Dave Mason (1946-2026)

 

By SoDak

I first stumbled across Dave Mason’s Alone Together (1970) in the late 1970s when flipping through records in a shop. I paused looking at the strange, rather ugly, cover of a man in a top hat standing against a desert cliff. For two decades, I repeated this activity, whenever in a record store, wondering who the fuck is Dave Mason? But I never gave this more thought, except each time I saw the record. In the late 1990s, a neighbor was throwing out a stack of old records with the trash, so I asked if I could take them. There ended up being five Dave Mason records among the sixty slabs of vinyl. Given that I was about to move across the country, I did not spin these records until a few years later. When I finally got around to checking them out, one of the first songs that I heard was “We Just Disagree.” Holy shit, I thought, I know this classic song, but I have never known who sang it. Then there was “Let It Go, Let It Flow,” which I also knew. I am a sucker for 1970s, melodic rock. So, again, I asked, who the fuck is Dave Mason? I found out he was the guitar player and occasional singer in Traffic, a band that I never devoted much attention to, except for a few songs. I suppose that I should have known this, but I did not know anyone who was a Traffic fan—I still don’t. After listening to three Dave Mason records, I was completely hooked by the time I played to his first solo release, Alone Together, the one with him in front of the cliff. It opens with “Only You Know and I Know,” which has catchy strumming acoustic guitars with electric guitar accents. Released at the start of the 1970s, this record consists of a great mix of folk-rock and blues. Dave Mason plays some great guitar solos throughout the record. “Shouldn’t Have Took More Than You Gave” has a nice psychedelic vibe incorporated into the song. But the song that really floors me every time is “Sad and Deep as You.” Accompanying Dave Mason’s acoustic guitar is Leon Russell on piano; the combination is hauntingly beautiful, providing the perfect set up for the soothing vocal delivery. The lyrics are simple, recounting lips, a smile, eyes, and tears that “tell a story, as sad and deep as you.” The simplicity hits the heart, and I sink into the beauty of the song, appreciative of those who craft such songs.