From Good Times To Hard Times To The Worst Times Of All - The Craig Smith Story

You need wiki for this. Really. It's a heartbreaking story and I would bust into sobs if I recounted it in detail here. Mike Stax (Ugly Things supremo) had his part to play - wotta guy - and wrote a book about it. Broad strokes, then - take a deep breath; Craig was a bright and likeable kid groomed for stardom. That's him in the Good Time Singers - I'm guessing front n' center on the cover. They win a regular spot on The Andy Williams Show, cut an album, and break up when they're not invited back for the new season. Uh oh.

Craig starts his own band The Penny Arkade, writes some pop hits (the Monkees' Salesman is his), and gets an album produced by Nesmith which gets shelved. Uh oh. And then things start to go badly wrong. He gets involved with the Manson Family, goes on an L.S.D. diet to lose weight, friends, and his mind, makes the trip to the Mystic East, gets beat up/raped in Kandahar, thrown into an Afghan insane asylum ... oh jeez.

Back in the U.S.A., he's damaged goods. He cuts a couple of wigged-out solo albums as Maitreya Kali, attacks his Mom, gets institutionalized, and dies homeless and broke and insane. His family don't collect his ashes. Mike Stax does. The Penny Arkade album (eventually rescued by Sundazed with their usual respect and attention to detail) is psych-pop just short of greatness, even if it's obvious that Nesmith had yet to learn his way around the studio. These guys deserved better luck - but not even a lottery win could have saved Craig Smith from his life, and his lonely, fucked-up death.

Note: the album sleeves aren't shown in chronological order because new blogger layout interface.