Song Of the Day: July 26, 2005
Kendra Smith - Stars Are In Your Eyes
From the EP "The Guild of Temporal Adventures,"
Fiasco Records, 1992
I've always enjoyed Kendra Smith's post-Dream Syndicate variations on "All Tomorrow's Parties." Whether working with David Roback in Opal or leading her own project, she has maintained a high level of excellence, if not visibility, and I find her much more compelling than that pouty girl who replaced her to form Mazzy Star. We especially like her 1995 album on 4AD, Five Ways Of Disappearing. This track is from an elaborately packaged 1982 10-inch.
11 Comments:
Jon,
Wasn't this released by a former Lawrence resident?
Yeah, I think it was. Wasn;t her name Sunshine or Sunflower or Sunsuch?
Sunshine!
Sunshine was also involved in signing Lawrence band the Ultra/ Psycho Violets to Restless, and I think there's something in there w/ Bonesaw too, right?
As a synchronistic aside, I finally transfered the Kendra "Alle Morgens Parties" BOB flexi to digital last week, along w/ the Kendra Smith/ Hillel Slovak semi boot single. I'd caution folks against the "Natalie Merchant And Friends at McCabe’s Guitarshop, Santa Monica, CA May 24, 1987" cd w/ covers of "Hear the Wind Blow", "More than a Pay Cheque" & "too Little, Too Late" (that Kendra, Steve Wynn, Jenny Holmer, etc turn up on) though. At least if you've got my problems.
Cody is the one who audio ID'd an Opal song I'd never heard over a decade and a half ago on a comp tape from a friend. Thanks Cody!
Jason,
Howdy! Regarding Sunshine and the UVs, I thought it was Melanie "Last name starts with a 't'" who worked at Restless?
ps- you're welcome, Jason!
Damn Cody -- I think you're right.
Jeez, there must've been some reason why I talked to that Sunshine chick once or twice on the phone -- maybe she was an ADA rep or something equally vague in my memory banks (you know, it's honestly really satisfying to actually FORGET something once in a while; all this pointless junk in my head needs to leak out more & more.)
I dunno Jason, I find the "Live at McCabe's" CD to be a fun little trifle.
The recording quality is so-so at best, the performers (especially Steve Wynn and Michael Stipe) goof around a lot, and Wynn has trouble carrying a tune, but it's fun nonetheless.
Where else are you going to hear Natalie Merchant, Peter Buck, Michael Stipe and others singing "Leaving on a Jet Plane" and "Sunday Morning" simultaneously?
I also like "The Counting Song", even though Stipe screws up the lyrics...nothing new there, I suppose.
Heh, yeah -- well I confess that the lion's share of those problems I alluded to revolve around never really finding a way to enjoy Natalie Merchant, so who knows what the hell I was expecting when I picked that one up (my Dream Syndicate obsessions have always outweighed any REM investment I've had as well, so I was probably just doomed from the get go). I probably was counting on finding something to compete w/ Rainy Day or that "Days Before Wine & Roses" record in-store release, but I can see the allure for different ears to be sure.
I get the Natalie Merchant aversion, I do. I like her fine when she's actually, you know, singing. On McCabe's, though, she throws in a couple of bizarro "I'm having fun pretending to sing opera" that are vomit-inducing.
I truly adore Dream Syndicate. I've always been disappointed in Steve Wynn's solo records, though.
Rainy Day was great, and Days Before Wine and Roses is cool. The definitive Dream Syndicate release for me, though, will always be Live at Raji's...tho it's all great. So glad that I finally got a copy of Raji's on CD after playing my cassette version to six kinds of disintegrating death.
I've had this EP on CD since it came out. The CD version also had a bit of an odd package; the cover is formed by folding paper flaps together in the back, then you slip it in a plastic sheath.
I very, very often ended mix tapes (and now CDs) with two songs from here, "Iridescence 31" (one of the finest instrumentals ever recorded, including guys like Beethoven, Coltrane, and so on) and "Wheel of the Law," which contains lyrics from a song in Kurosawa's film The Hidden Fortress:
"set fire to men's lives
with the bonfire flames
insects throw their lives
into the bonfire flames
ponder and you'll see
this world is darkness and
this floating world's a dream
so burn in mad abandon"
Rent the film sometime, if you haven't.
I love this song, so much that our band released a Velvetsy cover of it. You can hear it here:
nationalparksite.com
label:
yieldrecordings.com
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