Can we talk about early-mid70s West Coast post-psych/pop/rock/folk-rock/country-rock?

that new wayfaring strangers comp is fannnntastic. you'd think the bottom of the barrel would be scraped by this point, but it is pretty much all killer no filler.

I will check that Cosmic American Music out, thanks for the encouragement. Haven't heard the most recent prev. releases in the Wayfaring Strangers series, but the first two, Ladies From The Canyon and Guitar Soli are certainly worth hearing.
As for the John David Souther expanded reissues mentioned above, the self-titled debut has at least a couple decent tracks as is, and maybe some still-promising raw material, but funny that he says he consciously avoided making records like those of his friends, cos it certainly keeps coming back to the scrawny early Eagles-y template, especially vocally, and the hired help don't get much to do. Though the bonus solo demos are actually kind of better, minus the flimsy filigree, and he digs at his close-mic acoustic guitar (got mab hands).
Black Rose sounds better from the get-go, with some supple, percussive rhythm guitar on "Banging My Head Against The Moon," where he's even got a certain wryness in the warning of the latest shift from self-pity to prowliness. And the overall flower-shirted imagery gets a break from terser phrasing, like the opening of track 2 "If you've got crying eyes/Bring 'em along." That one makes good use of Linda Ronstadt, who starts firing up the chorus, and gets a heated response from JDS--no way is he gonna let his ol' lady steal this---one of several songs he def outsings Don, Glenn, and his imitative debut self. He opens the live solo performance of "Faithless Love" by admitting he can't top her version, but this 'un turns out pretty well. The studio version's okay too, brings its own breathing room, compared to the production of some other tracks.

Speaking of the production, it can seem too subdued, but, although "Silver Blue" goes on a bit, does have some of the same breathing room/ spare clarity as "Faithless Love, " at least in the way it spotlights Souther's voice and Stanley Clarke's double bass.

Joe Walsh and Waddy Wachtel are back in there somewhere, and yes I hear you, Croz and Garfunkel, Don and Glenn, not too terribly much though, and did I mention prowlienss yes, reminding me that "Midnight Prowl" is the car tape bait, bringing Lowell George and Donald Byrd into one for the fans of Little Feat and Steely Dan. "Doors Swing Open" starts like it's going to be a relatively wimpy follow-up, but, although it doesn't ever swing, it does build its own kind of momentum. Then the title track has plenty yachty verve, the bonus "Border Town" gossips and tsk-tsks naughty events, with a pre-Mellen hippity strum.
Overall it's not that great, but several keepers even for non-specialists.

not mab hands, MAN HANDS.

Well alright! Souther describes Home By Dawn as an 80s rockabilly album, which it really isn't---past the opening title track, which is a coked-up married-guy-rompabilly scenario, not too far from Glen's "Party Town," "The Heat Is On" lyrically, music more like Kenny's "Footloose"---but the 80s-salute-the-50s bit usually works out in more or differently appealing ways: lyrics are mostly reassuring--- representing a truly steady boyfriend, who has largely outgrown elaborately sentimental/horndawg self-involvement tendencies of the 70s reissues--and musically, the rompabilly is quickly followed by the Everlys-esque soulful jangle-glide "Go Ahead and Rain," the urgently calling-Buddy-Holly (with dang near motorik or anyway speedy rhythm guitar)"Say You Will", which is also a real good duet with Ronstadt. Then the released version of more like a standard 80s-soundtrack piano ballad, "I'll Take Care of You," unpretentious but seems like it really needs Ronstadt--'til the demo, just him and the piano, works out fine. "Night" and another one (blanking on the title) could still be good for the Bangles and vice-versa (ditto "Go Ahead and Rain"), "Bad News Travels Fast" is propelled by his thin, tuneful voice at its strongest, also Mellenchords at their sternest.
Best bonus tracks are "Little Girl Blue, " which here seems like Souther-as-Holly at apex, but is actually Rodgers & Hart (Joplin did it her way; JDS might've learned something from that), and the original"Pretty Girls All Over The World," which is droll and prowly, also with the jazzy tinge of his more recent albums, and brings us back to the 50s just enough, as it grows a slight Elvoid quiver in the vocals, and a doo-wop shuffle in the backing.
The sound is def Big 80s (especially re the drums, always played by JDS) but dialed back just a bit in discreet remastering, and there are no synths, no sax, no shoulderpads (well maybe a couple).
This reissue demanded and rewarded my attention much more consistently than the first two.

