5 Bob Desper – New Sounds (1974)

Bob Desper is an interesting individual. Born and raised in Oregon, a childhood accident at the age of ten left Bob blind, which is believed to have had a great affect on the music Bob creates for this record, but this is mostly speculation on the part of people who have listened to the album and know the story behind the artist, as Bob himself to no one’s knowledge has confirmed this. The album itself was recorded in one day in one take, and reportedly a good chunk of the material was actually improvised on the spot, which is a testament to how talented Bob is as a musician and songwriter as there is not a single weak song here.

Musically speaking Bob’s music bears the most resemblance to the Folk movement of his day and is remarkably similar in style and tone to that of fellow cult Folk artist Jackson C Frank (who I also highly recommend checking out), but there’s hints of strangeness here and there, the phase shifted guitar of ‘Darkness Is Like A Shadow’ (the only instance such an effect is used on the record), the fact that everything is laden with reverb, and Bob’s own beautiful mastery of dynamics, going from the tiniest pin drop to the loudest strums within the space of the same song, such as on ‘It’s Too Late’ and ‘Lonely Man’. Apparently Bob crafted this album in part to help people come to terms with their inner turmoil much like he had before making this album, which is a noble and uplifting intent and translates rather well with an undercurrent of Christianity and in Bob’s own words “Togetherness” that permeates this album, such intent can be heard best on tracks like ‘Liberty’ and ‘Let It Shine For You’.

Recommended Tracks: Darkness Is Like A Shadow, It’s Too Late, To A Friend Of Mine, Liberty