Artist:   John Hammond
Song:   "As The Years Go Passing By"
Album: Source Point
Label:   Acadia
Year:    1971

John Hammond has the touch, going all the way back to his first albums in the early ‘60s on Vanguard Records. He was a bluesman through and through, even while his wealthy father was the most revered talent scout in the music business. Hammond always stood on his own ground, and never got any favors. He worked with The Band before they were The Band, and had an unerring sense of righteousness when it came to choosing material. For Source Point, his Columbia debut in 1971, he stripped his sound down to Charles "Honeyboy" Otis on drums and Billy Nichols on bass, and recorded what many still feel is the best album of his life. Since Hammond wasn't really a songwriter then, he had to use an impeccable musical radar in his choice of covers, and on "As the Years Go Passing By," hit the bulls-eye. The ballad is gorgeous, overflowing with the emotions of someone who sees the future and knows the world of hurt waiting outside the door. Hammond's guitar, with just the right touch of tremolo, is like a second voice, never overplaying but pushing the song right through the skin. Every note is etched in tears, while Otis' snare nails down the beat like he's building a coffin. But what really puts this one into the ozone is John Hammond's voice. The sweetness is like a defense against total collapse, and by the end there is nothing to do but admit defeat; it's all over but the crying. Now if we could just figure out the album cover: a huge honey bee captured in a large ice cube on the side of a mountain under a stormy sky. Say what?