Kevin Morby Singing Saw Dead Oceans 2016

Kevin Morby Singing Saw Dead Oceans 2016 CAT #DOC111

Kevin Morby is this kid from Kansas who's creating his own Dylan mythology. Yeah, big words, but that's what he's done up to this point. Apparently, with very few people taking notice he grew up in Overland Park, KS and dropped out of Blue Valley Northwest High School. He obtained his GED and left for New York.

In New York worked in restaurants and being a bike courier. He helped create the experimental folk group, the Woods, as the bassist. He also created his own side project with Cassie Ramone of the Vivian Girls called the Babies, putting out two albums. By 2013, he began his career as a solo artist releasing Harlem River. He's since moved to Los Angeles.

Singing Saw is his most recent and third release. Between it and Harlem River was the album Still Life released in 2014. His first two albums are satisfying experimental folk and brought him critical attention, but both are a bit wobbly, close, but not quite realized. Singing Saw nails things down.

Morby's voice draws a lot Dylan comparisons, he mumbles and groans over his melodies. However, he's not a complete folkie, he likes to try a lot of everything. Best comparison to an area artist would be Gene Clark. Morby's music is a melting pot of American music, with heavy nods to Dylan, but stepping so far out into space that it's best called American Cosmic. Singing Saw is filled with amazing moments and no tracks you'd want to skip. It's surprising this kid has anything to do with Overland Park.

Dorothy (Video)

Gene Clark White Light A&M 1971

Gene Clark White Light A&M 1971 CAT# SP4292

The Bonner Springs graduate, Gene Clark, put out this, which is simply, one of the best American singer/songwriter efforts ever put out.

If Clark was only architect of the Byrds' sound and quit after creating highly influential country rock with Missouri natives, the Dillards, he'd have a pretty substantial legacy. But, White Light's blend of sparse country and cosmic folk put him into place. Masterwork type stuff.

The album jacket and the actual record never state that the album is called White Light, but it was released under the title. It's fitting as the album sold poorly and is rather hard to track down now, the title just kind of screams that it should be obscure. It was recorded while Clark was still trying to find himself in L.A. almost 5 years after he left the Byrds. There is an impressive list of players featured on the LP, all of which play as if they shared Clark's vision, the album should have been a bigger deal upon it's original release.

White Light

Lander Ballard Late Night Flight Free Wind Records 1987

Lander Ballard Late Night Flight Free Wind Records 1987 CAT# LB8703

This is the second Lander Ballard LP that came out a decade after his initial private LP, Hightime. He's from Wichita and research on the internet indicates he's still out there with his guitar playing for anybody that will listen.

The Hightime LP bordered between hippie folk and singer/songwriter influences. 10 years later, it seems the major change was cocaine. Seriously, the hippie, marijuana, mysticism from his first LP is replaced with a space ship on the cover, studio effects, maniac screams and maniac tempos...It's got to be cocaine, right?

I struggle to categorize this, due to the cocaine thing, late-era yacht rock isn't the worst bucket I could throw it in. However, it's not as slick or as smooth. It's got all the space references, but it's too buried in pop sounds to really take advantage of  space influences, it's just in the lyrics. The only thing making it worth having is that if you can compare it the hippie styles of his first LP. There's no real strong highlight on this album, but it's decent...cover is kind of cool, too.

Lander Ballard Hightime Free Wind Records 1977

Lander Ballard Hightime Free Wind Records 1977 CAT# LB7701

As far as I can tell, Lander Ballard is still making music, much more in the new country "Merica" tradition down in his home town of Wichita, KS. You can YouTube it and see all the macho country he's doing currently.

This LP is far better than what you can find online. He put out this LP in 1977 and a second a decade later on his own Free Wind Records label. While I haven't heard the 1987 LP, this is worth searching out and is relatively cheap. It's pretty low-key singer/songwriter stuff that takes moves from Billy Joel and other popular songwriters of the 70's as well as all that slick yacht rock that was going on. It's not as smooth or as polished as the yacht rock hits of the late-70's, it's just got the overriding influences.

