Oldies

Lookout Mountain launched their existence with a sold-out show at the Lobero. Featuring six top session musicians recruited by Steve Postell with Kip Lennon out front on vocals, their remit is songs from artists living in Laurel Canyon, outside L.A., in or around the early 1970s. What a treasure trove to choose from! They gave us faithful but not slavish renditions of the signature tunes for the Mamas & Papas, CS&N, Byrds, Jackson Browne, Buffalo Springfield, Carole King and representative works of James Taylor, Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt and Poco. Apparently the Turtles were there at the time, but “Happy Together” was a sore thumb in the folk-rock-country vibe. There were also a few turkeys, which seemed unnecessary given the many great tunes that were omitted, such as a long, noodly David Crosby song, Nicolette Larson’s It’s Gonna Take A Lot of Love and Natural Woman, included, I suspect, to remind us of the afterlife of some numbers. The nostalgia level was high, especially because both acts were introduced with a slideshow of contemporary photographs by Henry Diltz, who reminisced onstage, but the music itself carried little of the spark of the originals. Maybe they were played a little slower, maybe a little smoother, maybe it was that the musicians were more than a little older. The most fun was hearing how a song came about and anticipating what would come next. But some energy was lacking.

A few days later at the same theater I got to hear an original: Tom Rush played and sounded exactly as he did on his album from 1968, The Circle Game. His hair has gone white, his figure is stooped and I’m sure he’s shrunk, but if you closed your eyes there was no evidence of his 84 years. Nor did he seem bored at playing a song like Urge for Going that he’s been singing for more than 57 years. He seemed to enjoy his songs as much as the audience did. Especially when he played “my hit,” the Remember Song. I could have listened to him all evening. Unfortunately, he was just the opening act for Judy Collins, who is game but clearly past her sell-by date. She spared herself too much singing by telling jokes, funny but not what we came to hear. Then again, her screeching sound on familiar songs was not we came to hear either.