"Mellenchords at their sternest": like the durr, durr in "Jack and Diane, " epitome-wise.

this has been destroying me lately: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley%27s_Barn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ClS5_wyt-c&list=RD7ClS5_wyt-c

that new wayfaring strangers comp is fannnntastic. you'd think the bottom of the barrel would be scraped by this point, but it is pretty much all killer no filler.

― tylerw, Wednesday, February 17, 2016 7:56 AM (2 weeks ago)

yes

Anybody know any current stuff that mines this vein successfully? I was listening to the album The Ornament by Gold Leaves and a lot of it nails the weary grandeur, the sense of looking west past the canyon over the ocean as the sun sets.

Does anyone have a digital version of Sandy Harless - Songs they could share with me?

Oh wow I actually didn't realize Numero Group was selling the entire record... dammit google. Maybe it was there and I missed it on the first search attempt.

This album is so good. On a certain level it's like the Cass McCombs album I always wanted.

scott briefly mentioned Heads Hands & Feet way upthread, but their earlier incarnation as Poet and the One Man Band fits this thread better and is my most enjoyable discovery of the year, thank you WFMU.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Vz54oqdtbE
Plus the American pressing has cool hot dog themed artwork
http://thumbs3.picclick.com/d/l400/pict/371712510574_/POET-AND-THE-ONE-MAN-BAND-s-t-LP.jpg
http://disk-market.sakura.ne.jp/jk/2L-04416a.jpg

the song about how the singer's feelings have been hurt (it's called Now You've Hurt My Feelings) is pretty lame though.

Think we mentioned some relatively recent(this century) Michael Nesmith tours, somewhere upthread---anyway he's reportedly now reforming the or a National Band (after The First and Second), so Aquarium Drunkard is celebrating with this mixtape: https://aquariumdrunkard.com/2018/01/18/the-grand-ennui-michael-nesmith-1970-1975-a-mixtape/
Have not yet made it through Hillman's The Asylum Years, but will give it another shot. Some nice tracks on the new one, especially "Walk Right Back," one of the many under-covered Every Bros seeds of WCCR at its best (he credits inclusion of this to producer Tom Petty, who did what he could all over--Hillman's not the strongest solo artist among his peers, but has his moments, when the setting's just right, or just about).

Everly Brothers, I meant duh.

Earp---missed this Rhino press release, from a year ago:

Artist Name
Michael Nesmith
Release Date
Fri, 04/14/2017

MICHAEL NESMITH'S MUSICAL CAREER HIGHLIGHTED ON
INFINITE TUESDAY: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL RIFFS

Rhino Serves Up The Audio Companion To Nesmith's Autobiography With
14 Of His Best Songs With The Monkees, The First National Band, And Solo

CD And Digital Versions Available On April 14

LOS ANGELES - Michael Nesmith tells the story of his eclectic life in his upcoming book, Infinite Tuesday: An Autobiographical Riff (Crown Archetype). In it, the artist retraces his journey from his childhood in Dallas - where his single mother Bette invented Liquid Paper - to the set of "The Monkees" in Los Angeles, as well as his pioneering work in music video and virtual reality.

Before the book arrives on April 18, Rhino will release an audio companion that showcases 14 of Nez's best from his days with The Monkees, The First National Band, and solo. INFINITE TUESDAY: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL RIFFS will be available April 14 on CD ($14.98) and digitally.

The set flows in mostly chronological order, beginning in 1965 when Nesmith recorded "The New Recruit" using the pseudonym Michael Blessing. Monkee-mania took over a year later and he spent the next four years making history and music with the quartet. Two songs by the Monkees included here neatly bookend Nesmith's tenure in the group, with "Papa Gene's Blues" from the band's 1966 self-titled debut, and "Listen To The Band" from The Monkees Present (1970), Nesmith's last album with group for more than 20 years.

The collection focuses mainly on the numerous solo albums that Nesmith recorded during the Seventies. He started in 1970 with Magnetic South and Loose Salute, country-rock albums that featured Nesmith and The First National Band, a group he collaborated with for several years. INFINITE TUESDAY features a song from each album: "Silver Moon" from Loose Salute and "Joanne" from Magnetic South, Nesmith's first Top 40 hit as a solo artist.

