Grinderswitch - Honest To Goodness (Reissue) (1974/1994)

Grinderswitch's debut album starts off well enough with the Dickey Betts-driven "Kiss the Blues Goodbye," which makes for a riveting introduction. Nothing else here really matches its tightness or excitement, and the songwriting isn't up to the standard that the group would reach over the next couple of years. There's decent playing throughout, but apart from the opener, "Homebound" is the only track off the original album that begins to demonstrate Grinderswitch's potential, Dru Lombar's soulful voice finally finding a vehicle through which he can express himself properly. That, and a live bonus track ("You're So Fine"), are more representative of this band than most of the rest of this early effort.