Sweet Jesus, when will Kendra Smith make another album?

i've got a recording of her at a 1998 Terrastock festival -- maybe her last public appearance? Solo stuff on harmonium (?) mostly, some creepy a capella things. Very Nico-esque. She sounds a little bit nervous, but it's a nice show overall.

Been curious about her activities/state for quite some time. Someone must have heard something, right?

those waiting for more kendra may dig beach house, very kendra-like vocals

G
O
T
A

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_WHRSj0TJlXU/SLIBQHgP65I/AAAAAAAAAPA/8bhChozT0gc/s400/Kendra+Smith1.jpg

haha, that is how i would like to imagine Kendra at all times.

anybody know where I can find a copy of Kendra Smith & Steve Wynn's cover of "All Tomorrow's Parties" sung by Kendra entirely in German?...it's supposedly one of the greatest cover versions ever...!

― Pepper needs new shorts! (Drugs A. Money), Monday, January 5, 2009 9:45 AM (2 months ago) Bookmark

Hey there you ripped off one of JBR's old handles. :-/

whoops...which one Pepper or Kanye?

The Kanye one. It IS a prime funny, for sure.

damn...it was from a mispronunciation my friend id recently while trying to recreate a Hee Haw segue from Family Guy...

back to the drawing board for me...

id = did

you can d/l a live version of Kendra's "Alle Morgens Parties" (recorded c. 1979-1980 with the Suspects) @ this blog. she does a fairly middling imitation of Nico, and it seems like she had yet to find a distinctive voice at that point.

however, she recorded a studio version of it in 1981 while the Dream Syndicate were putting together their first EP. from Steve Wynn's site:

(1987) Free flexi given away freely with Bucketfull Of Barins, #31.

Side A contains Dream Syndicates version of Cinnamon Girl (Later on It's too late to stop now). Recorded at Rotund Rascal Studios, Feb. 1987. Produced by Dream Syndicate

The b-side includes Kendra Smith, produced by Steve Wynn, doing Lou Reeds Alle Morgens Parties, recorded at Down There Studios, June 1981.

this may well be one of the greatest covers ever, but unfortunately I'm having as much trouble as you are trying to track it down.

does this post still work? it's got that all tomorrows parties in german: http://www.jennywoolworth.ch/deardiary/?p=35 and some other stuff.

ah xpost! you beat me.

heh, hivemind strikes again

i think i have the dream syndicate-era version somewhere ... will try to dig it up.

ah, that'd be awesome if you did

now i'm wondering if the version i have is this Suspects version ... Didn't even know that existed til now.

yeah I have that flexi also, will try to get to it today if tylerw doesn't beat me to it.

I don't think it's the live one w/Suspects.

yeah, don't think the one i have on mp3 is live ...

I sure hope you guys aren't holding your breath waiting for more Kendra Smith records. Even I recognized the futility of that some time ago.

if Axl can do it, etc.

where is she? what is she doing now? I'm kind of fascinated by people who just disappear like this.

you saw the pic Sleeve posted upthread -- she's in the woods! With a gun!

Last I heard she was living in Northern California, off the grid and with no interest in recording. That was a couple years after FIVE WAYS OF DISAPPEARING came out.

(When in fact it just took one way.)

ZING!

I sure hope you guys aren't holding your breath waiting for more Kendra Smith records. Even I recognized the futility of that some time ago.

well, she was nice enough to include an alternate version of a Five Ways song on that issue of Ptolemaic Terrascope from last year, so I can dream.

there's a recording of her playing live at Terrastock in 98, its ok but really untogether. i wish they'd reissue an expanded Opal Early Recordings though, with the tracks that were left off included.

funny, Kendra, Roback and Sandoval = total dropouts.

I had/have that flexi. If I can dig it up. Shoot me mail.

I do not recall it as being one of the greatest covers ever, seeing as I haven't though about it much between getting Bucketful of Brains #31 and now.

She could make another record if she wanted... nobody expected Five Ways of Disappearing, after all.

Picked up 5 Ways the other day...(in a used bin, to state the bleeding obvious)...total goth-folk, not the thing I usually dig, but man, this thing is slaying me...maybe mid-November is exactly the right time of the year to listen to stuff like this...

those waiting for more kendra may dig beach house, very kendra-like vocals

i regret saying this

oh i dunno, it's not an off-base comparison. but beach house are no opal.

not that it's off base, but that beach house don't deserve any more attention

if anyone's interested, i just posted a kendra smith sampler over here: http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/5422200026/disappearing-act-a-kendra-smith-sampler

Five Ways of Disappearing is my bible. That record just has so much going on, I love her forever.