Nesmith embraced a multimedia approach to making music in 1975 to create The Prison, an album that was to be played as the "soundtrack" to a novella that came with the music. Represented on this set by "Opening Theme - Life, The Unsuspecting Captive," that album was also the first released on Nesmith's record label, Pacific Arts.

Then in 1979 Nesmith created "PopClips," the first-ever music-video program, which aired years before the dawn of MTV. That same year, Nesmith also recorded Infinite Rider On The Big Dogma, which featured "Cruisin'" and "Light," which also appear on this set. Nesmith made videos for those songs and others and released them in 1981 as Elephant Parts. A mix of comedy sketches and music videos, this "video album" won the very first Grammy Award for Music Video.

INFINITE TUESDAY ends with a pair of tracks from albums released after Nesmith returned from an extended recording hiatus: "Laugh Kills Lonesome" from ...Tropical Campfires... (1992), and "Rays," the title song from his 2005 album.

INFINITE TUESDAY: AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL RIFFS
Track Listing

1. "The New Recruit" - Michael Blessing
2. "Papa Gene's Blues" - The Monkees
3. "Different Drum"
4. "The Girl I Knew Somewhere" - First Recorded Version/Stereo Remix
5. "Listen To The Band" - Single Version
6. "Joanne"
7. "Silver Moon"
8. "Some Of Shelly's Blues"
9. "Opening Theme - Life, The Unsuspecting Captive"
10. "Rio"
11. "Cruisin'"
12. "Light"
13. "Laugh Kills Lonesome"
14. "Rays"

Rusty Young RIP---didn't get the memo on this 2017 solo debut, any of yall heard it?

LOS ANGELES, July 14, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist and front man of the seminal West Coast country-rock band Poco Rusty Young will release his debut solo album for Blue Élan Records, Waitin' For The Sun, on September 15. The album comes after a five-decade career which began in 1967 when Young was invited to play steel guitar on what would become the final album by Buffalo Springfield. Soon after – along with Richie Furay, George Grantham, and Jim Messina – he would form beloved Americana band Poco. Over the next five decades – and alongside bandmates that would also include Paul Cotton, Randy Meisner, and Timothy B. Schmidt – he became not only the musical core of the band, but also the writer and vocalist behind hits including "Rose of Cimarron" and the #1 smash "Crazy Love."

...Produced by Rusty and longtime Poco bassist/vocalist Jack Sundrud – with assistance from the legendary Bill Halverson (Crosby, Stills & Nash, Eric Clapton, Emmylou Harris) – and mixed/mastered by Joe Hardy (ZZ Top, Steve Earle, The Replacements), the album's 10 songs first came together in the hours just before dawn. "I live in a cabin that overlooks the Mark Twain National Forest in southern Missouri, and got in the habit of waking early to watch the sun come up," Rusty explains. "Just sitting there with my guitar, loving where I live and thinking about how far I've come and how lucky I've been. After a while, the songs just poured out of me."

The album was recorded at Cash Cabin in Hendersonville, Tennessee, the former home recording studio of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. "June's old piano is all over the record," Rusty enthuses, "and I got to play Johnny's '57 Les Paul." Rusty also played steel and acoustic guitars, dobro, mandolin and banjo, with the current configuration of Poco – Sundrud, keyboardist Michael Webb, and former Flying Burrito Brothers drummer Rick Lonow – filling in the rest.

...Waitin' For The Sun opens with the shimmering title track that captures those early morning moments of inspiration. The vintage bounce of "Honey Bee" – featuring guests Jim Messina and George Grantham – pays tribute to the musical gifts of Rusty's grandparents. "Heaven Tonight" is lovely Beatles-esque balladry, "Innocent Moon" soars on gorgeous harmonies, and "Down Home" is fueled by Rusty's mountain music mastery. "Sarah's Song" is the heartbreakingly beautiful ode Rusty's wrote for his only daughter's wedding day, and "Gonna Let The Rain" is a potent dose of rock & soul. The driving guitars of "Hey There" are reminiscent of Poco at their very best, while the haunting instrumental "Seasons" showcases Rusty's distinctively melodic steel guitar. But the album's most talked-about track may be the warm and joyful "My Friend," featuring Richie Furay and Timothy B. Schmidt. "I could have done that thing where I asked everyone I've ever known to play on the record," Rusty says. "But I only wanted to work with a select few who were important to me. "My Friend" is about Poco over the years and the friendship we share to this day. That's why I called Richie and Timothy; the song is about them."

