New Riders Of The Purple Sage - Oh What a Mighty Time (CD, Imported)

By the time of this, their sixth album, the New Riders of the Purple Sage had deteriorated to the point of recording novelty songs like "I Heard You've Been Layin' My Old Lady" and aging standards like "La Bamba." They managed to talk old friend Jerry Garcia into sitting in on a few songs, but that was no indication that they were back at the level of their first album. Rather, Oh, What a Mighty Time sounded like the work of a competent Marin County bar band, which is pretty much what the New Riders were by this time. The album, their worst seller thus far, was their last for Columbia Records. ~ William Ruhlmann