William Truckaway - Breakaway (Reissue) (1971/2016)

After leaving the Sopwith Camel singer/songwriter William Truckaway recorded one of the great lost singles of the early '70s, "Bluegreens." It is an insanely catchy ditty built around a chunky synthesizer and simple hippy-dippy sentiments with a multi-tracked Truckaway and the Stovall Sisters providing some truly blissed-out vocals. It was enough of a hit that Taco Bell used it for an ad campaign and it got Truckaway an album deal with Reprise. Breakaway, which contains "Bluegreens," was released in 1971 and it is a wonderfully sweet and mellow album from a guy who sings like he could charm the leaves off the trees in the summertime. The album has a relaxed and easygoing sound with plenty of gentle strumming and tender vocalizing but also inventive arrangements (synths, sitars, congas, flutes, strings, backing vocals) that give his thoughts about getting out of the city ("Hard," "Cold City Life"), going slow ("I Go Slow"), finding Jesus ("Leave It There") and love lost ("Where's My Baby") and found ("Way to My Heart," "Be the One") -- an extra punch that many of his contemporaries lacked. You could compare Truckaway without much of a stretch to John Sebastian, since the Sopwith Camel and the Lovin' Spoonful shared a sound and a producer (Erik Jacobsen, who also fulfills those duties with Truckaway here). Breakaway isn't a lost classic by any means but it is a satisfying and interesting listen that deserves to be reissued outside of Japan.