Alright, this last LB chapter is probably the closest I’ve found to a precursor to Lindsey Buckingham’s later 70′s sound. It makes sense too since after the Cowsills broke up Lindsey was in a band with them for a short bit in the early seventies. ‘Nervous Breakthrough’ came out in 1971, two years after Bill Cowsill was found smoking weed by  his dad and got kicked out of the band. The last installment of Buckingham influenced (promise):

Bill Cowsill - When Everybody’s Here [1971]

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Somewhere between Sticky Fingers and Buckingham. Pretty unfortunate that after releasing his only solo album he basically disappeared into a drug haze for the entire decade after its release.

Dwight Twilley and Phil Seymour (who comprised the Dwight Twilley Band) are the missing link after the Beatles and ELO. However, even that is an unfair oversimplification. What makes their music all the more enticing is that they both seem to draw more upon the most sharp and jaded elements of the Plastic Ono band rather than the post-dream Beatles state that ELO pretty much remained within. For no other reason than complete mismanagement and unfortunate luck they remain mostly unknown despite one hitish single. While having their own unique voices I can’t help but file them under ‘this is where I wish John Lennon was in 1977.’ The criminally underrated/serendipitously sprung at Sun Records, Sincerely:

Dwight Twilley – Baby Let’s Cruise [1976]

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So coherent yet comes off the rails entirely at just the right point throughout.

Dwight Twilley - Sincerely [1976]

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They’re optimistic I swear… I was torn whether or not to put this track first. Fucking cunningly brilliant.

Dwight Twilley – I’m losing you [1976]

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Eat your heart out Jeff Lynne

Still on the Lindsey trip this brilliant b-side by Helen Banks is one of those tracks that feels like a lost classic. Vangelis‘ production pretty much brings it beyond  anything of the era within that warm early 70′s realm. Could easily be a lost American Spring song with Brian Wilson’s melodic touch. Listen to it with headphones:

Helen Banks – Hazy Day [1973]

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F.R. David is mostly known from his single hit Words in 1982 but he has a lot of other amazing tracks to explore. I think the album cover does more justice describing the sounds within than I could. Here are my two favorite songs from it:

F.R. David – Can’t Get Enough [1982]

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F.R. David – Music [1982]

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I’ve been binging on a lot of sounds this week that both precede and procede Lindsey Buckinghams melodic innovations but ultimately have come to accept it as me overdosing on him and trying to find artists that conjure on a similar level. A total legend, Lindsey is one a handful of musicians that always feels like home to return to. This week is all about artists in the same vein but doing their own thing within that spectrum. I’ll start it off with some lesser known and rare songs by Lindsey:

Fleetwood Mac – You and I Part I

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One of my favorite Buckingham songs which for unknown reasons was left off Tango in the Night and replaced with the inferior part II.

Lindsey Buckingham - Someone’s Gotta Change Your Mind (Demo)

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From the early demos that would much later get released as a Gift of Screws. Vocals feel a bit Twilley..

So on point.

watch it at night

I wasn’t exaggerating when I said that John Maus’ new album had entirely consumed me. I had to take a breath away from it, or rather was borderline asphyxiated by it. No more true to the latter is the song on it Cop Killer, a dark methodic death pulse of a track that has just the right glint of cool to it. Something about it struck me in a violent violet light so when I uncovered the criminally underrated/forgotten 1975 film Le Orme it was a macabre match made in…space. Le Orme plays out like something of a cross between L’Avventura and 2001: A Space Odyssey. The opening scene starts off with an unconscious astronaut being slowly left behind by his crew departing on the lander. From there a mysterious woman on earth tries to piece together 3 days lost to amnesia all undercut with the nightmaric intro that she thinks is a movie she’d seen but slowly realizes is most likely her impending fate.

Lawrence