Opal - Early Recordings/Happy Nightmare Baby

ok - one of the greatest albums to emerge from the PU scene, ok - up against The Bangles, for chrissakes, - possibly - but one of the greatest psych albums ever? Having not heard it, I can say for certain that it couldn't possibly scratch the top ten thousand. It's David "Throwback" Roback, man!! Take two Pearls Before Swine LPs and call me in the mourning

Having also heard Pearls Before Swine, Opal tops out. To be fair, I guess ER is a lot more VU than it is psych..

But I'm also a product of that paisley scene too.

You might consider getting either of the later Kendra Smith albums, which are both (IMHO) much better than Happy Nightmare Baby. Five Ways of Disappearing is probably a tad easier to find than the Guild of Temporal Adventurers, especially on eBay where you can probably snag it for $3-5.

A lot of Super Falling Star songs are very Early Recordings-era Opalesque, particularly the songs on their split single with Fuxa.

(If you'd prefer not to spend the 75 bucks, though, you can e-mail me...)

Sorry about being a ebay scum seller, but i needed the money to buy more records. My starting bid was only $5 tho...

_The Guild of Temporal Adventurers_ smokes the ass of _Five Ways of Disappearing_ in every known dimension. Her cover of "Bold Marauder" is good though, a sweeping cinematic revision of to me what always sounded a bit like a sea chantie.

Wonder why _ER_ hasn't been bootlegged yet? I figure that even if it wasn't swallowed by _Rough Trade_ that Roback would be enough of a bastard to keep it out of print. It wouldn't be the first time.

Speaking of which...._The Rainy Day Album_, which often comes up in these discussions, is vastly overrated in my view. Some interesting moments, but certainly not worth what it commands/commanded in the collector market. I doubt it'll ever be reprinted as well, which'll keep the ebay mavens happy.

I'm looking for live recordings of Hope Sandoval singing Opal songs - I saw her do these at the Hollywood Palladium opening for The Jesus and Mary Chain after Kendra bailed on the tour. I think the Opal songs are much stronger in general than Mazzy Star stuff.

Rain Parade - You Are My Friend
Rainy Day - I'll Keep It With Mine (feat Susanna Hoffs)
Rainy Day - Flying on the Ground is Wrong (feat Kendra Smith)
Rainy Day - I'll Be Your Mirror (feat Susanna Hoffs)
Opal - Empty Box Blues
Opal - She's a Diamond (Early Recordings vers.)
Opal - My Only Friend
Opal - Strange Delight
Opal - Fell From the Sun
Opal - Rocket Machine
Opal - Magick Power
Opal - She's a Diamond (Happy Nightmare Baby vers.)
Opal - Happy Nightmare Baby
Mazzy Star - Halah
Mazzy Star - Blue Flower
Mazzy Star - Ride It On
Mazzy Star - Ghost Highway
Mazzy Star - Fade Into You
Mazzy Star - Mary of Silence
Mazzy Star - Five String Serenade
Mazzy Star - Into Dust

(81:40 overburn!, pretty much chronological. nb - I don't believe that David Roback appears on "You are My Friend", but it's such a good song and he certainly influenced it (wrote it???) - does anyone know how much? Chris?

also, I've ignored the last Mazzy Star album as I don't remember anything from it...)

I just saw something called Volume II on ebay with these tracks:

1. My Canyon Memory

2. Sisters of Mercy

3. Sailing Boats

4. Vespers

5. Lisa's Funeral

6. This Town

7. Freight Train

8. Wintertime

9. Little Bit of Rain

10. What You've Done

11. Cherry Jam

12. Indian Summer

Indian Summer?!

Magick Power, Magick Power...

i've got this -- it's a bootleg right? Has slightly dodgy sounds anyway. Roback (I think) sings quite a bit on it, if I recall correctly. There's a male singer at least ...

Voice of dissent, re: Early Recordings. It's good, but nowhere near as great as Happy Nightmare Baby. Best bits (Fell from the Sun, Northern Line, Harriet Brown, etc.) are lovely, dreamy psychedelic folk-pop -- some of my favorite music of that kind. But at least half the songs don't make much of an impression. Extremely pleasant, but too often limited to that.

