Customer Reviews

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Simply a perfect debut of an already fully formed artist. Impressive are his set of songs, his soulful singing, the simple and effective arrangements and Hardin's ease to blend in jazz and blues influences.

By the time of this 1966 release, Hardin had transformed himself almost fully from an average blues singer to a stellar folk artist. Failed sessions for Columbia found him re-signed to Verve for which he recorded this commercial debut. The album mixes spare demo takes with more fully produced tracks that feature tasteful strings. Hardin was apparently unhappy about the inclusion of both the unfinished tracks, which showed how his blues roots were translating into folk rock, and the overdubbing, which added a polish that elevated these tracks beyond a singer-songwriter sitting on a stool. The opening "Don't Make Promises" found favor with a surprising range of other artists, including Bobby Darin (who later had a hit with Hardin's "If I Were a Carpenter), Helen Reddy, Three Dog Night and Paul Weller. Even more famous is "Reason to Believe," which became a hit for Rod Stewart. The rest of the album lives up to these standards, with small combos backing Hardin's jazz-tinged vocals. Tim Hardin 1 has been packaged here as straight-up reissue, but it's also been available as a two-fer with its followup, and as part of the complete Hang on to a Dream: The Verve Recordings. 4-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings. [©2009 hyperbolium dot com]

Whether you are a folk music afficionado or not, a music collection is incomplete without this album. Tim Hardin was inhabited by the Muse. When he hit his stride, music flowed out of him as it did out of Bob Dylan during the same era. Songs on this album alone - Reason to Believe, If I Were a Carpenter, Misty Roses and others - are classics that have been covered by top performing artists for decades. The Muse grew in Tim and eventually overtook him as he succumbed to the needle. After a few years of living with his heroin habit, he finally made an appearance at the Newport Folk Festival. As he took the stage he looked at the audience and said "You may think I'm here because I love music. I'm not. I'm here because I have a $200-a-day habit." Soon after, he overdosed and died. Such was the final tragedy. In Tim's case, it did not diminish the beauty of the unadorned presentations he did of his masterpieces or the impact that they had on generations of singers since.