Mazzy Star- She Hangs Brightly (1990) MP3 & FLAC

"Takes me down deep and wide, pulls me through to the other side."

Hope Sandoval was originally pressed into service as the lead singer of David Roback's Paisley Underground psych-rock band Opal after Kendra Smith left the stage halfway through a show while touring in the UK in 1988. The following year, after an aborted attempt at recording a second Opal album, Ghost Highway, the band rechristened itself Mazzy Star and released its debut, She Hangs Brightly, in 1990. In the interim, Roback had traded in the gauzy, languorous T-Rex-inspired space-rock of his Opal days for a sound approximating Robbie Krieger playing the Delta Blues as a member of The Velvet Underground. And then there's Hope Sandoval's oh-so-singular vocals: sultry, child-like, vulnerable, untouchable, and ably expressing both a heartbreaking sense of desolation and a disinterested sense of separation. She Hangs Brightly contains a number of psychedelic gems, including "Halah" and their inspired cover of Slapp Happy's "Blue Flower," but often overlooked are the acoustic blues-based songs, which Sandoval's vocals sell unforgettably. She Hangs Brightly tends to be over-shadowed by the band's breakthrough follow-up, So Tonight That I Might See, but it deserves far better. Its Delta-pysch hybrid still sounds fresh, and while often emulated over the years, it has never been bested.

She Hangs Brightly (Original 1990 Rough Trade Edition)
 1. Halah  (3:16)
 2. Blue Flower  (3:35)
 3. Ride It On  (3:01)
 4. She Hangs Brightly  (6:24)
 5. I'm Sailin'  (3:13)
 6. Give You My Lovin'  (3:50)
 7. Be My Angel  (3:17)
 8. Taste of Blood  (5:37)
 9. Ghost Highway  (3:28)
10. Free  (3:11)
11. Before I Sleep  (2:10)

MU: Lossy (MP3@320)

MU: Lossless (FLAC)