First Album

Personnel: Roger Morris (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano); Tommy Eyre (acoustic guitar, piano, organ); John Weider (electric guitar, fiddle); Keith West (electric guitar); Glen Campbell (pedal steel guitar); DeLisle Harper (strings); Chris Mercer, Johnny Almond (saxophone); Bruce Rowlands, Terry Stannard, Rod Coombes (drums).Recording information: Command Studios, London (1971).Photographer: Gerard Kelly.Roger Morris' obscure First Album was part of a low-key country-roots rock movement in Britain in the early '70s -- Brinsley Schwarz being its most notable exponents -- that led to (and could be considered an early part of) the pub rock genre. The Band was a big influence on roots rock and pub rock, but even if you subscribe to the theory that there's no better way to start than by paying tribute to the masters, the Band's influence on this record is so obvious and inescapable that it starts to sound like an actual tribute album. It's not as alarmingly imitative as it might hav