MICHAEL CHAPMAN - 50

Hailed as the great English musician's first “American” record, “50” also commemorates, in its very title, a career milestone that speaks volumes about the artistic stature of this still-underrated Yorkshire troubadour. Produced by Steve Gunn, who together with his circle of collaborators is the true deus ex machina behind the whole operation (just listen to the way the opening “A Spanish Incident” unfolds), the album features both new songs and rather obscure reworkings from Chapman's back catalogue, making this release his first with a full band in quite some time.

Granted, this is a record that shows its age, with songwriting that's decidedly cumbersome and somewhat halting, which the band tries to revive through a series of collective flourishes that pay heartfelt, cultured tribute to the folk-rock of this “survivor.” The collaborators' respect for Chapman's music comes through in the class of the arrangements, always polished to a shine and never overdone, as on the Laurel Canyon-esque “The Mallard,” or the outlaw country of “Money Trouble.”

The rediscovery of a musical and expressive sensibility is perhaps, in itself, the true value of this “50” — a celebration that's anything but dusty (though perhaps a touch too modern in the suburban arrangement of “Falling From Grace,” yet always earthy and right “on point,” as in the scrappy southern-gothic stomp of “Sometimes You Drive”), heartfelt tribute to an English folk legend who absolutely deserves a place alongside the artists he started out with, Roy Harper and John Martyn.

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02/02/2017