Consumer Guide Album

Phoebe Snow: Phoebe Snow [Shelter, 1974]
This woman's languorous, swaying folk-jazz fusion is striking enough to suggest that her debut LP will become some sort of cult item. And it's better than most cult items. But her groove does not quite carry cuts as protracted as "It Must Be Sunday." Nor is it an encouraging sign that the most commercial lyric on a verbally distinguished album, "Poetry Man," is also the most fatuous. The plus is for encouragement, and for the graceful way her voice combines nasality and smoothness. B+