XP - Amazing! Thanks.

heh, sorry tyler... also your sampler is excellent!

sweet jesus, when i will get some credit for this! jk, i hope you enjoy. it was fun to make. someone should put it out for real! on vinyl or something. it'd sell in the dozens!

this is cool, thanks! I haven't heard any of those live solo songs at the end of your sampler (they're from Terrastock, right?) so I look forward to hearing those.

yeah that's the terrastock performance. last song is uhhh pretty intense. a capella!

Saw that performance -- it was definitely unusual.

did she walk offstage throwing copies of Walden into the audience and riding off into the sunset in an Amish buggy? fitting that the last songf she performed there seems to be a cover of Hank's "Ramblin' Man".

the lineup for Terrastock 2 seems amazing though. Fifty Foot Hose? Silver Apples? too bad I wasn't cool enough to be there (at the age of 10).

I look at the lineups of past Terrastocks and just cry...

There was a lot of spectacular stuff going on in that second one -- my one key regret is that I was sitting watching Tom Rapp tune up not fully appreciating that Batoh was killing it one room over. I've been lucky enough to catch all the Terrastocks except the first and third.

did they do "Too Little, Too Late"?

no, not that I remember.

oh wait yeah they did, that was the first song she did. spaced out.

!!!!!

video of The Suspects (pre-Dream Syndicate w/Steve & Kendra & the dues who went on to True West)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqbvWgmiJJo

also there are taped gigs!

https://archive.org/details/stevewynn1980-01-20.flac16

https://archive.org/details/stevewynn1981-05-08.flac16

oh hey there’s footage of her playing with Dream Syndicate last month!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3izWHtV51o

awesome, thanks

yep. such a great show.

gah, so amazing... thanks for sharing!

man, not sure how i missed that there were suspects shows on the archive! thanks, man ...
the recent vids w/ Kendra are pretty great ... she looks pretty comfortable / confident up there!

he new dream syndicate LP is solid, but her song is far and away the best thing on it

― tylerw Haven't heard it yet, but for me this sums up all their previous---Steve Wynn has always seemed like a nice guy, which audibly goes/drags against his bad boy themes and the band's overall momentum, however cogent their playing---but she's got it.

soooo Discogs now lists some tantalizing odds and ends under Opal...

I have their Syd Barret cover:
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Beyond-The-Wildwood-A-Tribute-To-Syd-Barrett/master/214194

but I have never heard the track "Slap Happy" from this ridiculous promo-only Israel-only comp LP of Rough Trade artists:
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Rough-Trade-Compilation/release/9172446

it might be a typo, but this other comp LP has "Revalation" which might be a different version of "Relevation"?
https://www.discogs.com/Various-The-Flower-Fed-Buffaloes/release/537642

and this, the thing I'm most excited about, which I snagged a copy of - a Rough Trade promo CASSETTE with a track called "Ghost Highway" that's not on any other record:
https://www.discogs.com/Various-Rough-Trade-Promotional-Cassette-2/release/7941878

waiting for that to show up in the mail, will report back.

"Ghost Highway" is on the first Mazzy Star LP, I think they were still going by the name Opal in 1988 with Sandoval in the band?

ah, I bet that's it, thanks

makes me think that the "Slap Happy" song is actually "Blue Flower", originally written by the band Slapp Happy.

the Syd Barrett cover is excellent, they stretch out the coda from Jugband Blues into its own song

seems that the Ghost Highway song is v similar to the final released version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwctCSMKBUo

I think they were still going by the name Opal in 1988 with Sandoval in the band?

Aye... Kendra left Opal in the middle of their tour opening up for JAMC in late 1987. Hope joins up to finish out both that tour and a 1988 European tour. Ghost Highway was going to be the title of the second Opal album but then they started over again with a new batch of Sandoval/Roback songs and became Mazzy Star.

Always love when this thread revives.

I had no idea Kendra had a new song out - it's on the Leave No Trace soundtrack album and credited to Kendra Smith & The Magician's Orchestra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnoME6cyi_U

!!!!!

wow, what a great song! that is a huge get for the filmmakers... and us, if it presages anything more!

