We continue our look back at the music of 50 years ago…..
It shoulda been better. Combine two parts Mountain and one part Cream and you should have had a power trio that delivered an album that hit differently. “Why Dontcha” from West, Bruce & Laing is not that album.
Yeah, you get Leslie West’s solid guitar licks and Corky Laing’s pounding drums. And yeah, you get Jack Bruce playing some inventive bass lines but still laying down a solid bottom…but the sum toal seems less than what it’s various parts should have delivered.
As one critic wrote, there is nothing here to replicate Mississippi Queen or Sunshine Of Your Love. Their record label did them no favors by not really promoting this with as much hype as other projects featuring lesser lights.
For me, the best cuts are the title track which rocks along nicely. Also, “The Doctor” which received some FM radio play, ‘Third Degree”, an old Willie Dixon blues number, “Pleasure” and “Love Is Worth The Blues”.
I love West’s guitar playing, but this just seems like a trio thrown together for the hell of it. It could have been more.