Happy Nightmare Baby, on the other hand, is one of the best damn guitar rock albums out there. So incredibly dense, lush, SEXY, physical and intuitively right-fucking-on. Retro as hell, and locked into a psychedelic hard rock thing that necessarily limits its appeal, but absolutely unbeatable at its own game. Every song is distinctive, memorable, endlessly seductive. Maybe you have to be messed up, and you certainly have to dig "passionate" guitar solos, but even so...

Mazzy Star can't hold a candle. Nice, but nowhere near as deep. The Rainy Day thing is worth it only for I'll be your mirror - otherwise disposable. Kendra Smith's Guild of Temporal Adventurers EP is nearly as good as Early Recordings. Much creepier, often awkward as hell, but w/ tons of sick magnetism and an unbeatable Can cover.

Shakey, the "Indian Summer" track is indeed a Doors cover, appeared on a Chemical Imbalance 7", and is as great as anything on ER.

Wonder why _ER_ hasn't been bootlegged yet?

I bought a counterfeit LP a few weeks ago. I seriously doubt it was an actual Rough Trade reissue!

All Opal is CLASSIC. I need that boot CD really bad. Kendra solo is essential as well.

Happy Nightmare Baby is definitely the pinnacle of Roback's vision (especially the title track), but Early Recordings is surprisingly strong, especially without the heavy psychedelic assist from the guitars. Parts of Rainy Day, and certainly more than just "I'll Be Your Mirror" are just wonderful, especially "I'll Keep it With Mine" and "Flying On the Ground is Wrong" is just devastating. Mazzy Star obviously has many incredible tracks too. I certainly wouldn't dismiss it just because it's not quite as amazing.

yeah for years I snottily dismissed Mazzy Star as Opal wannabes given their lineup, thought Hope was just trying to imitate Kendra and thought Roback was striving to recapture past glories. Then at a particularly surreal, druggy party back in '98 I heard both CDs and they suddenly made a ton of sense. These days I think those first two MS CDs express the heroin-as-music vibe better than anything except a coupla Spacemen 3 records. Soporific in a good way.

man i love opal so much, and strongly prefer the early/ clay allison stuff to 'happy nightmare' though it's def. good.

somehow and very weirdly with 'chemical imbalance' i managed to release two covers called "indian summer" --one the opal cover of the doors song, the other dean wareham's first solo release and a version of the beat happening song. (to further complicate things, later sonic boom covered dean's version thinking it was dean's song).

anyway, i hope to release the opal track in the best-of ci book/ cd out next year though i'm not holding my breath that roback and smith will okay that, even though the project is a benefit... we'll see.

The ERII boot is pretty good and worth a moderate hassle to track down. There's a FLAC version circulating around on the torrent sites. Try tracking it down there first. I am also biased in this opinion.

I believe that the source of these was originally a cassette tape of unused tracks that would have made up some of the second Opal album. Roback sings most of them.

I must have this collection. (I think late summer is also good Opal listening weather in the gloaming -- will put it on in a bit here.)

early recordings 2 is kinda disappointing, but "sailing boats" is a great song, i'd love to hear a decent quality version of it.
(early recordings is one of my top 5 albums ever)

Bob Standard very OTM.

i managed to get hold of the UK pressing of fell from the sun with 'frieght train' on it. great song, if not quite at the level of the a-side.

i love opal, and my ER cd sits next to my DAW as my reference disc of what an amazing recording sounds like

has anyone heard beachouse? they capture that spooky early recordings sound pretty well. so when and what label did this volume 2 emerge? when do the recordings date from? is it post hnb?

theres no official release, just low quality mp3s. its pretty much all the demo stuff left off early recordings, and with two or three exceptions (sailing boats, what you've done, vespers maybe) i think the compilers of the official album made the right choices.

do you like the kendra smith solo stuff joni? i ain't never heard it.

There's a seller (Global-Deals for You) on eBay offering multiple sets of Early Recordings and Happy Nightmare Baby on CD - 30 sold, 8 remaining - which I think is a liquidator. Wondering if it might be the unsold stock of the reissues. I have the Early Recordings reissue and the original HNB CD, so it would be pretty expensive for me to buy a set out of curiosity, but I'm putting it here in case there are folks without either CD who'd like to give it a shot. Their feedback includes positive responses from folks who bought the set, by the way.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/185279370201

interesting! trying to justify buying it as I have both the original releases, I really want a hard copy of the extra Early tracks tho ...

