Reviewed by Dougie Adam

Another great album from Larry which was never released the way it was intended! Recorded in 1977 but not released until 1981 when Larry's contract with Word was about to expire - a wait which managed to put the delays with Stonehill's 'The Sky Is Falling' and Daniel Amos' 'Horrendous Disc' in the shade. Furthermore when 'SNUTS' finally saw its belated release it was a single LP (instead of a double) and contained loose rocking rough mixes of the songs instead of the final more polished tracks. When Phydeaux later made a lyric book available to mailing list subscribers it emerged that "I Feel Like Dyin'", "Watch What You're Doing" and "Put Your Life Into His Hands" all had verses missing. And the final insult was that when Word released the project they had mastered it from safety copies rather than the original master tapes. Despite all this 'SNUTS' has gone down as another of Larry's "must have" projects from the '70s thanks in part to songs of the calibre of "Born To Be Unlucky", "Watch What You're Doing", "Leaving The Past Behind", "Put Your Life Into His Hands" and "Let That Tape Keep Rolling" and also the performances from Larry and his Solid Rock cohorts rock more than on any previous album. This CD release represents the first time the album has been mastered from the original master tapes and additionally the project has also been re-EQ'd which means there is an instantly recognisable improvement in sound quality; song after song the sound is bright, crisp, clean and punchy in a way that could not be said of all previous releases. One new track is included in the bonus track section - a long basic take of "Watch What You're Doing" which clocks in at 8:36. Without having heard how the 'Stranded In Babylon' remaster and re-EQ has gone, I would recommend that if you were of a miserly disposition and didn't want to buy all the latest remastered albums, then 'SNUTS' is the one which has the most obvious improvement in sound quality. On top of that, a great CD booklet has been produced, with lyrics included plus an outline of the overall plot of the album's storyline, and a few essays all printed over old photos of blues singers from yesteryear. In a climate when some fans are tiring of re-buying a lot of stuff they own already this remaster gets a hearty recommendation.

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