Ian Matthews - Some Days You Eat The Bear (1974)

Ian Matthews is an English singer-songwriter.

Some Days You Eat The Bear (or to give its full title, Some Days You Eat The Bear And Some Days The Bear Eats You) was Ian Matthews second solo album on Elektra Records since moving to California. It was another excellent, solid country-rock offering. As usual he including some interesting cover songs, here featuring his own versions of Tom Waits' "Ol' 55", Danny Whitten's "I Don't Want To Talk About It", Gene Clark's "Tried So Hard" and Steely Dan's "Dirty Work", plus songs by Pete Dello and Jesse Winchester. It also featured some good originals - one of these, "Keep On Sailing", was actually a re-recording, as another version had already featured on his last album.

The album got a good critical reception, but saw no real commercial success, and so unfortunately he was subsequently dropped by Elektra.

Valley Hi (1973) <|> Go For Broke (1975)
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Ian Matthews - Valley Hi (1973)

Ian Matthews is an English singer-songwriter.

Plainsong broke up in 1973, their second album incomplete and unreleased. Ian Matthews stayed with Elektra Records for his solo career, and moved to California. His next album was produced by Michael Nesmith, who since leaving The Monkees had been pursuing a similar country-rock direction to Matthews. As usual for an Ian Matthews album, it featured a good selection of covers interpersed with a few originals and a traditional song. The highlights were without a doubt the stunning covers of Steve Young's "Seven Bridges Road" and Jackson Browne's "These Days". Also featured were songs by Richard Thompson, Randy Newman and Don Gibson. Among the backing musicians there were appearances from famed steel guitarist Red Rhodes and fiddler Byron Berline.

Journeys From Gospel Oak (1972) <|> Some Days You Eat The Bear (1974)
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Ian Matthews - Journeys From Gospel Oak (1972)

Not released until 1974 
Ian Matthews is an English singer-songwriter.

In 1972 Ian Matthews formed the band Plainsong. However he still owed another solo album to Vertigo Records, so went to the studio and quickly put together a collection of mostly cover songs. He handed it over to Vertigo, and then put all his attention into the Plainsong project.

Vertigo didn't release it, but he was freed from his contract (the Plainsong album came out on Elektra). The album later surfaced in 1974 on the Mooncrest label. Though the story behind its recording suggested it could have ended up sounding rushed and uninspired, the result was actually a pleasant surprise. Journeys From Gospel Oak turned out to be a great collection of songs all arranged in Matthews' distinctive style. The covers were all American in origin, songs written by Gene Clark, Mickey Newbury, Tim Hardin, Paul Siebel, Jimmy Webb, Glen D. Hardin, Merle Haggard... The highlight was a great version of the country-soul classic "Do Right Woman, Do Rigth Man" by Dan Penn and Chips Moman. The album was finished off by two good original songs. Instrumental backing came from guitarists Jerry Donahue and Andy Roberts (the latter a member of Plainsong), bassist Pat Donaldson and drummer Timi Donald.

Tigers Will Survive (1971) <|> Valley Hi (1973)
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Ian Matthews - Tigers Will Survive (1971)

Ian Matthews is an English singer-songwriter.

Tigers Will Survive was Ian Matthews' second solo album of 1971, after the breakup of Matthews' Southern Comfort. It continued in the same delicate Anglo-American folk-rock style he had made his own, with both originals and covers. The covers included numbers originally by Moby Grape, Eric Andersen, Pete Carr, Richard Fariña, and most surprising of all, an acapella rendition of Phil Spector's 1963 pop hit "Da Doo Ron Ron" (originally recorded by The Crystals). Instrumental backing came from a large cast which included English rock band Quiver (guitarists Tim Renwick and Cal Batchelor, bassist Bruce Thomas and drummer John Wilson), plus a guest apperance from his old Fairport Convention bandmate Richard Thompson (on both guitar and accordion).