Today, Rusty is looking forward to touring in support of this new disc as well as planning a series of special concerts to celebrate Poco's 50th anniversary...
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/pocos-rusty-young-to-release-debut-solo-album-waitin-for-the-sun---an-album-50-years-in-the-making-300488543.html

interview from a little later---this part is re the songwriters having left Poco:
I tried to be a full-rounded musician who played a lot of different instruments and did and did it well. Then it came to be that I needed to be a songwriter in the late seventies, 1978, and I did pretty good by that because I have over a million and a half downloads on Spotify and was #1 for six weeks so I’ve been pretty successful at this music thing (laughs).

Did it kind of shock you that one of your early attempts at a song did so well?

Yes! In 1978 when “Crazy Love” hit and went to #1, it was really, really great because the band Poco that I’d been in for ten years had never had a Top 20 hit and never sold a million records. And one of my first efforts at songwriting turned out to be such a huge hit and it was really great, you know. What can you say (laughs). And I still hear it at Home Depot and those places. It’s really high on the Home Depot chart (laughs).
https://glidemagazine.com/207387/rusty-young-still-has-stories-to-tell-interview/

there was an interesting article in the new ugly things about a 1970 release called "yellow hand," a band organized around a 17-year-old guitarist who -- via some odd connections -- wound up with a box full of half-finished buffalo springfield demos. the guitarist finished them, and at the time of its release the album had six previously-unheard neil young and stephen stills compositions. i think one of the stills songs has yet to be released in any other form.

sadly the whereabouts of the demo cassettes are unknown.

https://www.allmusic.com/album/yellow-hand-mw0000786959

Yeah, I reposted about them way upthread, from Rolling Country 2008:

Just got through my first listen to reissue of Yellow Hand's s/t from 1970.They do a bunch of Stills and Young songs from a Buffalo Springfield album that never did come out, it sez here (so they're on the bootleg of Stampede?) I think Neil did release a later version of "Down To The Wire." That's the one where the four-part close harmonies kinda crowd me, plus they sound particularly in there between the Grassroots and Three Dog Night, just this combination of by-the-numbers and overemphasis. But, if you've got any tolerance for Stills early solo and Manassas stuff, this is mostly like that (still chunky harmonies, but with a touch of plaintiveness/querulousness to balance the manliness, and allowing the lyrics to come through just enough, so personality simulated, but dumb complaints and inspiration not heard too clearly)(also get Neil's sufficiently stylish, punky bitchy folk-rock putdowns on "Sell Out)." And Delaney Bramlett/Mac Davis "God Knows I Love You," which coulda maybe shoulda been a hit for somebody. Also, the lead singer, Jerry Tawney, steps up front on some okay self-writs, and "My World Needs You" would be good for Gary Puckett. (After our recent exchange, I saw G.P. in an ad for Biloxi's Hard Rock Casino, with David Allan Coe and Stevie Nicks! All on different nights, dang it). Yellow Hand's drummer keeps rushing and then almost stumbling over the beat, and mostly they do seem more singers than players, but overall seems okay.

