Looks at Life is singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist John Hartford's debut album. It essentially set the pattern for all of his RCA albums over the next four years: a combination of dry wit and superb musicianship, delivered with a warm conversational baritone. This, along with the next five albums, were repackaged in three "twofer" CDs on BMG's Camden Deluxe label in 2002, immediately following his death.
Music critic Richie Unterberger, writing for Allmusic, wrote "Though occasional songs skirted commercial country-pop ("Like Unto a Mockingbird," "Minus the Woman") and novelty tunes ("I Shoulda Wore My Birthday Suit" and the kazoo-laden "Jack's in the Sack"), usually they fell somewhere between the normal and the silly. It wasn't quite as good as the best of his subsequent RCA albums of the late '60s and early '70s, though, as the melodies weren't quite as strong and the production not as elaborate. "The Tall Tall Grass" does give a hint of what was to come..."[1]
