Better Than The Beatles? Dept. - Susanna Hoffs

Nothing encourages visits to Th' IoF© more than "Beatles" in a headline! Running a close second is a picture of Susanna Hoffs [above - Ed.], so I'm expecting to break an internet with this one! Why do I resort to such ignoble flim-flammery? Because if Mac Gayden's name was the hook for this piece, hardly anyone would bite. Mac's been on th' Isle© before, but he has a new album which I nearly missed, so that's a good reason for another FoamFeature© dedicated to his unique genius. Especially as the album's better than I expected (after the disappointmink of his previous, Nirvana Blues). The new one's called Come Along, and here's what it looks like:

 

Sweet cover, right? Already you're feeling good about it, and the music is well up to the expectations it sets, recognisably by the same guy who made that beautiful string of albums all those years ago. His signature guitar playing is all over it - and there's not that many players you can name after just a few notes. The songs are no embarrassment, a few are even gawjuss, and the whole thing hangs together as a proper core album. Yay!

Flashback fifty-two freakin' years to that lost first album, McGavock Gayden.

 

It really is lost, too - at least the tapes are, which is why it's never had a CD release, although Mac issued a CDR needledrop a while back. Produced by Bob Johnston in Nashville '73 and issued only in the UK [we're, like, WTF? - Ed.], you'd now pay up to a couple or three hunnerd bucks for a copy, which is probably more than the album made on release. Seriously. It disappeared from the shelves before it reached them. Unlike many impossible-to-hear "lost classics", McGavock Gayden is just that, a brilliant, exploratory, and beautiful piece of work that puts him in a different league to the denim-clad horde of singer-songwriters of the time. The Freeload™ contains a slightly crackly but entirely listenable needledrop @192, which is how I got it (where, I forget). Individual tracks are scattered across YewChewb, maybe at better quality, so if you want to assemble the entire album from there, good hunting and good luck! And if there's anyone out there with the keys to SoulSuck, you might want to check if they're clutching a better version to their ample bosom, and sneak out a copy for the common good. Please and thank you!

Freeload® contains everything he's released under his own name. Those who clicked for the Fabs and La Hoffs won't be disappointed. And if they are, fuck 'em.

This post funded in part by the Amalgamated Albuquerque, Azusa And Amarillo Armadillo, Aardvark, Anteater, And Albino Alpaca Appreciation Association (AAAAAAAAAAAAAA). My thanks to "Tufty" Schnorblatz.