Sweeney's Men were reduced to a duo on their second album, with the departure of
Andy Irvine. Actually, their music got more interesting, in large part because it featured mostly original material (often by
Terry Woods) rather than old folk standbys. The music, while still folk and not folk-rock, took on a more personal, moody, and bluesy hue. "Dreams for Me" and "When You Don't Care" don't sound too different from some of
Tim Hardin's work, with a bit of a British Isles slant. "Afterthoughts," with its unusual acoustic guitar sustain, was troubled yet subdued British singer/songwriter folk, putting
Woods into the same company as
Roy Harper,
Ralph McTell, and others, without being derivative of those composers. There were still some numbers that were in the standard traditional folk vein, like the instrumental "The Pipe on the Hob" and "Pretty Polly," surely one of the most over-covered folk standards ever. At its best, it's quality, though minor, somber, late-'60s British Isles folk; at its less impressive, it's routine traditional stuff. The record was reissued on a 2000 CD that combines it with their first album,
Sweeney's Men, in addition to tagging on a 1967 track from a non-LP single.
–
Richie Unterberger, Rovi