Rich Man 1972 Album

Climax Blues Band

Despite the somewhat scuzzy album cover this album for CBB shows the band going in a more mainstream direction. To these ears, CBB has toned down the ugliness that marked their earlier works and that is not a good development. Overall, it feels like the band is cutting a cleaned-up take on a Ten Years After record from the same time frame. The opening tracks on both sides, for me, are the best and brightest works, with the title track functioning as a decent anti-war, class commentary piece. “Shake Your Love”, meanwhile, shows off their love for all things Bo Diddley, but it’s fun while it’s on. The rest of the first side veers to well-played but pedestrian blues (“You Make Me Sick”) and/or folk-rock (“Mole on the Dole”). There is a bit more depth to the tracks on the second side, including a throwback with the last song (the weary-sounding “Don’t you Mind People Grinning in Your Face”), but on the whole, there is nothing special about any of this. Weirdly enough – despite the jazzy and fun cover – pretty much this is a disappointing step back from the disturbing depths the previous albums explored. It is, in the very least, listenable on the average.