what Frank is listening to #41 – TERENCE BOYLAN – Suzy – (Asylum) – 1980
Again … I had no knowledge of this artist though I assumed it was singer-songwriter stuff , though I knew 1980 was not a good year for singer-songwriters (qv: punk and new wave). Boylan also, vaguely, looks like singer-songwriter Jackson Browne (I shouldn't bag Jackson Browne because I haven't heard that much of his stuff though what little I have heard always leaves me wondering why he has a big rep).
As it turns out Boylan has a career going back to the late 1960s and has put out three LPs (this was his last to date), and he is indeed a singer-songwriter. He has hob-knobbed and been critically applauded but has never made the sales.
A bio is here:
The best thing he did, apparently, is "The Appletree Theatre", with his brother in 1968 … and from the bits I have heard on youtube it certainly sounds interesting. (His brother went on to "assemble" The Eagles … and produce them and a lot of others).
On this album there is a element of cynicism and some smart lyrics commenting on contemporary living but it is all low key and lost in the blandness of the instrumentation.
It's a pretty awful.
Backing comes from experienced session musos … guitarists Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and Larry Carlton, pianist Paul Harris, Russ Kunkel on drums (he did session work for everyone in the 70s), and Chevy Chase (!) (yep that one apparently) playing Fender Rhodes on the quirky "Miso Soup"
Best tracks:
its hard – none of this is offensive its just awfully dull – probably:
- "College Life"
- "50 an Hour"
Sounds:
see attached:
I'm ditching this album ASAP
Clips:
"The Appltree Theatre
Website:
(originally posted: 07/06/2009)