If You Saw Thro' My Eyes (1971) <|> Journeys From Gospel Oak (1972)
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Ian Matthews - If You Saw Thro' My Eyes (1971)

Ian Matthews is an English singer-songwriter.

If You Saw Thro' My Eyes was Ian Matthews' fourth album after leaving Fairport Convention - technically it was his second solo record, as the other two had seen him fronting his band Matthews' Southern Comfort. Like its predecessors it comprised of delicate folk-rock, for the first time featuring mostly original songs, though it notably featured two fantastic Richard Fariña covers ("Reno, Nevada" he had also recorded years before when with Fairport). Instrumental backing came from guitarists Tim Renwick, Andy Roberts and his old bandmate Richard Thompson, bassist Pat Donaldson, keyboardist Keith Tippett and drummer Gerry Conway. Another notable contributor was Sandy Denny, whom he performed a stunning duet with on the title track.

Later That Same Year (1970) <|> Tigers Will Survive (1971)
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Matthews' Southern Comfort - Later That Same Year (1970)

Matthews' Southern Comfort was a short-lived folk-rock band fronted by English singer-songwriter Ian Matthews.

Later That Same Year was Ian Matthews' third album, and second to be released under the group name Mattews' Southern Comfort. It was a continuation of the mellow country-rock sound he had developed since leaving Fairport Convention, with both strong original songs and covers of material by artists including Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Jesse Winchester. His guitarist Carl Barnwell also contributed two songs.
If Later That Same Year could have been considered his best album yet by that point, it actually showed it with a good dose of commercial success, something Matthews has generally not seen too much of throughout his career. Their cover of Joni Mitchell's "Woodstock" was released as a single, and became a #1 hit in the UK.

Second Spring (1969) <|
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Matthews' Southern Comfort - Second Spring (1969)

Matthews' Southern Comfort was a short-lived folk-rock band fronted by English singer-songwriter Ian Matthews.

Ian Matthews' second album after leaving Fairport Convention was released under the name Matthews' Southern Comfort, rather than as a solo artist. This was originally the title of his first album, and subsequently became the name of his band. They toured together for a couple of years to great acclaim. Stylistically, Second Spring followed much the same formula as its predecessor, with a gentle country-rock sound flavoured here and there by touches of English folk. The actual Matthews' Southern Comfort Band backing him consisted of Carl Barnwell (guitar), Mark Griffiths (guitar), Gordon Huntley (pedal steel), Andy Leigh (bass) and Ray Duffy (drums). Most of the songs were Matthews originals, but it also had fine cover versions of James Taylor's "Something In The Way She Moves" and Sylvia Tyson's "Southern Comfort".

|> Later That Same Year (1970)
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Ian Matthews - Matthews' Southern Comfort (1969)

Ian Matthews is an English singer-songwriter.

Matthews was originally the lead vocalist for English folk-rock band Fairport Convention. Their first album, where his presence was most prominent, was heavily influenced by American folk-rock. By the time of What We Did On Our Holidays, his singing partner Judy Dyble had been replaced by Sandy Denny, a much stronger presence in the band, and Matthews' role had diminished. He had left by the time of their third album as they moved towards traditional English folk music.
When he started his career as a solo singer-songwriter, as was expected he further explored the American side of folk-rock that Fairport were themselves moving away from. Matthews' Southern Comfort could be seen as a one of the first glimpses of the American country-rock movement to appear in Britain. The American flavours were found in the arrangements and instrumentation, rather than any phony persona put on by Matthews - he managed to fuse his country-rock stylistic preferences with his own gentle, fragile vocals to produce a unique sound. Songs were written by both Matthews and co-producer Steve Barlby, and among the musicians backing him were pedal steel guitarist Gordon Huntley, ex-bandmates Simon Nicol, Richard Thompson and Ashley Hutchings (Thompson also gave him the song "A Commercial Propostion") and drummer Gerry Conway (who would also play with Sandy Denny's Fotheringay, and join Fairport himself in 1998).

|> Second Spring (1969)
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