No Hope vs. Hope: A Roback Road Map
You like Mazzy Star, do you? There's an obscure 25-year old record says the magic did not happen magically.
Opal, you would know, was the first incarnation of Mazzy Star wherein David Roback worked with vocalist Kendra Smith, also a bassist. Smith quit midway touring for the only full-length release, Happy Nightmare Baby- a pretty good album by itself -whereupon Hope Sandoval came on to pick up the threads. Precedent EPs, Fell from the Sun (1984) and Northern Line (1985), were released together as Early Recordings. With Smith gone, a looming follow-up that was going to be called Ghost Highway would mutate into Mazzy Star's own debut, She Hangs Brightly (1990).
So, what is Early Recordings in the Robackverse? Months ago, I willed myself to sit still through five CDs to review my answer to this question.
Empty Bottles
It is testing enough to make the connection between Happy Nightmare Baby's upfront psychedelic rock and the passive sonic marvel we know as Mazzy Star's but Early Recordings, a Nineties dream pop and folk-rock (i.e., the slowcore origin) sort of blend, mostly around a simpler, quieter wailing slide guitar, and the occasional piano, is a long ways away from them all. Even Smith sang differently than in the full-length.
The disparate Happy Nightmare Baby and So Tonight That I Might See are the confident records. They both kick ass without Roback having had to repeat himself. She Hangs Brightly was obviously a transition. He was negotiating two places back and forth, and it shows. Still, it got us ready for what else was imminent.
Hear the Wind Blow
Here's what I think: Early Recordings, my least liked, was the first incarnation of Among My Swan, my most liked. Leaving aside Sandoval's lyrics and comparison-eclipsing voice, they are Roback's navel-gazing records. It's like who you wanted to be came to you when you were twelve, and you were so excited you went ahead with it, but it didn't come out like you had thought because you were twelve. Later you're thirty and you're like, oh.
Verdict: Likable. A case study.
Locating MOG account...
Comments (14)
Mogger fistula spume has got the goods on Happy Nightmare Baby.
I will say that Northern Line's fuzzy Americana sound is fairly cohesive and precedes many similar records.
A 7:09 minute early opus. Roback on lead vocals, Smith on backup.
Lullabye
- What would've been Opal's interrupted album's title track, the song Ghost Highway is included in She Hangs Brightly.
- There are twelve years between Fell from the Sun and Among My Swan.
- Kendra Smith, Hope Sandoval, and keyboardist Suki Ewers would all reemerge as solo recording artists.
Interesting. Not sure what I think of this early Opal tunes. There's a bluesy/americana quality to them not present in Mazzy Star's tunes. That isn't a bad thing, they are just different & I'm a Mazzy fan so I'm used to their song stylings & not Opal's.Thx for the history lesson.
Btw, I like this player better than the one I used on my Sage post. Can you point me in the direction to get it please?
I like Mazzy OK, but Opal's HNBaby was my jam back in the day. When I listened it felt like it came straight out of some cult in the Cali hills..spooky.
Fade into you is as far as I ever went into Mazzy Star... but I am glad someone did, and then even further.. Interesting read and listen.
Got interested in Mazzy Star after listening to Hope's most recent solo record, and was taken with some of their output, but this Opal stuff is pretty decent too. Nice post.
all new to me, but these earthy and mystic tones will give me something to listen to between eclipses
I remember recording an Opal video off of MTV back in the very early 90's. It must have been the 120 Minutes program. Back then (pre internet - gasp!) I used to record lots of music off MTV - in stereo - to my high fi VCR. Then I would transfer those songs to cassettes ;-)
I still have (and periodically listen to) those cassettes.
However, my two increasingly breaking-down cassette decks are giving me a worry that I won't be able to listen to these great "mix tapes" I've made much longer.
Yes, the Opal track is on one of them.
(Note to me - try to find and buy another cassette deck)
;-)
Aug, yeah, we're kind of on the same boat, I am not enamored by it. I did not love it when I got it more than a decade ago. And then I didn't see the CD for a long time until I recovered that one box of stuff months ago, and I started listening again, and I still do not love it.
As for the player, which I actually learned about from a David Hyman post and was also mentioned in one of MusicRX's, it's pretty nifty and the simplest, most fool-proof ever. Littlemp3.com ... I will fire you a mogmail in case you miss this.
Cody, hi-5 on that. I was just mentioning up there to August that I didn't get to listen to both Opal CDs for over ten years, and while I never loved Early Recordings, I totally loved HNBaby the first time and I love it even more now. Hah, some spooky Cali hills cult, I absolutely hear it.
Ghost, thanks for reading and listening, that Fade Into You reached a whole other level of popularity but I will say there's plenty of Mazzy songs I love far more. Unless, of course, you aren't that fond of this sort of dream pop sound, to start with, in which case you won't be impressed or anything like that.
Robin, I've only heard Hope Sandoval's (with The Warm Inventions) work in piece-meal mp3s and I guess I should try to do better. It's best to trip out to Mazzy Star albums in their entirety, IMO, plus they're in the vicinity of ambient post-rock which I think you like.
Scott, you know, you're right that it's more earthy than otherworldly, which is what Mazzy is to me. I would say that Hope's lyrics, in addition to her voice, added to that otherworldliness. I think you might dig the psych rock sound of Happy Nightmare Baby.
Dave, good story. When I came home in May and started sleeping over at my mom's a whole lot, I realized our stereo component system -oh, the Ninetiesness kills me!- has a double cassette deck that's still working perfectly. Much later, I found an unopened blank tape among my things. I tell you, I am so stoked, something has to be done with those!
(Note to you - yes, do it! ;D)
Can I come over with my cassettes and play them on your good double cassette player?
;-)
ahahah. Dave, as long as you bring those hard to find recordings, you're very welcome!
Ha!
Thanks for the invite, poe
I'll be right over!
hey there, your front-pagism reminded me ... I did try HNB...at times, I would have thought some T.Rex obscurity had been overlooked...other moments spun me back to '69s psych of Mighty Baby(I need to post on that one!) thank ya!
Mighty Baby looks really swell, I gotta check that out..ha, i already have it..thanks to you I'm sure. They got horns in their pych..