Tim Hardin - Tim Hardin 4 (1969)

Tim Hardin was an American singer-songwriter.

In 1969 Tim Hardin left his record label, Verve. They were obviously keen to get some more releases out of him though, as they got hold of some unreleased demos and put them out as Tim Hardin 4. These recordings reportedly date back to 1964, before he was signed to Verve, so maybe came from his brief stay with Columbia Records, which didn't result in anything at the time. Back then he was performing in more of a folk-blues style, so Tim Hardin 4 was very different to the albums that came before and immediately after. Interestingly a similar album of unused blues demos (1967's This Is Tim Hardin) had come out on Atco. The Atco album had featured solo acoustic performances, but Tim Hardin 4 saw him playing electric guitar backed by a small band (mostly just bass and drums). The songs themselves were mostly originals, along with Willie Dixon's "Seventh Son", Bo Diddley's "Bo Diddley" and the traditional "House Of The Rising Sun". "Airmobile", though credited to Hardin, was clearly a thinly-veiled cover of Chuck Berry's "You Can't Catch Me".

Though it didn't in any way represent where Hardin was at as an artist in 1969, it turned out to be a fine album. Verve's desire to milk as much product out of him as possible after he had left them led to a greatest hits collection the same year. Meanwhile, he re-signed with Columbia.

Tim Hardin 3: Live In Concert (1968) <|> Suite For Susan Moore (1969)
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