Dreams of Syndication Dept. - Part Uno

Toothsome Kendra Smith on electric microphone, hunky Steve Wynn on electric guitar, moody Steve Suchilon on electric bass, flamboyant Russ Tolman on electric guitar, and pusillanimous Gavin Blair on electrically amplified drums. Together they are The Suspects, and this is what they sounded like in 1979, probably. You should know who these dudes are, but here's some screed what I stole from discogs® to clue in the clueless:

"Even before the Los Angeles-based Paisley Underground took shape, the Sacramento/Davis area of Northern California was an early focus of Paisley Underground bands and musicians, some of whom later moved to Los Angeles. The Suspects were a Davis-based predecessor to Dream Syndicate, formed in 1979 by guitarist Steve Wynn and bassist Kendra Smith (who were both disc jockeys at college radio station KDVS at the time), with Russ Tolman on rhythm guitar and Gavin Blair on drums. They released one single in 1979, and performed in the Davis area through 1981. When Wynn and Smith left for Los Angeles in 1981 and formed Dream Syndicate, Tolman and Blair remained in Davis and started up True West."

There's, like, a total of like, literally, like, literally thirteen minutes of music here. It's fun and it's bowel-crimpingly rare and I'm betting you don't gots!

This post funded in part by Dave's Famous Old Guy Underpants© out of Pismo Beach, CA. "Cut slack and high waisted, the way you like 'em! Now available in these five popular colorways - Off-Off-White, Damp Sack, Marine Mold, Yellowish, and classic Nose Paste. Ask to see our Pre-Stain™ range for the doubly incontinent!"

Obscure Delights Dept. - Boulevard Of Broken Dreams Orchestra

And yes, this is the vinyl cover. You can be too obscure! 

"I had this on vinyl, back in the day" and have searched for it fruitlessly, and vegetablelessly, ever since. It's hard to even search for on line, unless you love Green Day.

So this is my request to you - if you have it, or know somebody who does, please do me - and just about everybody else - a big favour and upload it!

discogs

Thanking you in advance.

Mac Gayden

 

Mac Gayden died last year. There was always something otherworldly about him, and now he's gone there ahead of us. He could bring out the exotic, the otherness, in a banjo. Listen to the opening instrumental, Queen Anne's Lace. In his hands it was the primeval instrument, as natural as birdsong, a long way from the hootenanny. Then it's Rising Sun, haunted by his slide playing, his voice straight from the heart, and the wordless ooohs that shiver your nerve endings. There's textures in Mac's music you don't hear anywhere else, that impossibly yearning guitar, and his distinctive voice, the leap into falsetto that carries you with it.

McGavock Gayden is an insanely rare album. Recorded in Nashville, only released in the UK. They did it proud with a nice and suitably enigmatic gatefold, but it barely made the shelves before being forgotten. I think Mac made it briefly available as a CDROM, but it never got a re-release, somebody lost the tapes. Brilliantly produced - layer upon layer - by Bob Johnston, it sounds like a heavenly host, but it's mostly just him, some help with backing vox, and Kenny Buttrey on drums. Look it up on Allmusic if you want to see the impact it made.

It's been on th' IoF© before, but only in a crackly vinyl rip, the best anybody could find at that point. So when my pal Andy sent me this pristine rip, it was like hearing the album for the first time. It's not lots of things; not Americana, not folk, not country and/or western, not rock or folk-rock, not prog, nor any other file-under. Songs stretch out and wander where they will, regardless of market potential. It's a very long album, fifty minutes, with no hint of a hit single, and not a note wasted.

He'd make two other superb albums in the seventies, before ducking out of whatever spotlight managed to find him, a respected session guitarist and performer. But it's those three albums, McGavock Gayden, Skyboat, and Hymn To The Seeker, that'll find new fans as long as there's music in the air and hearts to hear it.

Pass it around.

Thanks to Andy!

Susanna Hoffs Gets "Girl Boner" Boosting Low-Performing Zombies Post!

"I'm, like, the Zombies biggest fan!" Gushed pert n' pouting Susanna Hoffs, yesterday! "Just thinking of Colin Blunstone's oh-so-husky voice causes my lady garden to moisten!"

She was delighted to act as clickbait for an underperforming post featuring a significant upgrade to what the cognoscenti are already calling yet another fucking fan playlist. "I think what you've done is simply magnificent, Farq! It must come as a crushing disappointment that nobody gives a bag of possum farts! Why - you're crying! Let Susikins comfort her big boy!" [tape runs out - Ed.]

This [left - Ed] is a rethink of an album featured here a couple of times. A reshuffle, cuts, and surgical razorblade edits. Voilà. This is as sweet as I can make it. If the mood or the production didn't quite fit, it didn't make the cut. The album runs a little short, eleven songs, but better that than too long, a common failing of this type of exercise. This is consistent quality all the way through, with no compromises in the name of completeness or "authenticity". You, apparently, don't give a bag of possum farts.

You can play this right after Odessey & Oracle and you will not be disappointed! [Ri-i-ght, like that's gonna happen - Ed.]

A note about the title: I mis-spelled Iliad to mirror the mis-spelling of Odyssey. That's the kind of granular detail I put into these exclusive audio initiatives. Pearls before swine!

Perfect Pop Now! Dept. - The Lemon Twigs

Cleveland Jeff has a nice write-up of the new Lemon Twigs album, which had mysteriously passed me by. However, after spending a frustrating week-end going blind trying to find a StealthLink© over at Like Dancing About Architecture, I decided to make the album available to th' Four Or Five Guys© in a special edition. Why is it special? Because, like last time, I've gone the extra yard for them and replaced their dull, stoopid cover with something that doesn't look like an Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark album. I like to think the new design [above - Ed.] taps into that whole Saturday Morning TV vibe.

Their previous album [left, whoopsie, I mean, like, above - Ed.] got a drooling review here, which I can't now find. Perhaps I dreamed it? So here it is again, for possibly the first time! They're both absolutely primo First Tier harmony pop albums, with incredibly hooky songs, sparkling production, and I can't recommend them too highly, and now they have great covers, they get the coveted Perfect Ten award!

You certainly won't regret downloading today's Deliverables O' Excellence™!

THIS JUST IN!

From 2020, and surprisingly fun.

And here they are, four guys who aren't the Beach Boys, live, no overdubs, doing the impossible, and doing it well:

This post fluffed and folded by Lucy Lastic's Laundromax de Luxe©, LA