Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2019 13:11:03 GMT -5
As the title says, what's a great obscure album or hit single made by a band that disappeared from public view immediately after?
I think the most famous mainsteam example is The Spiral Starecase with More Today Than Yesterday. (I really like their cover of "This Guy's in Love With You" too, but that doesn't get a lot of attention.)
But, as a fan of that beautiful '65-'75 period, I'm familiar with a lot more which most people haven't heard of. Too many to name here. Besides the obvious (the USA), I'd recommend ID Music by the Third Rail, The Smoke, Just a Poke by Sweet Smoke and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.
But probably my favorite of this category (though not necessarily my favorite overall album) is Genesis by Wendy and Bonnie. I make that distinction because even though I consider USA and JaP to be better albums, I think Genesis falling through the cracks represents a bigger loss. Plus, those two albums are at least decently well known by collectors where Genesis is still pretty unknown by my estimation. It's just two young women who had insane talent but got screwed over by the record company going under. Among other things, they were all set to go on TV and demo their songs but the deal fell through when the record company went bankrupt. The album was completely unknown until the 2000s when it was rediscovered, and since then Wendy has performed it onstage and released new music (Bonnie has sadly passed away.)
Something about that robbed potential of promising young talent, and Bonnie missing out on the vindication just adds to the tragedy and mystique of the record. The sisters sang and arranged all the songs and they were still in their teens. If they had hit it big, as they deserved to, they could have been the next Wilson brothers perhaps. However, with the way things turned out, we'll never know. Here's a cute photo of Wendy I found googling the album.
On its own aesthetic merits, Genesis is a gem. It's got a folk rock style, and the sparse overdubs makes it sound like something your sisters could play in the family room with no corrupting studio/corporate interference. Especially when you hear some of the demos left off the final cut (including a version of Eleanor Rigby) these songs feel genuine as opposed to appealing to a mass audience, following the trends or trying to be deep.
When I first heard it I was alone in my school apartment late at night, near a window looking out over the cityscape. It made me feel as though I'd dug through someone's closet and found something personal they never expected anyone else to see. It spoke to how lonely I felt in those days (I wasn't dating my girlfriend yet and since I graduated late, almost all my college friends had moved away long before). I was often up late at night (I have bad insomnia) with nothing to do, so I'd go out at ~3 AM for food at the local 24/7 convenience store. I could relate to this music which had been ignored in its own time...or at least that's how I felt.
Anyway, on the album proper, my favorite tracks are "Let Yourself Go Another Time," "The Paisley Window Pane" and of course "By the Sea."
Here's some cool blog articles about it, HERE and HERE.
I think the most famous mainsteam example is The Spiral Starecase with More Today Than Yesterday. (I really like their cover of "This Guy's in Love With You" too, but that doesn't get a lot of attention.)
But, as a fan of that beautiful '65-'75 period, I'm familiar with a lot more which most people haven't heard of. Too many to name here. Besides the obvious (the USA), I'd recommend ID Music by the Third Rail, The Smoke, Just a Poke by Sweet Smoke and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.
But probably my favorite of this category (though not necessarily my favorite overall album) is Genesis by Wendy and Bonnie. I make that distinction because even though I consider USA and JaP to be better albums, I think Genesis falling through the cracks represents a bigger loss. Plus, those two albums are at least decently well known by collectors where Genesis is still pretty unknown by my estimation. It's just two young women who had insane talent but got screwed over by the record company going under. Among other things, they were all set to go on TV and demo their songs but the deal fell through when the record company went bankrupt. The album was completely unknown until the 2000s when it was rediscovered, and since then Wendy has performed it onstage and released new music (Bonnie has sadly passed away.)
Something about that robbed potential of promising young talent, and Bonnie missing out on the vindication just adds to the tragedy and mystique of the record. The sisters sang and arranged all the songs and they were still in their teens. If they had hit it big, as they deserved to, they could have been the next Wilson brothers perhaps. However, with the way things turned out, we'll never know. Here's a cute photo of Wendy I found googling the album.
On its own aesthetic merits, Genesis is a gem. It's got a folk rock style, and the sparse overdubs makes it sound like something your sisters could play in the family room with no corrupting studio/corporate interference. Especially when you hear some of the demos left off the final cut (including a version of Eleanor Rigby) these songs feel genuine as opposed to appealing to a mass audience, following the trends or trying to be deep.
When I first heard it I was alone in my school apartment late at night, near a window looking out over the cityscape. It made me feel as though I'd dug through someone's closet and found something personal they never expected anyone else to see. It spoke to how lonely I felt in those days (I wasn't dating my girlfriend yet and since I graduated late, almost all my college friends had moved away long before). I was often up late at night (I have bad insomnia) with nothing to do, so I'd go out at ~3 AM for food at the local 24/7 convenience store. I could relate to this music which had been ignored in its own time...or at least that's how I felt.
Anyway, on the album proper, my favorite tracks are "Let Yourself Go Another Time," "The Paisley Window Pane" and of course "By the Sea."
Here's some cool blog articles about it, HERE and HERE.