If it it has to be categorized, it's hippie-folk. Ballard was into some new-age mysticism (and probably marijuana) and it shows throughout the album. The song "Ch'i (Natural Energy)" kind of speaks for itself. That song actually kind of sucks, but there are some definite highlights. The Joel influenced "Song for an Aging Minstrel" is pretty fun as is "Rock and Roll Man." The rest is uptempo, gentle melodies, that Ballard sings over the top of with a soft set of pipes. For a private LP out of Wichita, production is surprisingly good. Packaging is also top-notch, cover art is kinda cool and there's a nice little lyric book included.

Joe Walsh "But Seriously, Folks..." Elektra/Asylum Records 1978

Joe Walsh "But Seriously, Folks..." Elektra/Asylum Records 1978  CAT #6E-141

Yeah, so Joe Walsh was born in Wichita, KS.  That's cool, but I don't think he spent much time in Kansas before moving to Ohio as a child.  Further, at age 12 he'd move to New York.  Regardless, he's a native Kansan.  There is a good chance he has family here, maybe even frequented Kansas as a child for holidays and such.

I've had a rough go with Joe Walsh; not sure what music of his to include on this blog project and what not to include.  Ultimately, I decided solo albums are fair game.  I really wanted to do James Gang albums, because for the most part, the Joe Walsh edition of the band is great, but if I did that, I'd be opening myself up to the Eagles who Walsh also performed with.  I fucking hate the Eagles.  I had to draw the line at solo albums.  Second, that also would lead to talking about stuff just because there was one dude from Kansas or Kansas City and that's too much stuff, so it was best just to stick to solo albums and groups with legitimate roots to the area.

However, with that declaration, Joe Walsh still presented further problems.  Do you count the Barnstorm era Joe Walsh?  You see, after Walsh left James Gang, he went onto do Barnstorm.  That was the actual name of the group Joe Walsh formed and not his first solo album.  However, since Walsh had become an admired guitarist as a member of the James Gang and the labels love a good brand name, they bottled the first Barnstorm album as a Walsh solo project.  Due to the major label money grab, Barnstorm era is fair game as well.

Yeah, so this album is pretty boring.  My parents had it when I was growing up.  I found the cover interesting and humorous as a child.  I don't remember hearing it played in the household or anything, probably because Walsh was a bit Eagles-damaged at this point.  Several years in that band entrenched him in melodic soft rock tunes.  My parents always played party rock when they actually played records, so this one collected dust.  It is a better album than The Long Run by the Eagles which came out the following year.   Don Henly and Glenn Fry would've been better off just recording Joe Walsh tunes by 1979.  And since people fucking love the Eagles, loads of people seem to like this LP for it's a laid back and relaxed style.  It also contained the absurdly long, but big time AOR hit, "Life's Been Good," which admittedly, is pretty hard not to like.

Life's Been Good

Val Stöecklein Grey Life Dot 1968

Val Stöecklein Grey Life Dot 1968 Cat#DLP 25904

I haven't talked about the Blue Things, yet.  And, I probably should prior to talking about this release.  But, I just picked it up today in a trade and wanted to get it out there.

Val Stöecklein cut this record after leaving the Blue Things.  It was supposed to be a smash, a sure thing.  If you've heard the Blue Things, you'd understand why, Byrds-esque folk rock with that country tinge you can only find in Kansas and here's the guy from that band, the songwriter.  Despite a booked tour and money behind this LP, Val refused to promote it.  Needless to say, it flopped.  Now, it is a record of debate; compared either to Skip Spence's cult favorite album, Oar or just another MOR folk album from the 60s.

Truthfully, I tend to fall towards the MOR folk.  It's pleasant at times, but it's not drug riddled and strange like a Syd Barrett or the Skip Spence album.  The second side does contain some haunting tracks that stand apart from the rest.  It just doesn't hold together well and falls apart as an album.  It seems as if Val was being pushed to move in directions he didn't want to go.  Thus the reason he never wished to promote it--probably never felt like his.

Say It's Not Over