pop-psych not too far removed from the Mamas & the Papas, as on "Through an Old Storybook"; sometimes it's trying for a rock-Baroque-classical-jazz fusion, although the material doesn't match the ambitions of the arrangements. Whether intentionally or otherwise, Nevins' vocals often recall those of Grace Slick, though she isn't as good. On "My Crystal Spider," they seem to be going for a far-out psychedelic sound; the ascending and descending bit of harsh electronics in the middle sounds uncomfortably close to effects employed, earlier and to more effective use, by the United States of America on "Hard Coming Love." When bands, even on their first album, make multiple comparisons to more renowned acts so inevitable that these form the bulk of a review, it's a good indication that the musicians were not in the same league as those they were trying to emulate. AMG.

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Sweetwater - Just For You 1970

The recording of Sweetwater's second album was hindered by Nanci Nevins' injuries in a serious car accident, which for a time rendered her incapable of performing with the band, although she does sing on much of Just for You. A more serious problem was an overall lack of strength or focus to the material, which covers a lot of bases of 1969-1970 album oriented rock without staking a markedly identifiable patch of its own. The eight-minute title track is indicative of the band's strengths and weaknesses, as the song mixes Latin-influenced percussive grooves, gospel, jazzy flute and violin, and a dreamy Nevins-sung opening passage without really arriving anywhere in particular. At times the music's loose flow is a little similar to the Californian hippie rock of It's a Beautiful Day, especially whenSweetwater uses violin. But it's not as good as even that erratic standard, and the sole non-original manages to make Gene McDaniels' classic soul protest song "Compared to What" over into a blandly strained soul-rocker. A couple of briefer, gentle Nevins-led interludes ("Song for Romeo" and "Day Song") that go into more sparsely arranged, poetic singer/songwriter territory outshine the more ambitious, jam-prone surroundings. AMG.

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