Recently heard Mazzy Star’s rendition of “Fade into You” on the radio. Really liked it. Had that slow, ethereal sound of Cowboy Junkies at their best, with a little Coldplay feel instead of the country twang. I liked it a lot.
Is that tune typical of their work? Is there an album I might check out if that’s the kind of thing I like?
What say ye?
Eh, I bought their "So Tonight That I Might See from a used music store for a buck or so, and with the exception of “Fade Into You” and “Five String Serenade,” I’ve not been able to get into the album. I’d imagine it’s great mellow background music, something you put on in the background while lazily doing your laundry on a rainy day, but for an immersed listening experience, I’ve had trouble.
Maybe some real fans will come in and tell me why I should give this album a better shot (that is, if you don’t mind my slightly hijacking your thread).
And just curious, you say “their rendition” of “Fade Into You.” Are there others you know more? Mazzy Star is, AFAIK, the original and the only commercial recording.
Very. To a sometimes repeititive extent :). Hope Sandoval does have a lovely voice, though.
The album that single comes from, So Tonight That I Might See is probably as good a place to start as any. Probably a tad stronger than the debut She Hangs Brightly.
Also you can look for stuff by the very similar band Opal, basically an earlier Mazzy Star with a different female vocalist, Kendra Smith. The common denominator is guitarist David Roback, who sets the tone.
Wow, I’m not the only one who owned some Opal! Some people called that style of music “shoegazing” and besides Mazzy Star and Opal, my favorite example of it was the band Love Spirals Downward. It isn’t something you listen to with your brain engaged. That’s not to mean it’s stupid music for stupid people, but for, as Only Mostly Dead said, great mellow background music. I had a long love affair with ethereal female vocals. Another favorite example is Julee Cruise, especially her album “Floating Into the Night” with music and lyrics by Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch. Good stuff.
I liked Mazzy Star a lot, but theirs was one of the worst concerts I ever went to. It probably had to do with the fact that it was held at a grungy, trendy venue (the Metro in Chicago) where there were no seats on the floor, and people were drinking, clinking glasses and bottles, and talking loud throughout the show. I had the same experience with the magnificent (on record) Cocteau Twins and Love Spirals Downward when I saw them at the stinky Riviera and Vic, respectively. I learned that bands like that shouldn’t be seen live, unless you just want to say “I was in the same room with Liz Fraser,” which, actually, I did.
On the other hand, Dead Can Dance played at the Vic, and you could hear a pin drop in the pauses between notes when Lisa Gerrard sang a capella. That audience knew they were in the presence of greatness, and acted accordingly.
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Another favorite example is Julee Cruise, especially her album “Floating Into the Night” with music and lyrics by Angelo Badalamenti and David Lynch. Good stuff.
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If you like Julee Cruise and Angelo Badalamenti - and many folks reading this thread are likely to - definitely check out the Twin Peaks soundtrack CD - amazing stuff. Mostly instrumental - haunting, cool and ethereal - with a couple of vocal tracks by Cruise.
Faithless also has the song on a record. I didn’t know which was the original.
I do have that record. It’s good stuff, but not my favorite. Cowboy Junkies “Trinity Sessions” is more my speed.
One of the best Soundtracks EVER. I was a way geeky Twin Peaks fanatic, even used to read the old Usenet newsgroup (I think it was alt.tv.twin-peaks, but don’t quote me) and I had a radio show featuring female vocals and I had a preference for ethereal female vocals. Yes, oh my yes, I knew all about the Twin Peaks soundtrack. It hasn’t aged a day either. I highly recommend it even to people who’ve never seen the TV show.
(says she who has a signed Julee Cruise poster up on her wall)
For people who like a little jangly clang and breathy baby girl vocals with their shoegazing, I’d recommend the Cranes.
Not shoegazing as such, but if this thread is going to be read by people who appreciate female vocals and things like the Twin Peaks soundtrack, I can’t leave it without giving a link to my Happy Rhodes sample page. There are dozens of full-length songs by an amazing Indie musician/vocalist. I know, no one has ever heard of her, but she’s worth knowing. If nothing else, her voice is worth checking out.
Speaking of Julee Cruise and Angelo Badalamenti, track down Industrial Symphony No.1 if you can. A very trippy performance video.
Well, not quite. You could call them all dreampop, but Mazzy Star and Opal aren’t really shoegazing. Mazzy Star being basically Opal part 2, and Opal were a Paisley Underground act, LA psych revival from the early/mid eighties. Dream Syndicate, The Three O’ Clock and early Bangles were others. “So Tonight That I Might See” is definitely a psych-influenced album. Especially the title track. The first wave of Shoegazers took their cues from My Bloody Valentine, The Jesus and Mary Chain and the Cocteau Twins.
If you like the darker, heavier Mazzy Star songs you should certainly track down a copy of Opal’s “Happy Nightmare Baby.” And don’t miss Kendra Smith’s post-Opal stuff either, it’s fantastic. “Five Ways of Disappearing” is easily found used and “The Guild of Temporal Adventurers” is much harder to find but well worth the effort.
Love Spirals Downwards had an interesting evolution. I’m not sure about that Lovespirals album… I wonder what’s next.
Yeah, it’s definitely the darker stuff I like. Dream Syndicate ran hot and cold, to my ears. The Jesus and Mary Chain is more to my liking.
Thanks, all. You’ve given me some avenues for investigation.
I hate you!
A bit of trivia for you but you can find Fade Into You playing in the backround in Starship Troopers in the scene where Casper van Diem is fighting the other douchebag in the mess hall.
I see Opal’s “Happy Nightmare Baby” is, like “Early Recordings,” now out-of-print and very expensive.