Eric Andersen - 'Bout Changes 'n' Things (1966)

'Bout Changes 'n' Things is an album by folk singer Eric Andersen, released in 1966.

On his second album, Andersen took considerable strides toward finding his own voice as a writer, and establishing himself as a noted singer/songwriter. The record featured several songs that would endure among his most renowned compositions.

The pretty "Violets of Dawn" was an obvious candidate for a hit record if it was given a folk-rock arrangement, though it never was a hit, in spite of several artists trying. "Thirsty Boots," inspired by the '60s civil rights movement, is one of the better known social commentary folk tunes of the period, although it wasn't that typical of Andersen's repertoire. "Close the Door Lightly When You Go" was one of Andersen's best bittersweet romantic tunes, and covered to good effect by Fairport Convention and the Dillards. At other points, Andersen still sounded a good deal like early Bob Dylan, but on the whole he was outgrowing that early persona, nonetheless often sounding like a gentler and more romantic counterpart to Dylan, with a more conventionally pretty voice.

While Debbie Green added second guitar to a couple of songs and Harvey Brooks played electric bass on a couple of others, the album was otherwise just Andersen with his guitar and harmonica, which in 1966 was becoming an old-fashioned way of doing things among contemporary songwriters. Perhaps for that reason, the entire album was redone with electric arrangements and resequenced (although with the exact same 12 songs), and the results were released as Andersen's next album, "'Bout Changes & Things Take Two".                

Tracklist:

1. "Violets of Dawn" – 3:50
2. "The Girl I Love" – 3:00
3. "That's All Right Mama" (Arthur Crudup) – 2:28
4. "Thirsty Boots" – 5:55
5. "The Hustler" – 4:02
6. "Cross Your Mind" – 4:57
7. "I Shall Go Unbounded" – 6:14
8. "Champion at Keeping Them Rolling" (Ewan MacColl, Traditional) – 2:43
9. "Hey Babe, Have You Been Cheatin'" – 3:08
10. "Blind Fiddler" – 5:12
11. "Close the Door Lightly When You Go" – 3:30
12. "My Land Is a Good Land" – 2:58

Eric Andersen - 'Bout Changes 'n' Things (1966)
(192 kbps, cover art included)