Darius, Don't You Get The Feelin: 2024-03-31

Monday, April 01, 2024

Susan Christie - Paint a Lady (Very Rare UK Folkrock 1969)

Size: 60.4 MB

Bitrate: 256

mp3

Ripped By: ChrisGoesRock

Artwork Included

How rare can a rare record be? - medium rare? uncooked? how about unreleased?

Susan Christie was a Philly based sophomore folk singer who had one novelty hit for a major label and never quite recovered - Afterwards, her psychedelic take on country standards and hand crafted tales of inner-city solitude backed by a break heavy folk-funk rhythm section was never accepted as a commercial viabilty by record company big-wigs - They obviously couldn't quite muster their nostradamus sensibilities to forsee what future hiphop producers and DJ's would be feeding into digital music-machines 30 years down the line!

Luckily three -fifths of a handful (literally three!) privately pressed vanity copies were manufactured in early 1970 one of which became the source material for Finders Keepers 6th LP in their expanding library of obscure, obtuse, obsolete and obsessive vintage music from the 60's and 70's. Uber legend John Hill who penned the acid-rock floor-filler 'LOVE,LOVE,LOVE,LOVE,LOVE,' for 'Wool' and 'Pacific Gas And Electric' produced the LP which features 9 tracks including a Johnny Cash cover and a 12 minute 'drugsploitation' epic called 'Yesterday - Where's My Mind' featuring Susan flipping vocal styles between Janis Joplin and Margo Guryan (...who was in fact a close friend of Susans at the time of recording).

30 years ago, a Philly based folk singer named Susan Christie was dropped by her record company. After one novelty song, the label bosses didn’t think her melancholy take on country and solitude would ever be of any interest. Five copies of her album were pressed and faded into obscurity. Skip forward to present time, and a small label, ‘Finders Keepers’ salvages three out of these five copies and decides to release it.

Susan Christie’s album is a beautiful piece of despondent tales and folky psychedelia. The fascinating thing is that it sounds very current. The title track is reminiscent of Portishead , while other songs incorporate break heavy folk-funk, current DJ’s would die for.

Don’t get me wrong, it is an obscure 70’s folk record at its heart, but highly worth listening to today.

01. Rainy Day

02. Paint A Lady

03. For The Love Of A Soldier

04. Ghost Riders In The Sky

05. Yesterday, Where's My Mind?

06. Echo In Your Mind

07. When Love Comes

08. No One Can Hear You Cry

1. Susan

2. Susan

3. Susan

A Fleeting Glance - Selftitled (Prog & Acid Rock UK 1970)

Size: 94.9 MB

Bitrate: 320

mp3

Found in OuterSpace

Some Artwork Included

One of the most astonishing British private pressing rarities, only two copies have resurfaced of this 1970 concept album. Telling the story of a woman’s life from her own conception to giving birth, the LP was put together by a variety of musicians and bands at a social club, and allegedly includes an uncredited appearance by Billy Fury.

Linked by narration and sound effects, the music runs the gamut from heavy space-rock jamming (including a snatch of ‘Interstellar Overdrive’) to folk/rock (an acoustic cover of ‘Light My Fire’ and a stunning version of ‘Watch The Stars’), avant-garde choirs, krautrock-styled interludes and even trad jazz.

The result is among the trippiest albums I have ever heard, comparable only to Jumble Lane in terms of eccentricity, although the music is infinitely better, with a strong Pink Floyd spacy edge. Indeed, had Syd Barrett remained with Pink Floyd, one could well imagine The Dark Side Of The Moon might have sounded thus.