Michael Chapman: "Window"

I’ve never been able to figure out why Michael Chapman didn’t get the shine and adulation enjoyed by some of his peers in the British folk-rock scene.  His albums up through the mid ‘70’s are easily the equal to anything being done by Richard Thompson or John Martyn or Nick Drake at the time, and in some ways, their obscurity and unfamiliarity makes them stand out from the crowd that much more.  Supposedly Chapman has disavowed “Window” as a hurried, unfinished project put out by his label without his approval, but it doesn’t really sound that way.  Perhaps a bit airier and jammier than his all-time masterpiece “Fully Qualified Survivor”, also from 1970, but not necessarily lesser.  The fact is, I could listen endlessly to Chapman’s laconic voice, virtuoso guitar playing, and eccentric songwriting regardless of thematic setting or lack thereof, and the unfussy, casual tone of “Window” simply adds to its overall charms.  Lots of fantastic playing from his band here, too, which includes Ritchie Dharma on drums and a pre-Steeleye Span Rick Kemp on bass, their rhythms fattened with production from a pre-Elton John Gus Dudgeon.  Those collaborators only go towards furthering the argument that Michael Chapman was ahead of his time, and severely overlooked in the narrative of the legendary folk-rock boom in the U.K.  Dig deeper.