Come to Find is the first of what I hope is to be a continuing series of outstanding albums pairing producer Joe Harley of AudioQuest Music with Doug MacLeod's special gift for the blues (the second record from this series, You Can't Take My Blues, was released last year and could just as easily have been my choice.) All but two of the 11 songs here were penned by MacLeod---and there's not a weak number among them. With cuts like "Master's Plan," "Lost Something This Morning," Willie Dixon's "Bring It On Home," or the title cut, it's hard to go wrong. My favorite seems to be whichever one I'm listening to at the moment.  The project was recorded live, direct to two-track, in two days of January 1994 at Ocean Way Recording under the steady hand of Michael C. Ross, followed with mastering by Bernie Grundman. The LP portion of the project received the best of care, the late Ed Tobin handling the plating chores. Not surprisingly, the sonics are spectacular---"audiophile" music at its best, and a record I wouldn't be without. .stereophile.

 Doug MacLeod and the stories from his years of road time with the likes of Big Joe Turner and Pee Wee Crayton start to flow as easily as a brook tickled by a breeze. And you know you're getting to the good part, the climax if you will, when Doug's eyes start to twinkle, his grin grows broader and out of his mouth pop the words "Come to find ..."

 

 

 

The sparseness of the arrangements make this album admirable and draw even more attention to the music both overall and in its subtleties. It showcases brilliantly Bill Stuve's upright bass work, and for Jimi Bott, how unusually placed but effective drumbeats prove him a blues drummer deserving greater recognition. "Since I Left St. Louis" has MacLeod reflecting on his early adult years of fast life, women, and drinking, and the lessons painfully learned from those experiences. The title track is a realization that making the most out of life is better than a life of abuse, whether it be child abuse, substance abuse, or any other kind. Always a master on the harmonica, Charlie Musselwhite blows on Willie Dixon's "Bring It On Home" and the MacLeod-penned "Lost Something This Morning." A great example of Piedmont-style blues is illustrated in "Old Virginia Stomp," dedicated to mentor Ernest Banks. Backup singers Black Cherry round the album out with the uplifting gospel feel of "Ain't No Grave," which tells of the triumph of the afterlife over death.

 

Analogue Productions is now offering Doug MacLeod's Come To Find on a superior sounding 200g vinyl edition mastered from the original analog tapes by Kevin Gray and pressed at Quality Record Pressings.  Housed in a old-school gatefold jacket - thick cardboard, tip-on, with additional photos and liner notes. 

 

I wrote of acoustic folk/blues artist Doug MacLeod's performances on  Come to Find  "You'll hear a lifetime's accumulation of feelings, experiences and influences in his fingers, in his voice and in his songs...."

 

- Doug MacLeod (guitar, vocals)

- Charlie Musselwhite (harmonica)

- Bill Stuve (acoustic bass)

- Jimi Bott (drums)