man i love opal so much, and strongly prefer the early/ clay allison stuff to 'happy nightmare' though it's def. good.
somehow and very weirdly with 'chemical imbalance' i managed to release two covers called "indian summer" --one the opal cover of the doors song, the other dean wareham's first solo release and a version of the beat happening song. (to further complicate things, later sonic boom covered dean's version thinking it was dean's song).
anyway, i hope to release the opal track in the best-of ci book/ cd out next year though i'm not holding my breath that roback and smith will okay that, even though the project is a benefit... we'll see.
― Mike McGooney-gal, Friday, 7 September 2007 01:46 (sixteen years ago) link
The ERII boot is pretty good and worth a moderate hassle to track down. There's a FLAC version circulating around on the torrent sites. Try tracking it down there first. I am also biased in this opinion.
I believe that the source of these was originally a cassette tape of unused tracks that would have made up some of the second Opal album. Roback sings most of them.
― Elvis Telecom, Friday, 7 September 2007 01:54 (sixteen years ago) link
I must have this collection. (I think late summer is also good Opal listening weather in the gloaming -- will put it on in a bit here.)
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 7 September 2007 02:04 (sixteen years ago) link
early recordings 2 is kinda disappointing, but "sailing boats" is a great song, i'd love to hear a decent quality version of it. (early recordings is one of my top 5 albums ever)
― zappi, Friday, 7 September 2007 02:12 (sixteen years ago) link
Bob Standard very OTM.
― inhibitionist, Friday, 7 September 2007 05:44 (sixteen years ago) link
i managed to get hold of the UK pressing of fell from the sun with 'frieght train' on it. great song, if not quite at the level of the a-side.
i love opal, and my ER cd sits next to my DAW as my reference disc of what an amazing recording sounds like
― electricsound, Friday, 7 September 2007 08:09 (sixteen years ago) link
has anyone heard beachouse? they capture that spooky early recordings sound pretty well. so when and what label did this volume 2 emerge? when do the recordings date from? is it post hnb?
― cw, Friday, 7 September 2007 09:44 (sixteen years ago) link
theres no official release, just low quality mp3s. its pretty much all the demo stuff left off early recordings, and with two or three exceptions (sailing boats, what you've done, vespers maybe) i think the compilers of the official album made the right choices.
― zappi, Friday, 7 September 2007 09:58 (sixteen years ago) link
do you like the kendra smith solo stuff joni? i ain't never heard it.
― cw, Friday, 7 September 2007 10:00 (sixteen years ago) link
i love the guild 10", but i found the songs on the 4ad album lacking, although she did a cracking version of richard & mimi farinas "bold marauder". email me your address & i'll send ya some stuff if ya want.
― zappi, Friday, 7 September 2007 10:04 (sixteen years ago) link
ta joni. what's that farinas stuff like? i haven't heard a note but i like been down so long it looks like up to me, is it straight ahead folkie fayre?
― cw, Friday, 7 September 2007 10:14 (sixteen years ago) link
yeh pretty much straight folk with boy/girl harmony singing on first album, second album is more dylan-like with guitars & drums. its all good though! j has been hassling me to read that book for years now.
― zappi, Friday, 7 September 2007 10:22 (sixteen years ago) link
it's funny, a bit kerouac-y, you get the feeling he had better in him, i'll keep an eye out for those r & m rekkids!
― cw, Friday, 7 September 2007 10:29 (sixteen years ago) link
Early II is a bootleg of B-sides that was put together on a music blog with handy downloadable cover art included. (I'll try to track down which it was later.) It was never released even as legitimate bootleg cd, so some "entrepreneur" is basically taking the mp3s from the music blog, making cds from them and then selling them on ebay.
― Bill in Chicago, Friday, 7 September 2007 15:24 (sixteen years ago) link
Youtube comes through. Hope singing for Opal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZSt4fpJwck
― Spencer Chow, Monday, 22 October 2007 04:52 (sixteen years ago) link
You can find Early Recordings II on this website, hXXp://xholdesert.blogspot.com/, look in the March archives, Rainy Day is also there. The best tracks were indeed kept for the official release, but finding this collection of unreleased songs today makes me happy beyond words. "Sailing boat" is a beauty, and Kendra's voice on the Leonard Cohen cover "Sisters of mercy" is at its honey sweetest.
