Reviewed by Tony Cummings

Desert Plains are two Methodist youth workers from Southport, Mark Sumner (vocals, guitar) and Nigel Mawdsley (bass). Despite the fact that three of the 11 songs here are demo-quality home recordings there is some excellent playing and composing ideas here. Highlights for me were "Janis", an intriguing song about Janis Joplin and the hard rocking opener "Son Of Mary". As the recordings span a couple of years not surprisingly the quality is variable but there's clearly talent in the raw with plenty of mainstream rock influences but enough creative focus for Desert Plains to find their own sound.

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