Consumer Guide Album

Mary McCaslin: Old Friends [Philo, 1977]
Side two begins brilliantly, seguing from "My World Is Empty Without You" to "The Wayward Wind," two unjustly forgotten chestnuts from disparate traditions that are freshened immeasurably by McCaslin's eccentric, exacting mountain style. But "Blackbird," which leads to a charming "Don't Fence Me In," has been overrecorded, and the finale--the title cut and sole original--is flat. Side one's three highlights are nice enough, but "Oklahoma Hills" doesn't live up to Arlo's, much less Woody's, and "Pinball Wizard" is a weird, brave mistake. In short, the interpreter's dilemma--attagirl, but no cigar. B+