Remaster is excellent too, if that’s a factor for you.

arrived today, and as suspected they are the Salley Garden reissues that were pulled. v happy!

does the Happy Nightmare Baby CD have anything extra? is it remastered? the SST CD version doesn't sound bad but it doesn't sound amazing either...

nothing extra, I have the OG vinyl so can't compare.
could rip & send if anyone's interested?

I would be interested to hear, yes please!

haha, I bought a set off the eBay auction so I can report back when I get mine re: old vs new HNB CD

(and can also rip for ILXors)

ok ripped, anyone interested webmail me 4 link

or just post here and I'll web you, that's probably easier tbh

That is AWESOME. I’m glad a few made it out after all.

thanks zappi!

Would love it, thanks Zappi!

Would love it, thanks Zappi!

Would greatly appreciate said link; thank you, Zappi!

I only have the LP to compare, on first listen this does sound a bit fuller/more detail/remastered, not really louder/compressed which is nice

I’d love to hear a lossless of HNB if such a thing were available …

yes thanks zappi for sending FLAC files, much appreciated

FLAC files? Wouldn't mind giving an ear, with thanks in advance. Lucky enough to have the original CD issues of both but it would be nice to get a sense of what's changed.

(And much thanks again!)

thank you!!

Thanks again, Zappi!

Did a bit of comparing the original HNB CD and FLAC of the new one in Audition. If I were to guess, the new one is the same as the old one, with ~ +5dB gain applied. Once I matched volumes, there was no difference when A/B-ing. There's also no difference in frequency spectrum — if the new one was digitized anew from original tapes, there most likely would've been. On the plus sized, at least it's not crushed into oblivion, it's just been amped up without any limiting or compressing. So, if you have the old CD, you're not missing anything revelatory that you couldn't get with a volume dial.

Someone mentioned that they heard the remastered Early Recordings, and that *that* one sounded different. Anyone?

Sounds significantly better to me, much fuller than the Rough Trade CD, at least.

and I agree that HNB is likely just a level boost of the same master

or just post here and I'll web you, that's probably easier tbh

Would love to hear this Zappi

hi zappi, have just sent you a mail :)

thank u zappi, my hero!

Thanks Zappi!

Are you on FB or Discord? Reddit? I want a copy (HNB was one of my favorites as a teen; it was burnt up in the fire) but I'm not sure if I have access to my ILXmail. (Chris Irregardless on FB, GreenLeafy11 on Discord and Reddit.)

sent via reddit! I think I've caught up with everyone else, let me know if you can't find it etc.

Lost opportunity with the lack of a remaster on Happy Nightmare Baby, it sounds like ass.

I got it, thank you.

like a fool I bought a set, I think I have bought Early Recordings four times now (and always for stupid prices). I'm glad to have both the Salley Gardens releases tho.

My copies from this eBay overstock place arrived, I wanted the Happy Nightmare Baby reissue to go along with the Early Recordings one I was lucky enough to get from Amazon before sales were halted. So I've got a spare copy of Early Recordings... anyone want it (for what I paid for it, an admittedly steep $36)?

I'm a little late in asking, but can anyone share FLAC files for the Opal 'Early Recordings' remaster on Salley Gardens? Seems to be out of reach now.

yeah I got u

does your ilxmail work?

Thanks, sleeve! I am new to this forum and don't have an ilxmail account. Is there another way?

if the email you used to sign up is valid, I can send it to you!

basically ilxmail send a blind message (no return email) to the account you used to register

otherwise, you can click on my username link and send your email to me via ilxmail

Dynamite, got it! Am listening to it now and what a treasure this set is. I still have the vinyl from '89. Could never let it go somehow, even when I really needed the money. I would just look at the cover and go, "no, not this one." The extra tracks are stellar and the sound is vivid...the songs really have a sound and a feel out of time; could have been released 47 years ago or yesterday. Thanks and Happy New Year to you!

<3

oh my god how have I never heard the 1984 Clay Allison set in Pittsburgh at The Electric Banana?

currently basking in the glory

note to Mr. Roback's estate: you can't hold back history, although you can try

amen.
maybe already mentioned in this thread but this youtube channel has tons of opal/clay allison/mazzy rarity stuff
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videos

i guess that doesn't work — it's @Opalstardream

oh wow there are like two other Clay Allison boots I've never heard!

Don't forget to look on slsk too.

noted, ty