Help Yourself: Strange Affair (1972)

Reaching back into the catacombs of my collection, here's Help Yourself, a '70s band out of London that's kinda tough to pigeonhole. They came out of the same British pub rock scene as Brinsley Schwarz, and share some commonalities with the early Brinsley sound -- an odd blend of Americana (part circa-1970 Grateful Dead, part Laurel Canyon singer-songwriters/CSN) and R&B-tinged rock and a bit of prog. Kind of a British Little Feat, thinking generously.

This, their second album, shines when they s...