One Kiss Leads To Another: Real Gone Unearths Hackamore Brick, Grateful Dead, The Association’s Russ Giguere and More
Atop the list is a true rarity. Real Gone will be bringing One Kiss Leads to Another from Hackamore Brick to CD and vinyl in a newly-remastered and expanded edition. Who is Hackamore Brick, you might ask? The Brooklyn band’s 1970 album was an anomaly for the bubblegum specialists at Kama Sutra Records. It’s most often spoken of in the same breath as The Velvet Underground, and it sounds as if it were built on the groundwork laid by that quintessential New York band. Yet Hackamore Brick’s songwriters Tommy Moonlight and Chick Newman claimed to not have heard Lou, John and co. till after their album was recorded. But indebted to that group or not, the quartet offers up a heady brew of its own. Country-style harmonies and punk attitude sit alongside Doors-esque blues flourishes, incisive, Kinks-style lyrics, and primal rock simplicity on this true lost album.
Real Gone has also rescued a solo effort from The Association’s Russ Giguere. Hexagram 16 offers songs from the likes of Judee Sill and Randy Newman and guest spots from Judy Henske, Jerry Yester and Bernie Leadon. There’s a country-rock flavor on Hexagram, but Real Gone also offers more traditional country with the Nashville-style folk-pop of fifties favorites The Browns on Complete Pop and Country Hits. Country, of course, also played a role in the Americana stew of The Grateful Dead, and Real Gone continues its reissuing of the Dick’s Picks series with some psychedelia from 1968. A long-lost reggae tribute to the Dead is also reappearing in July. Finally, Real Gone teams with Dusty Groove for three more deep-cut jazz albums from Ahmed Abdul-Malik, George Braith, and the duo of Stan Hunter and Sonny Fortune.
After the jump, Real Gone provides all of the details via the label’s press release, and we have pre-order links for all titles for you!
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – What makes a record a true cult classic? First, it must be released to a modicum of critical acclaim but zero commercial success. Second, in almost all cases the artists behind the release have to disappear immediately into obscurity. And third, over the course of decades, a dedicated core of record collectors, critics and true believers must spread the word about the album in question. Well, by those standards, New York band Hackamore Brick‘s 1970 LP One Kiss Leads to Another is the cult classic to end all cult classics (the only recent contenders might be Rodriguez’s albums Cold Fact and Coming from Reality). Released on the bubblegum-centric Kama Sutra label to positive reactions from critics ranging from Richard Meltzer to Lenny Kaye, One Kiss sounded very different from anything else on the 1970 music scene; often cited as the first post-Velvet Underground album, it does indeed provoke comparison’s to VU’s third, self-titled record and Loaded as well as other descendants like the Modern Lovers and Television. But the country-ish harmonies of vocalists Tommy Moonlight and Chick Newman lend the record a sound not unlike any number of current alternative “beard rock” bands plying their wares, and the discursive lyrics recall the Kinks. In short, “One Kiss Leads to Another” passes the fourth and hardest test of cult classic-dom, which is to remain relevant into the present, even though Moonlight and Newman didn’t record another note together as Hackamore Brick until 2009. Real Gone Music is proud to present this remarkable record on both vinyl and CD, with a bonus track, the single side “Searchin’,” appearing on both formats, and two additional bonus tracks, the mono single versions of “Radio” and “I Watched You Rhumba,” on the CD. Liner notes by Tony Rettman featuring quotes from Tommy Moonlight and pictures from the Hackamore Brick archive round out both the vinyl and CD releases. Remastered by Vic Anesini at Battery Studios in NYC, [it’s] highly anticipated and worth the wait.
It’s safe to say that most record collections that include the Grateful Dead also include at least a couple of reggae albums; the audiences for the Dead and reggae share a love for easy, loping rhythms and homespun harmonies, not to mention a countercultural bent. Never, however, has the connection between the Dead and reggae been made more explicit than on Fire on the Mountain: Reggae Celebrates the Grateful Dead Vols. 1 & 2, produced and released by the short-lived Pow Wow label in the mid ’90s, these two volumes feature a Who’s Who of reggae stars including “Toots” Hibbert, Culture, Joe Higgs, Steel Pulse, Mighty Diamonds, Judy Mowatt, Dennis Brown, Michael Rose, Ras Michael, Gregory Isaacs and many others performing a variety of Dead songs and songs associated with the band. And, although the liner notes (reproduced here) claim that none of the Jamaican artists were familiar with the Dead’s music prior to these recordings, the 24 performances here include some definitive interpretations – out of print for years and a real find.
July 2, 2013 Releases from Real Gone Music
Hackamore Brick, One Kiss Leads to Another (CD) (LP)
Russ Giguere, Hexagram 16 (CD)
The Browns, Complete Pop & Country Hits (CD)
Ahmed Abdul Malik, Spellbound (CD)
George Braith, Musart (CD)
Stan Hunter & Sonny Fortune, Trip on the Strip (CD)
Grateful Dead, Dick’s Picks Vol. 22 – Kings Beach Bowl, Kings Beach Lake Tahoe, CA 2/23-2/24/68 (2-CD Set)
Fire on the Mountain: Reggae Celebrates the Grateful Dead Vols. 1 & 2 (2-CD Set)
You Might Also Like
0 thoughts on “One Kiss Leads To Another: Real Gone Unearths Hackamore Brick, Grateful Dead, The Association’s Russ Giguere and More”
Leave a Comment
More fun and esoteric releases from the great Real Gone Music. Until this very minute I had never heard of Hackamore Brick, but I will be picking it up. I love RGM but I wish that they would reissue more of the now out of print CDs formerly on the Collector’s Choice label. Seems like Paul Mauriat would be a no brainer. I could name about a dozen or so more as well.