Laurie Styvers is a mystery. How she arrived in Swinging London™ in the late 'sixties is a mystery. We know she answered a press ad to join acid-folk group Justine, and album producer Hugh Murphy became her boyfriend, and that he produced her two solo albums, picked up by Warners back in the U.S. All of this in three years.
And we know that preening crapweasel Robert Christgau did what he could to end her career (and maybe her life) with this "review":
"Normally, I ignore records as rightfully obscure as this one, but ... just how many L.A. airheads can we
stand? Styvers is the kind of person who makes me like junkies—you know,
the baby you want to steal candy from, so trite and pretty-poo in her
fashionably troubled adolescence that you [he means I - Ed.] hope she chokes on her own
money. Oh shut up, Laurie."
No, you shut the fuck up, Bob. Next thing we know is that Laurie Styvers disappeared, and died, an alcoholic, back in the states in 1997. Over twenty years missing in action. I'm guessing she didn't "choke on her own money" as Christgau hoped. The review - more an outpouring of bitter bile from some poisoned interior well - is plain wrong on so many levels, not least factually. L.A.? Airhead? Trite? Adolescent? You'll note he doesn't mention the music. Which is beautiful, in the confessional singer-songwriter manner.
She would have been better served in L.A. - Hugh Murphy did well, but the production sounds like London, not the Left Coast. There's a difference. She wrote some fine songs, put her heart and soul into the music, and deserved better.If you can add anything at all to the scant internet knowledge about the Colorado Kid, leave a comment.
... or if you'd like to hear the music, leave a comment.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to hear the music. And I'd like to unread the Christgau review ... but we can't have everything.
ReplyDeleteAlan
DeleteHere's the music. "The Colorado Kid" files were compressed by somebody else before I found them - don't blame me for the lower quality!
If anyone has better rips that they want to loadup, please do. She deserves as good as we can get.
I'd very much like to hear these. Also, while I like reading Christgau I rarely agree with him. He's the first to say that he's an AM guy and mistrusts FM thinking (how's that for a vintage metaphor?).
ReplyDeleteLink's in my comment above. Christgau can be entertaining, in a precious, bitchy way, but his grading system is schoolmarmy, and at his worst, as here, he can do real damage.
DeleteThanks Farq!
ReplyDeleteI saw Laurie in the early 70's at one of the Bleecker Street joints (Kenny's Castaways or Back Fence Bar or The Bitter End). Also, I vaguely remember her touring and opening for a major act, in larger (2,000 - 3,000) seat rooms, but I can't remember who it was.
ReplyDeleteShe had some stiff competition on FM radio from Joni, Carly, Laura, Judy, Carole, Joan etc. etc., and no "hit single". Not unlike Karen Dalton, Rosalie Sorrels and Mima Farina.
Christgau is an asshat.
Early 'seventies was Peak Singer-Songwriter, and most didn't make it past an album or two - male and female. But she deserves to be remembered for more than being a Christgau victim. The albums are fine, and under different circumstances she might have had that radio play. There are some first-rate songs here. And she has that quarter-century unaccounted for. I've found some comments on old blogs from people who knew her, and I'm trying to contact them.
DeleteAgreed.
DeleteI'm more than interested to hear what you can uncover about her.
I fear her music is destined to stay in the guilty pleasure bin.
DeleteA story to be told.
I'm lucky not to have any "guilty pleasures". I either enjoy music (or anything else) or not. I enjoy this because it's tuneful, well-played pop music. That's good enough for me. "Guilty" implies some sense of admitting to doing wrong, and liking this music is only wrong according to somebody else's taste parameters - what you're "supposed" or "allowed" to enjoy. Doesn't mean I like any old shit. I can't listen to Abba with any pleasure at all, or dozens of other acts, but I won't put this down because it's "hippy chick songwriter". The songs are damn good, and far from anodyne.
DeleteYou are lucky not to have guilty pleasures. They are, after all, self-imposed. I feel that way about some Bee Gees stuff.
DeleteThanks to EasilyConfused for the FLAC version.
Two sentence reviews and a letter grade was a good gimmick, but didn't leave much room for convincing me the NYC-centric crap he gravitated to by the late 70's was worth my time. Thanks for the chance to hear Laurie. If I don't care much for the music, I'll just enjoy the pictures a while.
ReplyDeleteHere's The Colorado Kid in FLAC;
ReplyDeletehttps://workupload.com/file/MHqckSz4yHr
Thank you very much!
DeleteThanks!
DeleteShe looks like an old (and she'd be old now as I am) girl friend. Now all those memories good and bad have been dragged up. I'll listen to the tunes later today.
ReplyDeleteShe looks like half the girls I went to high school with.
DeleteI really thought I was the only person that remembered her. Stuck in a UK boarding school miles from anywhere Spilt Milk & Colorado Kid were a great comfort although everyone else hated them cos they weren't Led Zep. And she was SO pretty. I'm going to dig out the LPs but thanks for digital versions. Made my day that has !!
ReplyDeleteIn JKC's immortal words: "Christgau is an asshat" and I enjoyed your kicking him to the curb. When he published his Record Guide in the 1990 I seem to recall him having to re-grade a bunch of great post-punk music he dismissed at the time (e.g. bands that weren't from NY). Thanks for the setting the record straight, errr cassette tape tight? Bits back into bytes? Not sure what the correct metaphor is but I ain't never seen a "straight" record before -- they were always round in my day.
ReplyDelete