I don't see that on Discogs, is it not yet released?

finally, my nine year old thread is justified

― a Radiohead album stamping on a human face, forever (sleeve), Monday, February 20, 2017

looks like it is a digital-only release for now

YSI?

https://www.easy-youtube-mp3.com/download.php?v=rnoME6cyi_U

But, you know... it's only $1.29 from Amazon or iTunes

she seems to have spent much of the intervening time smoking

there’s a great interview in the most recent chickfactor fanzine. i think it may only be a print only edition. she spends a lot of time describing a semi communal pacific northwest lifestyle which maps with the leave no trace film (which i loved)

not surprised to learn that I have a friend who worked on that movie! Michael Hurley is also in it iirc

also thx for the Chickfactor tip!

the hurley cameo caught me off guard but made total sense given the context. really a beautiful film.

chickfactor 18 still available on their website!

> much of the intervening time smoking

Leading with pump organ was wonderful in character, so Marianne Faithful appearing after a minute of that was a shock. Completely satisfying re-emergence from the vines.

I did buy this MP3 for the record :)

to my shame, I saw Leave No Trace in the theater last year and didn't even realize it featured a Kendra Smith song (and I'm pretty sure I sat through most of the end credits where it appeared)

I snagged the mp3 from iTunes, but am thinking of buying the Blu-Ray and ripping the audio from that because I'm one of those nerds.

or whatever format iTunes uses these days, don't remember

how did I miss this ?!?!

Kendra Smith | The Disappearing Art of Living

Then I went through a period where I was mostly studying Central Asian and Persian classical music and working with instruments we made here and all along I’ve had my pump organs which I keep getting more and more of.

Yaaasss

Dream Syndicate

I kind of re heard the Opal stuff after I stumbled upon this tribute stream https://www.nts.live/shows/in-focus/episodes/in-focus-kendra-smith-30th-august-2019

Is there anyone out here that really likes the song "Lisa's Funeral" as much as me? I think it is an extraordinary song. Always thought it must be some kind of cover song. But apparently it is not. Does anyone have more background on this? I am absolutely astonished this song did not make it unto any official releases. Is there maybe even another version floating around? My Mp3 (which I found ages ago in the net) of it just sounds not too great.

it is so fucking good, I can listen to Roback's tone all day long

pretty sure the version on "Early Recordings 2" is the best sounding one, not perfect but good enough for me

I just love how that song builds up and gets heavy. Who plays that electric organ? only have the MP3 of the early recordings 2, no booklet or liner notes, Is the song on ER2 taken from the promo tape? Any other versions, live etc around? unfortunately most of old bootleg download links are broken by now.

Presumably Suki Ewers on organ, she and Kendra are the only two left from Opal I think

Great song - they played it live when they were Clay Allison, and there’s 3 (maybe more?) CA shows on YouTube with it in the set.

there are live boot versions, gimme a couple days

for yr opal/kendra/mazzy rarities need, this is the motherlode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=videos

er: http://www.youtube.com/@Opalstardream

good article

https://johnpstrohm.substack.com/p/diamonds-in-the-mine-1

Thank you for all the feedback and resources. I must admit that I listened to Mazzy Star when 15 years old but only discovered opal when I turned 40. What a great miss...
I hope Opal gets a special reissue maybe on Omnivore.
Digging deeper into Dream Syndicate I kind of found all the special versions and supplements of The Days Of Wine And Roses.
Any recommendations where to start? Non of those seems to include all Tracks of the others not even the 4 disc version...
https://omnivorerecordings.com/ov-129/
https://omnivorerecordings.com/shop/the-day-before-wine-and-roses/
https://www.firerecords.com/product/dream-syndicate-days-of-wine-roses-expanded/
https://www.firerecords.com/product/the-dream-syndicate-sketches-for-the-days-of-wine/

I hope Opal gets a special reissue maybe on Omnivore.

Sadly very unlikely. Pat Thomas, who had been working on possible reissues, posted this in response to a query earlier this year when some kind of CDs began resurfacing:

the short version is - I was in the middle of negotiating a truce between Kendra and David - but David wasn’t being very reasonable financially- then, behind our backs- he authorized the manufacture of these CDs - then he suddenly passed away. Posthumously we tried to come to a reasonable arrangement with David’s management (for the royalties to be divided more or less evenly) but David left instructions wanting a very large % - so no agreement was made - and these Opal CDs sat in a warehouse until they started started leaking out like this

oh well...sad, but it will add to the mystery.

off topic: when I was a teenager somebody borrowed me a tape of a band I knew and and on the second side it had his name is alive on it. Stuck on the american bands on 4ad since... including Throwing Muses etc. But nothing quiet as unique as the first three records of HNIA.