Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Opal - Happy Nightmare Baby


Opal was: David Roback (Rain Parade, Mazzy Star) and Kendra Smith (Dream Syndicate, has also recorded a couple of great solo albums).

"At once drowsy, psychedelic, entrancing, and possessed of a sinuous spark, Happy Nightmare Baby may have been Opal's only album but deserves more attention than merely being a blueprint for Roback's later work in Mazzy Star. For one thing, Opal was very much its own band, with Kendra Smith's particular lyrical visions of mystic power and universe-scaling dreams and nightmares its own entity. As is her singing, though she's got less of Hope Sandoval's wistful drift and more focused control — check out the brief "A Falling Star," where the comparatively stripped-down arrangement places her singing in the foreground, notably without much in the way of echo. Roback's playing certainly won't surprise anyone per se who backtracks to this group from albums like She Hangs Brightly, and the atmosphere of textured, moody power is evident right from the start with the wonderful early T. Rex tribute, "Rocket Machine." The compressed string swirl and steady stomp is pure Marc Bolan-via-Tony Visconti, though Smith avoids Bolan's style of warble for her own cool, something also quite evident on the slow-groove stomp of the great "She's a Diamond" and the concluding "Soul Giver." Meanwhile, other familiar elements Roback would later use are present aplenty — very Ray Manzarek-like organ lines on the mantra-chugs of "Magick Power" and "Siamese Trap," compressed acid rock solos and lots of reverb. The title track itself stands out a bit as being a bit more of a '60s Europop confection in a stripped-down 1968 setting — Roback's electric guitar adds some fire, but it's the slightly jazz-tinged rhythm and easy delivery from Smith that helps establish its own character. It's a release that stood out both in time and place (a 1987 release on SST Records, of all places!), but it stands up to future years and listens darn well." - Ned Raggett

Alambique

5 comments:

  1. Sr Sandunga me hiciste la noche con este disco. Hace siglos que no lo busco. Los disquitos de Kendra Smith tambien estan bellacos. Metele.

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  2. hate to sound like a Valley Girl, but OMG!!!!! I love this album and haven't heard it in probably almost 20 years. thank you from the depths of my musical heart.

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  3. my pleasure Pesky, glad I took you down memory lane.

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  4. Thank you so much for this. Wonderful memories of Opal, and this album is my favorite.

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  5. Great post, could be the best of the "atmosphere", to use the same word ! and very informative too, also the tracks wasn't bad enough, It's a shame because I don't have time to come across this blog every day. I really appreciate this currently effort.

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