I got switched onto this album earlier in the year. It had been a while since I'd heard a truly great singer/songwriter album and when Ray Materick's 1972 album "Sidestreets" penetrated by unexpectant brain, I cried for the first time in years, such was it's magnificence. This is a true obscurity and tragically so; every song on the album is so honestly and heartfeltedly (if that's a word) performed that it turned my guts inside out and left me longing for more sincerity in a world of superficial values. The unselfishness with which the album's love songs are sang to it's recipient gave me hope that the love song in general has not died a shallow, egoistic death like I feared it had: "....but if you leave when winter's song is sung, one thing I'll never ask is why...". His voice immediately shot into my top male voices list, too, the main reason being that I believe him. This is the album of this year for me and has already brought me such an intense joy and connection to life that I am emotionally very much indebted to it. Hopefully this album will ,eventually, get the larger audience it deserves, but in the meantime, it is our amazing secret to thoroughly enjoy.
