Dónal Donohoe

It was probably because of being constantly at the front of my vinyl collection that my original copy of L.A. Turnaround (purchased after it’s release in the 1970’s) became warped either from direct sunlight or from being left too near to a radiator, resulting in the needle skipping when I tried to play it on my turntable. That was sometime in the 1980’s and by then it was impossible to replace, being no longer available and leaving me bereft of one of my favourite Bert Jansch albums. So when the postman arrived last week with the re-released CD version it was a special treat and all other plans for that afternoon were dropped as I sat down to listen to it again after so many years. I wasn’t disappointed, it sounded just as smooth as it did in the 1970’s having been produced then by Mike Nesmith and remastered for re-release under Bert’s supervision.

© Donal Donohoe

Some albums sound timeless, impossible to pin down to a particular period and this is one of them. Comprising of ‘Fresh As A Sweet Sunday Morning’ one of his most beautiful love songs, ‘One For Jo’ one of his most well known and popular songs and ‘Chambertin’ one of his most spellbinding guitar instumentals to name just a few of the tracks, it really is a special album. Tony Stratton Smith on whose Charisma label L.A. Turnaround first appeared described it as probably one of the five best albums Charisma had ever released. I would say that it is probably one of the best five albums that Bert Jansch has ever released.