― catessence, Wednesday, 24 October 2007 15:13 (sixteen years ago) link
a bump to mention that a really great clay allison live show from 1984 just popped up recently on dime, as well as a 1987 opal show which i haven't listened to yet. the clay allison show makes me wish there was much more documented from them from this era. from the notes of the person who posted it, it seems there's more to come as well.
― city worker, Thursday, 30 April 2009 13:06 (fifteen years ago) link
ooooooooooooooooh! thanks for the tip
― zappi, Thursday, 30 April 2009 13:34 (fifteen years ago) link
if anyone's interested i just posted a 1984 opal show here: http://ow.ly/4tAZq probably the same one city worker mentions above? anyway, it's great.
― tylerw, Tuesday, 5 April 2011 16:12 (thirteen years ago) link
grazie!
― Marco Damiani, Tuesday, 5 April 2011 16:15 (thirteen years ago) link
CD80 mix upthread needs more Rain Parade but no idea what i'd remove :/
― hey ilxor, thanks for contributing, glad you stopped by (ilxor), Tuesday, 5 April 2011 16:18 (thirteen years ago) link
i'd remove all the mazzy star (i like 'em, but..)
― ita butthurt (electricsound), Wednesday, 6 April 2011 01:26 (thirteen years ago) link
re-upped this with a better link -- track order was all out of wack.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 6 April 2011 15:45 (thirteen years ago) link
weird, there's a vinyl bootleg of that 1984 clay allison gig floating around: http://www.discogs.com/Clay-Allison-Live-At-The-Electric-Banana-5221984/release/5456137anyone got it?
― tylerw, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 15:19 (eight years ago) link
I have this. My wife is a major Kendra fan so I bought this for her for her birthday last year. Sound quality a solid B, and the songs / performances sound terrific. Cool cover art, too, not very bootleg-y. Definitely worth the plunge.
― Jimmywine Dyspeptic, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 15:59 (eight years ago) link
yeah, i've heard the tape previously -- pretty cool performance (and fairly different from Early Recordings in some respects, if i remember correctly. some pretty heavy moments).
― tylerw, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 16:01 (eight years ago) link
yep, if it's not too pricey, I'd get one... I got it as a gift and agree with Jimmywine's assessment!
― erry red flag (f. hazel), Wednesday, 25 November 2015 16:01 (eight years ago) link
I need to look and see if that was one of the shows that came up on Dime a few years back, there were a bunch. If it's the one I'm thinking of, it is pretty great.
― sleeve, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 16:02 (eight years ago) link
pretty sure it's the one i posted upthread a few years ago (link is dead however)
― tylerw, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 16:09 (eight years ago) link
Re that Early Recordings II bootleg, Matt Piucci found out about it earlier this year and was really pissed off as a couple of the songs are apparently not Opal songs at all but are I guess Rain Parade demos or just Matt P solo, and he was somehow under the impression that David Roback was responsible for putting it out!
― Just noise and screaming and no musical value at all. (Colonel Poo), Wednesday, 25 November 2015 16:20 (eight years ago) link
weird! what an odd career roback has made for himself. still seems crazy that the opal stuff hasn't been collected/reissued properly.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 16:39 (eight years ago) link
agreed, just madness
― sleeve, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 16:39 (eight years ago) link
numero group putting out a deeeluxe box set w/ early recordings + happy nightmare, plus live & unreleased action (hopefully not matt piucci solo demos, haha) ... i would buy it.
― tylerw, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 16:53 (eight years ago) link
that is so weird about Early Recordings II, I'll have to give that a closer listen
― sleeve, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 16:59 (eight years ago) link
that version of "indian summer" on ERII -- so good. though this one w/ hope is very good too... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1wnAsSB71M
― tylerw, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 17:02 (eight years ago) link
so that LP is not one of the 4 shows I have, another thing to add to the list. when looking, I also found this tragically lost item with three more early songs that have never appeared anywhere afaict:
http://www.discogs.com/Clay-Allison-Clay-Allison/release/7679417
― sleeve, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 23:16 (eight years ago) link
oops, they are on Early Recordings II, carry on
― sleeve, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 23:17 (eight years ago) link
gahhhh compilation tracks and ephemera I was not aware of
a Syd Barrett cover!!! some song called "Ghost Highway" from a Rough Trade promo tape?!?!
https://www.discogs.com/artist/158032-Opal-2?filter_anv=0&subtype=Compilations&type=Appearances
― the 'major tom guy' (sleeve), Monday, 22 February 2016 22:29 (eight years ago) link
yeah, found that barrett cover on youtube a little while agohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFV4geZ-IHApretty good! didn't know about "ghost highway" -- the same song that mazzy star did?
