MAY 28, 2017
“UNDER SKYS” (WRITERS: RALPH MAZZOTA--JOHN POLLANO)
ARTIST: LAZY SMOKE
RELEASED 1969 ON CORRIDOR
OF FACES LP
Lazy Smoke, a rock quartet from Massachusetts, recorded only
one album, 1969’s Corridor of Faces.
The band disappeared immediately into the mist of time and was only
rediscovered by record collectors in the 1980s.
Luckily for us, their album has been legitimately re-released
both on vinyl and CD.
The band began cutting its record in 1968 at a studio in
Methuen, MA, a midsize town on the New Hampshire border. Lead singer and
songwriter John Pollano chose to combine electric and unplugged textures in
realizing his songs, bringing in contemporary influences as diverse as acoustic
folk and Steppenwolf.
The discerning listener to some of Corridor of Faces’ quieter tracks may hear similarities to some of
John Lennon’s ‘White Album’ material. Interestingly, Lazy Smoke recorded those
tracks months before The Beatles was
released.
Despite being a “rock album,” C of F feels hazy, dazed, and lazy. The acoustic numbers are
appropriately pastoral, with gentle guitar textures and beguiling melodies that
flow effortlessly despite odd shifts in key and tempo. Even the rockers on Corridor of Faces come complete with
melancholy lyrics of lost love, thoughts of escape, and nostalgia for better times.
So why isn’t Lazy Smoke on your local “deep tracks” radio show,
or netting a big review when their album was re-issued?
Lazy Smoke were
a local group with a minuscule following that had its only
album released on a tiny label. And nobody at Rolling Stone or SiriusXM—which exist because of the advertising
and support of large conglomerates—is going to get excited about a small band on a
tiny label that the mainstream missed. Much of the contemporary interpretation of 1960s culture, in fact, is based on the very idea that what was a hit then was the only music that mattered.
The bass playing is rudimentary on several songs, as bassist Bob Dorr was in the process of leaving the group; Lazy Smoke, in fact,
were no more by the time the record was finally issued in 1969. But the
somewhat tentative four-string work only adds, in my mind, to the LP’s
homemade, moment-in-time quality.
Despite the album’s small recording budget, interesting
sounds abound, from backward guitars and cymbals to surprising fillips of flute
and electric piano. Producer/engineer Pat Costa, who had a long career in
Boston-area studios, did a fine job.
Lazy Smoke gets some shade for being
derivative. John Pollano has been ripped for singing with an English
affectation, and the album undoubtedly has Beatles influence, but such sins are
rarely held against other Anglophilic U.S. critical favorites such as The Merry-Go-Round
and The Left Banke. And if you want to complain about bands following in the
Beatles’ footsteps, you’ll have to call out virtually every rock act after
1963.
As to the idea that Lazy Smoke don’t have enough good songs,
I call shenanigans. Unlike some other obscure, high-priced rarities of the era
that earned their reputations on one or two good songs, Corridor of Faces has, to these ears, eight solid tracks of ten,
only “How Did You Die?” and “Salty People” falling short. Eight of ten is a pretty
strong ratio for any album, especially one produced on a shoestring budget.
I’ll say one thing: Corridor
of Faces is better than what a lot of classic-rock favorites released in
1969. If you want me to name names, how about The Byrds, Pink Floyd, Jefferson
Airplane, The Doors, and Bob Dylan?
Enough! The track featured here,
“Under Skys,” is among the best on the LP. It commemorates the very moment
that a relationship is ending, the lyrics consisting of images already embedded
in the singer’s mind. But lead guitarist Ralph Mazzota, who co-wrote the track, adds a booming, psychedelic solo—recorded in the studio while the rest of the band actually played outdoors—gives an edge of aggression to the otherwise bucolic, heartbreaking proceedings. And the drumming by Ray Charron is spot-on.
I've always liked Salty people and my brain sings it when I meet a salty person :) A friend gave me this cd in 1994 when I was sleeping on a couch in Hoboken.
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing! Amazing how we can remember those kinds of details, isn't it? I love this album.
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