Michael Nesmith---Different Drum--The Lost RCA Victor Recordings

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71ecD0cqAcL._SL1200_.jpg

Now, Real Gone Music and Second Disc Records are proud to present a major deep dive into the Nez archives. Different Drum: The Lost RCA Victor Recordings features 22 tracks drawn from the RCA Victor vaults, every one of which is previously unreleased in any physical format. Over six RCA albums released between 1970 and 1973, Nesmith blossomed as a singer, songwriter, bandleader, and producer under the aegis of RCA Nashville legends Chet Atkins and Felton Jarvis.
With bandmates including legendary pedal steel guitarist O.J. 'Red' Rhodes, John Ware, and John London, Nesmith pioneered country-rock with a spiritual and searching style all his own.
Different Drum premieres on CD some of his most remarkable musical explorations from this vivid period including cosmic reimaginings of Monkees-era favorites like 'Tapioca Tundra,' 'Magnolia Simms,' 'Circle Sky,' and 'Listen to the Band;' unheard outtakes like 'American Airman' and 'Six Days on the Road;' vastly different alternate takes of 'Different Drum,' 'Dedicated Friend,' and 'Tengo Amore;' and even an early version of 'Marie's Theme' from his cult classic multimedia project The Prison.
The mind-altering music on Different Drum has been mixed from the original multitracks by Andrew Sandoval and mastered by Vic Anesini at Sony's Battery Studios, while Papa Nez himself has contributed insightful new commentary to the liner notes by The Second Disc's Joe Marchese. Rare photos by renowned photographer Henry Diltz and previously unseen images round out this landmark package. Different Drum is a freewheeling, widescreen journey through the world of one of rock's greatest iconoclasts. Don't take our word for it: listen to the band!
1. Different Drum (Alternate Version)
2. American Airman
3. Bye, Bye, Bye (Alternate Version)
4. Dedicated Friend (Alternate Version)
5. Tengo Amore (Alternate Instrumental)
6. Texas Morning (Alternate Take)
7. Rene (Uncut Version)
8. Six Days on the Road
9. Circle Sky
10. Listen to the Band (Alternate Version)
11. Some of Shelly’s Blues (Alternate Version)
12. Keep On (Alternate Version)
13. Roll with the Flow (Alternate Version)
14. Marie’s Theme (Alternate Version)
15. Magnolia Simms (Alternate Version)
16. Born to Love You (Instrumental)
17. Hollywood (Alternate Backing Track)
18. Tapioca Tundra (Instrumental)
19. Roses Are Blooming – Come Back to Me Darling (Instrumental)
20. Tan My Hide (Instrumental)
21. You Are My One (Alternate Instrumental)
22. Loose Salute (Radio Spots)

Maybe some of those Alternates weren't first choices for good reason---? Real Gone usually does a real good job though, looking fwd to getting their curation of Dusty Springfield's he Complete Atlantic Singles 1968-1971 to-morrow.

Oh yeah, way upthread I mentioned that Byron Berline and Country Gazette got hired to fill out the Burritos, then the previous members left, and BB's boys *were* the Burritos, for touring and maybe other already-contracted purposes---also, they got to play with Ronstadt some, after she came off the early tour w Neil Young---complaining here, or on whicever taped performance I have (which is very good), about tour audiences more into partying, so she's really into kicking back with the deep holler sounds, in a much more attentive setting. Haven't tried all these links, but it gives you the annotations and pix at least, once you scroll past the Trio bit:
https://ronstadt.proboards.com/thread/1431/ronstadts-bluegrass-country"> https://ronstadt.proboards.com/thread/1431/ronstadts-bluegrass-country

This thread starts with or near a mention of Gene Clark, who made at least one album with Carla Olson, so here might be the best place to mention her reissues/prev. unreleased tracks of hers, and a Clark live set, as I did on Rolling Country 2008:
Speaking of bar bands, or pub rock, that live Carla Olson & The Textones album is pretty decent Words matter to her,and social life as fun & danger-they do the song Dylan gave her, "Clean-Cut Kid"("They took a clean-cut kid made a killer outta him") and some other good covers and originals, but never get too preachy or melodramatic (even the sax is okay, despite being very 80s; never gets or takes too much airspace). Oh yeah, and the drummer is Phil Seymour of the Dwight Twilly Band; he even sings lead on a couple tunes, way better than his solo hit,"Can't Let You Go," which he doesn't reprise here, thankfully.It's no masterpiece, but pretty good. Now I should listen to the double-disc collection of her work with Mick Taylor (did they play with Dylan at the same time? Any legit tracks of that, if so) Wonder how her albums with Gene Clark are, I've got those reissues too, somewhere (Clark's Silverado Live, which came about around the same time as the live album and the Taylor collab collection, is pretty decent West Coast country rock etc, pretty spare musically, tho couple of songs have some kind of purple rants in their baggy pants)(also a couple of co-writes with founding Flying Burrito/Eagle Bernie Leadon, from when the Eagles were better).
the one I was talking about is credited to Carla Olson & The Textones, title is Detroit '85 Live & Unreleased. The one I haven't listened to yet is Carla Olson & Mick Taylor, Too Hot For Snakes Plus,
a two-CD set including their 1990 live set, which also sported Ian McLagan, Barry Goldberg and ("blues harp maestro")John Juke Logan. Second disc is selected from three Carla solo albums, all featuring Mick.
Pretty sure I did listen to all the rest of those, at some point--hopefully they're all streaming somewhere.

