My sister was going through her LP collection the other day and spotted these two albums (a pink one and a blue one) which she knew were mine. They are Thijs van Leer's unique 1975 solo album O my love! and the 1985 reunion album featuring van Leer and Jan Akkerman. The pictures of van Leer on the two albums tells a sad story of apparent physical decline. I hadn't really thought of O my love! in this way but with its gatefold sleeve and with Paul Buckmaster playing a role similar to that of George Flynn on Tabernakel, it can be seen as something of a reply to Akkerman's statement of the previous year. On both we have entirely solo efforts - Akkerman on Lute and van Leer on piano - as well as the expected group efforts with fine session musicians. Both albums were recorded in America - Akkerman's in New York on Atlantic and van Leer's in Los Angeles on Philips. They even both feature pictures of their wives of the time, Lammy and Roselie Peters. I love both albums but van Leer's is a rather curious one on the whole.
