Highly regarded sideman for Free, The Who, Bob Marley, Johnny Nash and Eric Burdon – to name but a few – it’s often forgotten that exiled Texan Rabbit released two albums under his own name during his time at Island. By his own admission little more than a collection of demos (albeit later mixed at Muscle Shoals), 1973’s Broken Arrows featured guest appearances from Tetsu, Snuffy Walden, Rebop Kwaku, Jim Capaldi and Simon Kirke, along with whoever else was hanging around at the time.
It’s 1974 follow-up was recorded at a variety of locations, including Sweden (where Rabbit found himself working on a film soundtrack with Johnny Nash), LA and Electric Ladyland Studios. Dark Saloon is by some way the bigger-sounding and more ambitious of the two. Taken together, however, both add up to the roots of a solo career that never really got the chance to run, thanks to Rabbit’s continuing popularity as both a session player and a sideman. Proof if it were needed that popularity can sometimes get in the way of hard-nosed commercial success.
