Although Jan Akkerman had been involved in the recording of many albums before the release of
Tabernakel (with Johnny and the cellar rockers, The Hunters, Brainbox, Focus and plenty of session work) it was only his third solo album. The two solo albums that precede
Tabernakel are
Talent for Sale (known as
Guitar for Sale in the UK) and
Profile, both on EMI labels.
Talent for Sale was originally a budget album appearing on
mfp in the UK. Most of the tracks are covers and most are presented in the beat combo style accompanied mainly by Hunters band-mates Ron Bijtelaar and Sydney Wachtel (Jan's brother Cocky is credited as drummer on one track) . Sometimes orchestra and a brass section is used. The covers are taken from a variety of genres. There are instrumental versions of rhythm and blues numbers by Steve Winwood (
On the Green light) and Ray Charles (
What'd I say). Unsurprisingly there are covers of soul band Booker T and the MGs'
Slim Jenkins Place and
Green Onions. As for country, there is an instrumental version of Bobbie Gentry's
Ode to Billy Joe. From the jazz end of things comes
Bags Groove, popularised by Miles Davis in the fifties,
Mercy mercy mercy, a surprise 1967 hit for Joe Zawinul plus
Comin Home Baby, the closing track. Most left of field perhaps is
Hineimatov, a Jewish traditional, recorded by Harry Belafonte in the early sixties. There are also two self-penned tracks,
Revival of the cat and
Moonbeam. On first listen it doesn't sound anything like
Tabernakel. Nevertheless, listened to in the light of the subsequent album one notices the use of orchestration (arranged by Wim Jongbloed) and the variety of genres, typical of
Tabernakel.
If
Talent for sale is very much a late sixties album then
Profile on EMI's progressive
Harvest label is very much an early seventies thing to some extent. The original album had one long progressive piece on side one (Fresh air) and seven different tracks on the other side. Fresh Air is divided up into seven parts in the sleeve notes (Must Be My Land, Wrestling To Get Out, Back Again, The Fight, Fresh Air - Blue Notes For Listening, Water And Skies Are Telling Me and Happy Gabriel?). This is the first album with lute and so anticipates
Tabernakel to that extent. There are only two tracks - the very jolly and anonymous Kemp's Jig and Akkerman's own Minstrel/Farmer's Dance. Classical guitar is represented by an
Etude from Matteo Carcassi and
Andante Sostenuto by Antonio Diabelli (Carcassi 1792-1853 was a leading 19th Century guitarist-composer. Born in Florence, he began as a pianist but changed to guitar, beginning a concert career in Germany in 1810. He was eventually based in Paris where he died. He left nearly 100 works for guitar, all of romantic taste, brilliant and technically demanding. His Method (Op 59) is still considered among the best didactic works of 19th Century guitar masters and his etudes (Op 60) are popular. Diabelli 1781-1858 wrote
Andante Sostenuto for his
Guitar Sonata (Op 29 No 3). It is described by one aficionado as ‘almost too beautiful to be true’.) With these tracks come Akkerman's own whistful
Maybe just a dream and the upbeat but yearning
Blue boy. The final track off the album is a blues work out called
Stick. Although there is no orchestration this time, once again the mixing of genres is evident from track to track. There is a sense in which
Lammy is really a configuration of the styles found on the two sides of
Profile.
