1) From www.lysergia.com (by Patrick Lundborg) I've been checking out the new and rather excellent SUNBEAM record label out of England . Founded by Richard Morton Jack, who was also involved with the terrific C.O.B reissue last year, this label is recycling lost and semi-lost folk, folkrock and rock LPs from the vintage years, mainly British acts but also foreigners like soft-folkie Roger Rodier (Canada) and hippie sitarists Oriental Sunshine (Norway). One favorite in the catalog was the obscure 1969 album by Gordon Jackson, of which I have a review coming up in the next Ugly Things issue, and is recommended to fans of the great rural stoner Albion rock sound of Mighty Baby and Help Yourself.

2) From www.allmusic.com (by Richie Unterberger)

BIOGRAPHY Singer, guitarist, and drummer Gordon Jackson released a rare album for the Marmalade label in 1969, Thinking Back , that bore much similarity to records of the era by Traffic and (more distantly) Family . The resemblance wasn't casual, as several members of Traffic and Family helped out on the record, alongside other notables like Julie Driscoll and Luther Grosvenor of Spooky Tooth ; Traffic 's Dave Mason , in fact, was the producer. Thinking Back had the same sort of loose mixture of psychedelic rock with jazz, folk, and bits of soul and world music that characterized some of Traffic 's work. The material wasn't as strong or focused as Traffic 's or Family 's, but it had a nice introspective groove with haunting, minor-keyed melodies. Prior to the album, Jackson had been intimately connected with musicians in bands that evolved into Traffic , Family , and Spooky Tooth , although he never attained anything near the same recognition as those groups in his brief solo career. He'd been in the Hellions , the Birmingham group also including Mason , Grosvenor , and future Traffic percussionist Jim Capaldi , who made some flop singles for Piccadilly in the mid-1960s. After the Hellions broke up, Jackson played in Deep Feeling with Capaldi , Grosvenor , and future Family multi-instrumentalist Poli Palmer . Deep Feeling , unfortunately, never released anything, although an excellent early psychedelic track they recorded, "Pretty Colours," did eventually get released on Grosvenor 's Floodgates Anthology . Jackson was an odd man out, though, when Mason and Capaldi helped form Traffic , and little was heard from him after the 1960s despite the promise of Thinking Back .

REVIEW Gordon Jackson's only album sounds a little like a Traffic LP with a singer who isn't in the band. The similarity is really no surprise, since Traffic men Steve Winwood , Dave Mason , Jim Capaldi , and Chris Wood all played on the record, and Mason produced. Other notables with connections to the Traffic family tree or Marmalade label also appeared, including Luther Grosvenor ; Rick Grech , Jim King , and Poli Palmer of Family ; and Julie Driscoll . There's a languid, minor keyed jazz-folk-psychedelic vibe to the songs, which have a meditative, spontaneously pensive air, appealingly sung by Jackson . Touches of Indian and African music are added by occasional tabla and sitar. What keeps this from being as memorable as Traffic or some of the other better late-'60s British psychedelic acts is a certain meandering looseness to the songs that, while quite pleasant, lacks concision and focus. That was a quality also heard in the album from the same era by fellow Marmalade artist Gary Farr , Take Something With You , and while Thinking Back is better and more original than Farr 's effort, the songs are more interesting mood pieces with a yearning, mystic tone than they are outstanding compositions. At times this is like hearing psychedelic sea shanties (as on "My Ship, My Star"), such is the lilt of the tunes, though hints of blues and more playful pop-psych whimsy are heard in cuts like "Me and My Dog." [The 2005 CD reissue on Sunbeam adds lengthy historical liner notes and five bonus tracks, including the non-LP B-side "A Day at the Cottage"; a haunting, sparse home demo of "My Ship, My Star"; single mixes of "Song for Freedom" and "Sing to Me Woman"; and a long version of "Me and My Dog."]

3) from www.foxydigitalis.com (by Jeff Penczak)

Originally released on Marmalade in 1969, Jackson 's lone solo album is the initial salvo from the new UK reissue label, Sunbeam, the brainchild of Steve Carr and rock scribe Richard Morton Jack. Marketed (somewhat correctly) as a long lost Traffic album, the release was produced by Jackson's Worcester neighbour, Dave Mason and features various Traffic permutations (Mason, Chris Wood, Jim Capaldi, and Steve Winwood) throughout, with the entire quartet backing Jackson on the first single, "Me and My Dog" c/w "A Day at The Cottage," whose non-LP B-side, which is included among several bonus tracks, is a reference to Traffic's cottage in Berkshire, where blueprints for many of the album's tracks originated from all night jam sessions). The album's personnel reads like a Family tree of late 60's UK rockedelica, including future Traffic bassist, Ric Gretch, along with his then-current partners in Family, Jim King and Poli Palmer (who also played with Blossom Toes, who appear on backing vocals), Luther Grosvenor (future Spooky Tooth guitarist who later changed his name to Ariel Bender and enjoyed much fame with Mott The Hoople), Julie Driscoll, and Reg King from The Action. In fact, Jackson originally played alongside Capaldi and Mason in the primordial Traffic lineups, The Hellions and Deep Feeling, the latter also featuring Palmer and Grosvenor.

