1972's HEADKEEPER is a bit of an oddity, in that the first side is all-new studio tracks and side two is live tracks culminating in a lengthy jam on Mason's best-known Traffic composition, "Feelin' Alright." Supposedly, Mason was so furious that his label, Blue Thumb, released what he considered a half-completed album that he left the label. Bit of a shame if that's true, because the half-studio, half-live dichotomy of HEADKEEPER makes it one of the most interesting albums in his solo career. Later Dave Mason albums tended a bit too far to the slickly perfect, but the warts and all quality of these live tracks gives them an immediacy largely lacking from an album like LET IT FLOW. It also doesn't hurt that "Pearly Queen" and "Just A Song" in particular are fantastic songs. of the studio tracks, the plaintive "A Heartache, A Shadow, A Lifetime" is a beauty.