I found this one in a guy’s closet and paid a couple dollars for it. It smells a lot like ladies’ cigarettes. 1974 album on Axe Records by Canadian songwriter and member of A Passing Fancy, Time Has Told Me is a mellow acoustic folk-rock record. The kind of thing you’d expect to come from Canada in a post-Young era where musicians yearned to forge their own path in the folk scene. This one has some more rocking numbers, like “Anything More Than Your Smile,” some darker moments (“Doldrum”) and even one song that sounds like big band or dixie jazz (“Ms ‘N You”).
Telfer was originally a member of A Passing Fancy, a Toronto band who had some minor hits (on Canadian charts) in the late ’60s, and eventually faded into obscurity. One-time bandmember Fergus Hambleton started Axe Records, which released Time Has Tied Me in 1974. Soon after, Telfer moved to Los Angeles and became a writer (duh). He wrote a movie script and then moved back to Toronto, where he continued writing for TV. In in the ’90s he reportedly re-released many of the songs from Time Has Tied Me along with live performances, and he currently publishes/edits an antique collector’s magazine called “The Wayback Times”.
*The more you know*
I don’t know if the title of this record is a play on the Nick Drake song “Time Has Told Me,” of his first album, Five Leaves Left. It’d be interesting if it was, because it would make Telfer a lot cooler than he sounds on this album. Still, Telfer has to get some credit for pun-ny song titles like, “Suite One”, “Ms. ‘N You” and “No Piece In Quiet.” With plays-on-words like those, we’d gladly accept him into the Obscure References family whenever Jay desires!
Jay Telfer
Time Has Tied Me
MegaUpload DL Link
Tracklist:
01. Anything More Than Your Smile
02. Yellow Hair
03. Ms. ‘N You
04. Rich Man’s Son
05. Doldrum
06. Time Has Tied Me
07. Suite One
08. Hydro Bill
09. Ten Pound Note
10. No Peace In Quiet