Found the post, didn't look far enough on RC 2008---good albs:
I did listen to the Carla Olson & Mick Taylor twofer, Too Hot For Snakes Plus. She says in the notes she discovered Taylor from Mayall's albums, not the Stones, and that figures, in her taste for and skilled mining of the Albert Collins/Freddie King/Albert King/Buddy Guy-schooled blues-for-rockers-and-r&b-heads that Mayall and well-chosen employees like Taylor specialized in, in the early and mid-60s. ("For" rockers in that they allowed various Kings etc, and their sharper students to compete with and then enter the growing market of rock and r & b). It's flashy,but with attention to dynamics--one's own, and everybody else's--which goes with the rueful, restless, sometimes eloquent inventory of social tides: romance, friendship, crowds. Country compatible that way, especially since contemporary country draws so much on previous (but already ageing)decades of rock. And I could see Loretta Lynn and Jack White doing right by "You Can't Move In," for isntance. But it's more about the way the good and the bad are so connected: that's the blues of it, the country of it too, and Mick Taylor (and other well-chosen employees/comrades) coming up from under, against the tide/wind etc.(Could see 'em opening for Seger etc) "Tryin' To Hold On" builds creatively on a "Slip Away"-type framework (Carla's Detroit crew does a good cover of the actual "Slip Away"); "Rubies and Diamonds" does the same with the riffage and vibe of "It Takes A Lot To Laugh"(and/or Dylan's own sources for that). Other good co-writes, and covers of "Sway," "Silver Train," and Disc 2 starts with a an extended but thoughtful take on "Winter," yet (eventually)gets bogged down in what sounds like a too-solo-y edition of the Pretenders. But performed differently (anybody looking for covers?) most of these could work, and some of 'em work anyway, like "Reap The Whirlwind." No prob with "Friends In Baltimore," who ask willfully obtuse questions of a roving muso, until they finally don't even care enough for rhetorical queries (guitar twinges of the phantom connection: they're assholes, maybe they always were, but...)Also, on "Justice," she uses the words of Sterling A. Brown, who I gotta check more of, judging by this verse: "He spoke up at the commissary, and they gave him a date to be out of the county/He didn't go, so/They came for him/And he stayed in the county."

xpost Byron Berline RIP--also played on Stones' "Country Honk," still sweet. As mentioned upthread, he and Country Gazette got hired to fill out touring Burritos, then the previous members left and BB & CG were the Burritos, for contract purposes (there's a site, which I may have linked way upthread, that lists all permutations of the Flying Burritos up to whatever point---I once received a promo of the Walter Egan-led line-up: pretty good! Dognose who's been in there since, prob some post-quarantine regrouping being rethought now)
Once again, the links to Berline's crew a Ronstadt (sounds like it), also their own set:
If this is her show w Byron Berline and Country Gazette I heard (could have sworn it was a live broadcast from a studio), it's amazing---she mentions how much better this is than her tour (the early one w Neil Young, I think), where the audiences were more interested in tossing beach balls around. Digs deep into the olde roots and lets fire----scroll down for link to original post of whole show (variously labelled '72, '74, maybe others, on YouTube posts, as you can tell by their having the same setlists). Also see links to songs from a '75 set w Byron & CG, which poster says has better sound than the first show---haven't listened to much of it yet, but most of the links still work: https://ronstadt.proboards.com/thread/1431/ronstadts-bluegrass-country

― dow, Monday, October 18, 2021

Marmaduke's voice sounded like that of a defective Garcia clone, but think I can listen around him again, and this should be worth the effort:

New Riders of the Purple Sage’s Lyceum ‘72 was recorded on a 16-track machine by notable Grateful Dead engineers Betty Cantor, Janet Furman, Bob Matthews, Rosie McGee and Wizard–the team which also recorded the Grateful Dead’s EU ‘72 Performance. https://t.co/2LFrEsVVnK

— Omnivore Recordings (@OmnivoreRecords) August 8, 2022

https://www.7arecords.com/wp-content/uploads/7A053LP-scaled.jpg

Michael Nesmith – Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash

7A Records are proud to announce the 50th Anniversary Edition of Michael Nesmith’s “Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash” album. Released on CD & Vinyl on April 7, the album includes a bonus track, extensive liner notes and session details by Andrew Sandoval, as well as lyrics to all of the songs.

