Paisley Underground Series, #9: Thin White Rope- Sack Full of Silver (1990) MP3 & FLAC

"There comes a time when everyone's plans fall like a dog from a truckbed grandstand."

While The Paisley Underground is most often described as an off-shoot of the burgeoning L.A.-based underground music scene of the 1980s, in reality, it included bands hailing from both coasts and many stops in between who were involved in their own local iterations of Psychedelic revivalism. For example, Thin White Rope emerged out of a thriving neo-psych scene in Davis, California, and quickly became fixtures in the various L.A.-area clubs that catered to the Paisley bands. While their earlier albums such as Exploring the Axis and Moonhead offered a distinctive brand of dark Psychedelia mixed with a bit of intense Post-Punk spike, on Sack Full of Silver, Thin White Rope began to foreground the Americana-based elements that had always been lurking in the back alleys of their sound. For those unfamiliar with the work of this band, the first thing that is likely to stand out is Guy Kyser's distinctive vocals, which sound something like Tom Waits paying tribute to Roger McGuinn. Sack Full of Silver is full of under-appreciated gems, such as "Hidden Lands," one of the most majestic songs Thin White Rope ever recorded; it sounds as if it could be a long lost masterpiece of Gene Clark and features some great guitar-work and percussion. Perhaps the album's highlight is the off-kilter psyche-countrification of Can's "Yoo Doo Right." By reducing the original's twenty minute length to an intense and wild six minutes, Thin White Rope completely reinvents the song, and in doing so, turns in an absolutely brilliant performance. While Sack Full of Silver is often overshadowed by their earlier, more explicitly neo-psyche work, the album is easily one of the best attempts at integrating roots-rock and Psychedelia to emanate from the Paisley scene.

Sack Full of Silver (1998 Remastered and Expanded Edition)
 1. Hidden Lands  (3:06)
 2. Sack Full of Silver  (2:14)
 3. Yoo Doo Right  (6:04)
 4. The Napkin Song  (1:31)
 5. Americana/The Ghost  (8:17)
 6. Whirling Dervish  (5:39)
 7. (Pyramid/Triangle) (4:43)
 8.. Diesel Man  (3:43)
 9. On the Floe  (4:54)
-Bonus Tracks-
10. Ants Are Cavemen  (5:00)
11. Little Doll (Live, Germany, 1988)  (8:16)
12. Outlaw Blues  (2:45)
13. Burn the Flames  (5:36)
14. Eye  (3:20)
15. Skinhead (Live, Sweden, 1988)  (2:13)

MU: Lossy (MP3@320)

MU: Lossless (FLAC)

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