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Monday, October 22, 2012

Love Clay Allison Live (Pre-Opal, Mazzy Star)

Posted by on Mon, Oct 22, 2012 at 12:50 PM

Before Dave Roback was in Mazzy Star, he was in a band called Opal with Kendra Smith. Kendra Smith left Opal in the middle of a tour and moved to a cabin in the woods without electricity, emerging only to make 1995's Five Ways of Disappearing and then vanished again. Before Opal was called Opal, they were called Clay Allison, named after the Texas cattle rancher and gunfighter of the late 1800s. Before Opal, Dave Roback was in the Rain Parade and Kendra Smith was in the Dream Syndicate and the Suspects.

Clay Allison 7 from 1983.
  • Clay Allison 7" from 1983.

All of that history really isn't what's important here. What is important are the live Clay Allison tracks available on YouTube at the moment. YouTube user MrMickeybitzko commented, "Did dreampop begin here? This is the seed of the long slow dazzle. Mazzy was and is mellow, but Clay Allison was the pure vision." Well put, friend.

Here are the tracks, all recorded live at the Hong Kong Club in 1984: "No Easy Way Down," "Hear The Wind Blow," "Fell From The Sun," "My Only Friend."

 

Comments (7) RSS

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very bad homo 1
That one Opal album is still one of my favorites.
Posted by very bad homo on October 22, 2012 at 3:01 PM
2
This was very necessary.

Agreed, #1.
Posted by Dave Segal on October 22, 2012 at 4:47 PM
derek_erdman 3
Early Recordings, for sure right? I couldn't get into Happy Nightmare Baby at all.
Posted by derek_erdman http://www.derekerdman.com on October 22, 2012 at 7:31 PM
4
everything opal/clay allison/kendra did was way beyond most anything else then or now, peace be to you for posting this
Posted by heckler13 on October 22, 2012 at 7:32 PM
5
#3 = horrible analog-digital mastering to CD. Someone please remaster it!!!!
Posted by hitnrunpariah on October 23, 2012 at 9:00 AM
6
Early Recordings and Happy Nightmare Baby are apples and oranges, and both are delicious and nutritious.

Light in the Attic's Modern Classics imprint should do a proper reissue of the latter.
Posted by Dave Segal on October 23, 2012 at 10:27 AM
Kathy Fennessy 7
@6 Agreed. And Smith's Guild Of Temporal Adventurers is also essential (great Can cover).
Posted by Kathy Fennessy http://kathleencfennessy.blogspot.com/ on October 24, 2012 at 9:41 AM

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