The Album

Nesmith’s time with the Monkees was well and truly in the rear-view mirror and he needed a new place to live and work. He caught the ear of Jac Holzman, head of Elektra Records, and a path forward miraculously appeared. Realising that most of the record companies at the time didn’t understand Country Rock, Nesmith convinced Holzman to start a new label, Countryside. Nesmith would run the label, put together a ‘house band’ and produce albums by various up and coming country artists. Unfortunately, most of the new label’s releases didn’t make much of an impression and Nesmith soon started to contemplate his own music again. Aided by the power of his Countryside house band, he quickly crafted Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash, a full and final RCA album. Despite its commercial sheen, Ranch Stash wasn’t a success sales-wise and it became the closing remark to a heavy chapter in Nesmith’s life, a final “adios” to Monkee Mike, to the cosmic cowboy, and to his family, as he moved further on up the trail.

Included on our 50th Anniversary Edition is the 1973 alternate version of “Marie’s Theme”. The Vinyl version is in a gatefold sleeve and printed on 180g grey vinyl and includes extensive liner notes and session info by Andrew Sandoval.

50th Anniversary Edition
• Includes Bonus Track
• Extensive Liner Notes
• Lyrics To All Songs

I finally listened to New Riders' xpost Lyceum '72 all the way through last night---72 minutes, I think---after a couple of interrupted but already mostly pleasurable attempts, and Marmaduke nowhere on here sounds like xpost defective Garcia clone, although he can sound Garcia-like, not quite pulling off some of the extended ballads of pathos like JG could, and there are a few too many of these in this set---but then he pushes against the bounds of the song, the bounds of discretion, as a cowtown survivor had better not do, in "Dirty Business," which goes on and builds for eight minutes, led by him and Buddy Cage, whose steel guitar is always a treat---whole band is ready for all the uptempo stuff too, "I Don't Need No Doctor," "Willie and the Hand Jive," "Hello Mary Lou"---though I wish that lead guitarist David Nelson had sung a few leads, considering his crisp vocals in the post-Marmaduke etc, line-up I heard*.

Anyroad, today Omnivore announced a flash sale on all three of their live NR sets:

Tuesday, June 20 through Thursday, June 22, Field Trip (CD / 2-LP), Thanksgiving In New York (2-CD / 3-LP), and Lyceum ’72 (CD) will be available for 50% off.
...Titles are limited to stock on hand, so there are no rain checks, but you can order as many copies as fit in your cart. Speaking of carts, please don’t add any preorders of new titles in there, as that will delay your order and you’ll miss out on the sale pricing.

So, Ride on and add some classic New Riders Of The Purple Sage to your collection.

Please note, the prices you'll see in the webstore will have the discount already applied to them.

*My preview when they played Columbus oh in '09:

New Riders of the Purple Sage
Jerry Garcia and singer/picker David Nelson’s pre-Dead country adventures morphed into New Riders Of The Purple Sage. Nelson, with Garcia’s steel guitar successor, Buddy Cage (survivor of Dylan’s Blood On The Tracks) reformed New Riders in 2005, recruiting Hot Tuna guitarist Michael Falzarano, plus two from self-stamped “swamp groove“ unit Stir Fry, bassist Ronnie Penque and drummer Johnny Markowski. NRPS roll deft jams and tight tunes, many recently written with Garcia collaborator Robert Hunter, who keeps Riders swirling around a “Barracuda Moon,” and curtly invokes the difference between a bad loan/And a debt.” Nelson’s subtly Dylanesque delivery underscores such lines with dry wit. Expect their aromatic hit, “Panama Red.”
07/27 @ Woodlands Tavern, 1200 W Third Ave. ,8 p.m

Here's a playlist I made that's a replica of a 2006 Ace / Big Beat CD comp:

Country & West Coast: The Birth of Country Rock

some of the tracks weren't available, so i had to improvise, but it's 95% the same.

Thanks!! Outlaws and Armadillos is another that could do with playlist tweak, not nec. re availability issues, but as xgau said, some of it is right artists, wrong tracks.

i haven't listened to this one in a long time. there is good stuff on it. sounds way better on vinyl. i mean, it would sound better than rando youtube upload. but if you see a cheap copy maybe pick it up.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hf-W142qnsk