Hirth from Earth

A newcomer produced by Robbie Robertson: that information alone made music fans who bought imported LPs prick up their ears. Yet ‘Altogether Alone’, the celebrated opening song, is quite unlike what the sleeve suggests—wonderfully unorthodox. This was the debut of Hirth Martinez, born in Los Angeles in 1945. Robertson is joined here by fellow Band members Garth Hudson and others.

His husky voice and music grounded in the jazz and roots sounds of earlier times have something in common with Dr. John and Nilsson, but there is also an almost tipsy Captain Beefheart-like quality. Only ‘Altogether Alone’, in its singular setting of a man encountering a UFO, follows a mellow samba-flavoured line reminiscent of Chris Montez and Edmundo Ros. Other songs have a different rhythm altogether—in a good way.

Libby Titus later recorded the hidden gem ‘The Night You Took Me to Barbados in My Dreams’ on her 1977 album.