The 1980 Listening Post - Bob Weston - Nightflight

 Reviewed by Robert Sliger

Released: April 4 1980 Bob Weston Nightlight Genre: 70’s Yacht Rock or The Dire Straits Album Dire Straits Didn't Make Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Highlights: Eye Of The Hurricane Midnight Fever (imagine ELO played by late 70s Pink Floyd) Bob Weston, who passed away in 2012 at age 64, was most famously a member of Fleetwood Mac (1972 - 1973), sharing guitar duties with the legend Bob Welch. After his sudden departure from Mac (due to his having an affair with Mick Fleetwood’s wife!), he worked as a session player around England and France before recording Nightlight in 1979. The full length was competently produced by Jimmy Page manager Allan Callan. It’s a pleasant enough album, a noodling hodgepodge of folk rock, blues, balladry and even a little calypso. Professionally rendered, the 11 tracks roll together with an easy-going stride, expertly mixing tempos and musical textures. It’s hardly demanding the way Richard and Linda Thompson’s seminal Shoot Out the Lights is, and hardly as rewarding. It’s not really a dis to say this is second-tier 70s Dire Straits, but it does somewhat limit its appeal. I can imagine Weston and Callan doing a deep dive into Dire Straits before making Nightlight. Weston’s breathy vocal delivery works well on the mellower songs like “Throw Me A Line,” “Eye Of The Hurricane,” but lacks the gravity and forcefulness needed for the more demanding “Silver Arrow,” the album’s sole single. I hear a distinct-yet-tempered Mark-Knopfler-meets-Jerry-Garcia nasal quality here. What absolutely works on Nightlight is the guitar playing. Weston is a fantastic guitarist. His playing is fluid, muscular, and melodic. Every tasty lick here (and there are MANY) sounds easy on the ear and hard to pull off. He has major Joe Walsh energy and the chops to match. Spiritually, though, his folk-blues phrasing and vocal melodies are far more akin to the previously-mentioned brit guitar god Richard Thompson, without the poetry, wry humor and smirking. He nearly matches Thompson in casual virtuosity with his approach to the disparate demands of acoustic and electric playing. The true treat of listening to Nightlight is Weston’s stellar musicianship and how he effortlessly plays both tastefully and with great command simultaneously, much like drummer Steve Gadd. On his Wikipedia page, the falling interest in English blues-rock was the reason for its failure on the charts. It’s certainly—to my ears, anyway—not the overall quality of the disc.