Once In a Blue Moon

iTunes Review

Often compared to a young Rod Stewart (both were Scottish and raspy), Frankie Miller started off experimenting with rootsy genres like country, blues, rockabilly, and soul. So landing Brinsley Schwartz as the backing band for his 1973 debut album, Once in a Blue Moon, made perfect sense. “You Don't Need to Laugh” opens sounding a little like Long Player–era Faces, as Miller croons and wails his weathered inflections over bluesy electric guitars, folky acoustic six-strings, old-fashioned saloon piano, and female backing singers. The following soul ballad “I Can’t Change It” impressed Ray Charles enough that he covered it on his 1980 album Brother Ray Is at It Again. You can really hear the Brinsleys’ signature sound surface in the boogie-rock strut of “Candlelight Sonata in F Major” and the harmonious twang-rock of “In No Resistance.” Though most of these songs are Miller’s, he gives Bob Dylan’s “Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues” a deep country-rock flavor, while Willie Dixon’s “I’m Ready” gets a slow, boozy swagger.