Rock history aside, the album itself is a wonderful amalgamation of jazz, psychedelia, and folk influences, with the opening track "The Journey" driven by Rob Blunt's electric sitar and Mason's throbbing basslines and "My Ship, My Star" softly drifting along the open seas like an early, acoustic version of Jethro Tull. The tearfully reflective "When You Are Small," featuring Jackson on sitar and Winwood on bass, provides the lyrical inspiration for the album's title and cover photo, a snapshot of Jackson 's pouting daughter Cherie shedding a tear. And despite some warbly playback in the transfer from the original ¼" analog master tapes, the song perfectly captures the lost yearning for youthful innocence, occasionally reminding me of the later solo work of the Moody Blues' Ray Thomas (cf., 1975's "From Mighty Oaks"). "Sing To Me Woman" features some tastefully blistering guitar solos from Mason and is included here in both album and single mixes, as is "Song For Freedom," while the extended jam version of "Me and My Dog" finds Traffic firing on all cylinders and is practically worth the price of admission alone, despite its annoying, midflight dropoff, as if the tape (or musicians) ran out of steam! Nevertheless, this is an essential purchase for Traffic and Family completists, as well as anyone interested in late 60's UK rockedelica.
Rating: 9 out of 10

4) from www.brumbeat.net (by John Woodhouse)

Although often described as a "lost Traffic album", Gordon Jackson's Thinking Back, upon closer examination, reveals itself to be something more. a highly personal collection of songs composed by a long-overlooked talent who was then at the crossroads of his career. All the songs were composed by Gordon Jackson, who sings the lead vocal and plays acoustic guitar on every track. Not only did the recordings feature Traffic members, a large number of other luminaries of the late 1960s British rock scene dropped by the studios to contribute. The Sunbeam Records issue of Gordon Jackson's Thinking Back comes attractively packaged with reproductions of the original album artwork as well as various other original photos supplied by him. The CD booklet has a detailed track listing with information about who played on what, and an informative and well-written Gordon Jackson biography by Richard Morton Jack. The audio quality is very good as copied from the original master tapes.

The album opens with a fantastic track called The Journey which I must say, could not sound more like it came from Traffic's Mr. Fantasy LP if it wasn't for Gordon Jackson's distinctive vocal. The recording has all the trademarks of that great psychedelic Traffic sound complete with tabla, sitar and eastern influences but with a wonderful melody that makes you want to play it over and over again. The song even received airplay on John Peel's "Top Gear" and would have made a fine single release. This is followed by My Ship, My Star which is a slow and beautiful track featuring acoustic guitar and piano. Possibly the most vividly personal song on the album, Gordon Jackson's plaintive vocal comes close to cracking on this one which only adds to the fragile and atmospheric depth of the recording. most of the tracks on this album have that feeling of spontaneous energy and a sense that all involved were having a great time recording it.

I must admit to playing this album many times in the weeks before writing this review but with every play there was (and still is) something else new to be found. It's unfortunate that Gordon Jackson's career as a musician was cut short, as his songwriting showed much originality... Thinking Back is certainly worth exploring for fans of the late 1960's British pop/psychedelic/rock scene. For fans of Traffic, need I say more - just dive right in!

5) From www.ilpopolodelblues.com (by Giulia Nuti)

Gordon Jackson's rare and beautiful album dates from 1969, and is now released on CD for the first time by Sunbeam Records. Though it's by Gordon Jackson, however, it can also be considered a lost Traffic LP. It was originally released on Giorgio Gomelsky's Marmalade label, but barely got to the shops. Jackson already knew Gomelsky from his previous band, Deep Feeling, which should have released an album, but couldn't because Jim Capaldi left half way through the sessions to join Traffic. Suspended between rock and folk (with comparisons to Traffic extending to the songwriting) Thinking Back is an astonishing record, and not only because of the music's beauty. Above all it is notable for the big names that participated on it, among whom are Traffic (Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Dave Mason (who also produced it) and Chris Wood), as well as Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger, Rich Grech, Jim King, Robbie Blunt and others - a bunch of friends who simply turned up at the recording studio and began to play, with no rehearsal. The album also has value from this point of view, as an attractive statement of the musical spirit of the period.

6) From www.justaddnoise.com For fans of Traffic, this is an eluvise missing piece to their collection that is finally widely available. Not that it's a Traffic album, but Gordon Jackson's 1969 album features all of the members including Jim Capaldi on drums and Dave Mason on bass (or slide or electric guitar) throughout. Steve Winwood (on bass and piano) and Chris Wood (on flutes and sax) appear on various tracks as well. Other notable collaborators include Jim King and Ric Grech of Family (soprano sax and bass), Julie Driscoll, The Blossom Toes, Meic Stevens, Reg King (backing vocals) and many others who all contribute to the well developed and rich jazz and world music flavored folk.