Insert inappropriate “hung” joke here
Silent Partner — Hung By a Thread
(from the LP Hung By A Thread, Lucky Boy Records 1975)
I have spent the last several years listening to and writing about rare privately pressed records. While many of the bad ones have some charm, the fact is that most are pretty dire, some are interesting and inspired but deeply flawed, a few are extremely pleasurable despite (or, in part, because of) their flaws, and a very, very small number are both enjoyably unique AND legitimately good. This 1975 album is one of the most pleasant surprises I encountered during my quest. The title tune is as good a song as I’ve heard from that era by anyone. Looking at it now, it easily could pass for a new wave or indiepop song from several years hence, but when you know it’s 1975 it makes perfect sense. Only that time period could have produced an album that includes Beatlesque pop, quasi-prog metal and a 10 minute jazz-rock instrumental. Though most of the album is very good, this song stands head and shoulders above the rest: Two — count-em, two — lovely melodies, the buildup, that killer (and, for once, subtle) synth bit that introduces the guitar solo, and the (long) solo itself, one of my all time faves. Silent Partner were from Athens, Georgia, and I have to think that R.E.M., Mitch Easter, the dBs, et al, must have seen them at some point and been influenced by them. “Hung By A Thread” most definitely sounds like the precursor to the whole melodic/jangly guitar 80s wave of southern rock.
– Aaron Milenski