― tylerw, Monday, 22 February 2016 22:36 (eight years ago) link
it might just be that track, yeah
― the 'major tom guy' (sleeve), Monday, 22 February 2016 22:41 (eight years ago) link
OPAL - 1987, Sept.17, Live VIDEO, w. Kendra Smith singing, San Diego, SST Records Fest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd8g6AROi18
― sleeve, Monday, 15 July 2019 16:25 (four years ago) link
nice!
― tylerw, Monday, 15 July 2019 16:35 (four years ago) link
Wow!
― ( X '____' )/ (zappi), Monday, 15 July 2019 17:02 (four years ago) link
holy shit I was at that gig!
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 15 July 2019 21:16 (four years ago) link
too bad the mic was right next to Suki's foldback! What a great find.
― an incoherent crustacean (MatthewK), Monday, 15 July 2019 22:52 (four years ago) link
Before this event took place, SST had scheduled a festival in the L.A. area with Sonic Youth headlining but it fell through, so instead they held this festival on the steps of the main gym at UC San Diego, with Opal headlining.
I remember this, a free, all day thing at the Santa Fe dam in Irwindale! My friend and I drove out there only to find it had been cancelled.
― nickn, Tuesday, 16 July 2019 03:25 (four years ago) link
"Fell From the Sun" has to be one of the top ten songs in the universe.
― je est un autre, l'enfer c'est les autres (alex in mainhattan), Tuesday, 16 July 2019 09:48 (four years ago) link
in case anyone missed it, Kendra Smith recorded a song for the Leave No Trace soundtrack last year and it's amazing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnoME6cyi_U
― the girl from spirea x (f. hazel), Tuesday, 16 July 2019 14:04 (four years ago) link
^^^^
― sleeve, Tuesday, 16 July 2019 14:17 (four years ago) link
It looks like 'Early Recordings' is being reissued November 1 on a label called Salley Gardens. Salley Gardens Publishing is listed on every Mazzy Star release.
― Spencer Chow, Thursday, 3 October 2019 16:03 (four years ago) link
My copies from this eBay overstock place arrived, I wanted the Happy Nightmare Baby reissue to go along with the Early Recordings one I was lucky enough to get from Amazon before sales were halted. So I've got a spare copy of Early Recordings... anyone want it (for what I paid for it, an admittedly steep $36)?
― Jaime Pressly and America (f. hazel), Wednesday, 2 November 2022 21:20 (one year ago) link
I'm a little late in asking, but can anyone share FLAC files for the Opal 'Early Recordings' remaster on Salley Gardens? Seems to be out of reach now.
― makvirag, Sunday, 1 January 2023 15:38 (one year ago) link
yeah I got u
does your ilxmail work?
― sleeve, Sunday, 1 January 2023 15:58 (one year ago) link
Thanks, sleeve! I am new to this forum and don't have an ilxmail account. Is there another way?
― makvirag, Sunday, 1 January 2023 16:37 (one year ago) link
if the email you used to sign up is valid, I can send it to you!
― sleeve, Sunday, 1 January 2023 16:43 (one year ago) link
basically ilxmail send a blind message (no return email) to the account you used to register
― sleeve, Sunday, 1 January 2023 16:44 (one year ago) link
otherwise, you can click on my username link and send your email to me via ilxmail
― sleeve, Sunday, 1 January 2023 16:45 (one year ago) link
Dynamite, got it! Am listening to it now and what a treasure this set is. I still have the vinyl from '89. Could never let it go somehow, even when I really needed the money. I would just look at the cover and go, "no, not this one." The extra tracks are stellar and the sound is vivid...the songs really have a sound and a feel out of time; could have been released 47 years ago or yesterday. Thanks and Happy New Year to you!
― makvirag, Sunday, 1 January 2023 18:50 (one year ago) link
<3
― sleeve, Sunday, 1 January 2023 20:13 (one year ago) link